Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)

 American actress Louise Brooks reached the height of her fame and gained iconic status with the release of 'Pandora's Box' in January of 1929; 'Diary of a Lost Girl' her followup film with Austrian director G. W. Pabst was released that autumn and did far less well, in part this was due to distribution issues and a waining public interest in silent films (this would be Pabst last), but also due to the stock market crash about 2 weeks after its Berlin premier.

Based on the 1905 Margret Bohme novel of the same name, 'Dairy of a Lost Girl' is an exploration into the hypocrisies of the German middle class.

Spoilers

Louise Brooks plays Thymain, the daughter of a pharmacist who is impregnated by her fathers assistant (this is implied to be rape but is presented vaugly for censorship reasons). After giving birth and still refusing to marry her child's father Thymain is sent to an abusive reformitory, she eventually escapes and returns home hoping to retreave her child who unfortunately has died. In time Thymain resorts to being a prostitute, meets and marries a down on his luck Count and inherates half the pharmacy after her fathers death. She sells her half to the creepy assistant but upon learning that her father left two now destitute half sibblings by a mistress, she uses the money from the sale to make sure they are taken care of, this prompts her husbands suicide.

'Diary of a Lost Girl' is a bummer, but Thymain rises above the society around her by consistently doing the right thing despite the personal cost; this contrasts nicely with her character Lulu in 'Pandora's Box' who is a selfish chaos agent. Brooks is widely regarded as one of the most naturalistic actresses of the silent era, she underplays things in a medium known for exaggerated characterizations; that her career floundered in talkies, (she'd make her last film, a low budget western with a pre star John Wayne about a decade later) is one of cinemas tragedies, unable to transcend her image as a 'silent star' she would leave the industry at age 31 but would live on to write a well regarded memorie, passing away in 1985 at age 78. ***1/2