Tagebuch einer Verlorenen / Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), directed by G.W. Pabst and starring Louise Brooks, delivers on Margaret Böhme’s hugely popular 1905 novel, Tagebuch einer Verlorenen, Von einer Toten.
Against the backdrop of socio-economic class and gender roles, it follows Thymian (played by Louise Brooks) on her zigzag arc. This is a real cool silent movie, beautifully shot (and restored).
Thymian's diary is like a character in itself, and well-employed in moving things along.
After she is impregnated by her father's assistant and refuses to marry him, Thymian is cast from her father's house largely at the behest of his new housekeeper-girlfriend. Her baby is taken away and she's sent to reform school for wayward women; next stop, a bordello. And on from there.
Diary of a Lost Girl works as entertaining drama with comic touches and as a biting satire of the kind that would resurface in novel-based talkie movies like Peyton Place (1957) and hit songs like "Play with Fire" (1965) and "Harper Valley P.T.A." (1968). Primary target: social hypocrisy. Relevance: universal.
Today's Rune: Harvest.
1 comment:
Erik, ooooh, very juicy and I love the movie poster!
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