I was assured that "Diary of a Lost Girl" was more accessible than "Pandora's Box"; it is. This is much more a straightforward human narrative than an attempt at representing archetype, and there is also less presumption that we are already familiar with the subject matter: it does not require so much intense concentration just to keep up. In addition, there are a greater number of sympathetic characters -- which is to say that there are some!
However, the notorious Louise Brooks still did not come across to me as being a good actress. In fact, if anything I felt that her performance here was more stilted than in "Pandora's Box", where from time to time I was actually impressed. She is far too obviously sophisticated for the early scenes of a teenage Thymian -- Brooks is no Mary Pickford -- and although she is more convincing as a workhouse rebel, I found myself frequently feeling that the actress was simply a beat behind the action; standing there waiting for an off-screen voice to tell her how to move or react, rather than inhabiting the character within the world of the film. Contemporary critics called her acting for Pabst "wooden", and to this viewer all too often she comes across as a beautiful waxen doll, expressing at best one emotion per scene -- these pictures do not represent her best work.
Nonetheless as a whole the film held my interest and was entertaining. (It was frightfully convenient the way that Thymian would faint whenever she was on the point of sexual congress, however... thus enabling her to be presented as the most innocent of 'fallen women'!) Perhaps the most effective are the rigidly synchronised and choreographed scenes in the workhouse -- to an English audience inevitably reminiscent of "Oliver Twist" -- followed by the girls' final rebellion, which was the first point at which the picture really began to engage me emotionally. (I was somewhat disappointed to discover at the end of the film that the rebellion had apparently had no long-lasting effect; even the same superintendent was still in charge.) I actually cared about what happened to Thymian and her circle, which made a pleasant change.
That final title, though..! I can only assume it's not quite so thumpingly preachy and obvious in the original German; it completely broke up the mood of the scene for me, and thus detracted from the whole end of the film. Someone clearly didn't have faith in the actors' presentation, and felt the need to drive the moral home with a sledge-hammer.
However, the notorious Louise Brooks still did not come across to me as being a good actress. In fact, if anything I felt that her performance here was more stilted than in "Pandora's Box", where from time to time I was actually impressed. She is far too obviously sophisticated for the early scenes of a teenage Thymian -- Brooks is no Mary Pickford -- and although she is more convincing as a workhouse rebel, I found myself frequently feeling that the actress was simply a beat behind the action; standing there waiting for an off-screen voice to tell her how to move or react, rather than inhabiting the character within the world of the film. Contemporary critics called her acting for Pabst "wooden", and to this viewer all too often she comes across as a beautiful waxen doll, expressing at best one emotion per scene -- these pictures do not represent her best work.
Nonetheless as a whole the film held my interest and was entertaining. (It was frightfully convenient the way that Thymian would faint whenever she was on the point of sexual congress, however... thus enabling her to be presented as the most innocent of 'fallen women'!) Perhaps the most effective are the rigidly synchronised and choreographed scenes in the workhouse -- to an English audience inevitably reminiscent of "Oliver Twist" -- followed by the girls' final rebellion, which was the first point at which the picture really began to engage me emotionally. (I was somewhat disappointed to discover at the end of the film that the rebellion had apparently had no long-lasting effect; even the same superintendent was still in charge.) I actually cared about what happened to Thymian and her circle, which made a pleasant change.
That final title, though..! I can only assume it's not quite so thumpingly preachy and obvious in the original German; it completely broke up the mood of the scene for me, and thus detracted from the whole end of the film. Someone clearly didn't have faith in the actors' presentation, and felt the need to drive the moral home with a sledge-hammer.