splash  Flicker Alley and the San Francisco Film Preserve have announced the release of Focus on Louise Brooks, a Blu-ray compilation of the actress’ early performances, including her film debut in Herbert Brenon’s The Street of Forgotten Men. The 1925 melodrama has been fully restored and is being made available for the very first time on home video, joined by extant materials from three additional Brooks features, which are also making their home video debut. The other three films on the disc are The American Venus (1926), Just Another Blonde (1926), and Now We’re in the Air (1927). More information on this new release can be found on the Flicker Alley website.

Thomas Gladysz and the Louise Brooks Society has long been involved in this project, which was ten years in the making.The LBS assisted with the preservation of both The Street of Forgotten Men and Now We’re in the Air, while Gladysz penned the booklet essay and contributed audio commentaries. This single-disc, multi-region Blu-ray is a treasure trove of rare Brooks performances with extant material from her earliest films brought together in one place, newly restored, and presented in a deluxe edition. For more about each title, see the LBS filmography pages about each film linked below.

  • The Street of Forgotten Men /  1925 / Directed by Herbert Brenon / 75 minutes / Famous Players-Lasky Corporation (LBS pages on the film)
    Restored from a 35mm nitrate negative preserved at the Library of Congress, the film’s missing second reel has been reconstructed using film stills as well as text and dialogue based on a copy of the original script, preserved by the New York Public Library. It features a musical score by Stephen Horne.
  • The American Venus (Extant Materials) / 1926 / Directed by Frank Tuttle / 8 minutes / Famous Players-Lasky (LBS pages on the film)
    Although most of Paramount Pictures’ beauty contest comedy The American Venus no longer survives, all extant material (including trailers, test footage, and a Technicolor fragment) have been gathered. Brooks’ first creditted role places her opposite Esther Ralston, Ford Sterling, Lawrence Gray, and the 1925 Miss America Fay Lanphier (all of whom are seen in the surviving material).
  • Just Another Blonde (Fragment) / 1926 / Directed by Alfred Santell / 32 minutes / First National (LBS pages on the film)
    Brooks plays against type in director Alfred Santell’s Coney Island rom-com, starring as bookish Diana O’Sullivan opposite Dorothy Mackaill in the title role. The surviving footage includes segments from five of the original six reels. Also included on the disc is the film’s original trailer, which contains footage not otherwise seen.
  • Now We’re in the Air (Fragment) / 1927 / Directed by Frank R. Strayer / 23 minutes / Paramount Pictures (LBS pages on the film)
    This high flying World War I comedy delivers a double dose of Brooks, setting her as twin sisters Griselle and Grisette opposite hapless aviators played by Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton. Sadly, only Grisette’s role still exists today in the film’s surviving 22 minute sequence.
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The Street of Forgotten Men The American Venus The American Venus
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The American Venus Just Another Blonde Now We’re in the Air

 

Focus on Louise Brooks presents Louise Brooks as she hasn’t been seen in nearly 100 years. Besides the above mentioned films, this new release also contains new musical accompaniment and a generous selection of bonus materials.

  • Restoration Demo – A look at the painstaking process that went into preserving the films included in this set

  • Audio Commentaries – Informative audio tracks are included with film scholar Pamela Hutchinson on The Street of Forgotten Men, with author and film historians Thomas Gladysz and Kathy Rose O’Regan on Just Another Blonde, and with Thomas Gladysz and Robert Byrne on The American Venus and Now We’re in the Air.

  • Looking at Lulu – Explore the fascinating behind the scenes life of Louise Brooks with an extended featurette with historian Pamela Hutchinson

  • Image Galleries – Featuring production stills and promotional material

  • Booklet Insert – An essay by film historian Thomas Gladysz, and restoration notes by Robert Byrne

  • English closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as subtitle tracks in English, Spanish, French, and German

  • Blu-ray Authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion

  • All Region Encoding (A,B,C)

Focus on Louise Brooks presents Louise Brooks as she hasn’t been seen in nearly 100 years. She is lively, coy, flirty, drop-dead gorgeous and a joy to behold. And like Clara Bow, Brooks has got “IT”. If all this isn’t enough to tempt you… there is a gorgeous limited edition spot gloss slipcover only available at the Flicker Alley website and select indie retailers. The listed release date is January 13, 2026.

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Focus on Louise Brooks (standard cover) Focus on Louise Brooks (limited edition slipcover)