The few stars of the silent era who retain the power to draw audiences today have salvaged many films that would otherwise be entirely forgotten. These films don't survive by virtue of artistic merit, like METROPOLIS or THE CROWD, but by virtue of starring (or even featuring in a minor role) someone like Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, or Louise Brooks. LOVE 'EM AND LEAVE 'EM is one of these films: without the presence of Brooks, it's unlikely that it would ever be shown. But there's historical value in such examples of average fare, and this film in particular functions as a time capsule of the 1920s. The clothes and sets alone are a treat for those interested in the period, and they realistically evoke the lives of young working people in New York.
A slight but charming film, LOVE 'EM AND LEAVE 'EM revolves around two orphaned sisters who live in a boarding house and work at a department store. The older sister Mame (Evelyn Brent) is responsible, virtuous, and slightly frumpy; the younger sister Janie (Louise Brooks) is a handful, a spoiled cutie who lives for Charleston contests and gets ahead by flirting with every man in sight. She has no scruples about stealing her sister's boyfriend (or her clothes) while she's away on a vacation, and she gets into trouble when she loses the money she's supposed to be collecting for an employees' dance on the horse races. Mame is saintly enough to come to her rescue in spite of everything, but she does so in a way that's anything but saintly, and that reveals her to be a more formidable woman than we previously suspected.
Evelyn Brent (perhaps best known as "Feathers," the gangster's moll in UNDERWORLD) is a striking woman, with narrow dark eyes, a pre-Raphaelite profile, and an intense, brooding presence. Unfortunately for Brent, she has to share the screen with the 19-year-old Louise Brooks, a situation no actress would welcome. As the spoiled Janie, Brooks is so natural and perfectly cast that you wonder if she's acting at allwhich can be a definition of great acting. Somehow you can't help but like her bratty character: she's so unrepentantly selfish, and so lustrous with youthful energy and delight in her own adorableness. She glistens, with her patent-leather bob and slinky black satin dresses, her bright black eyes and snow-white face, her incandescent smile. She has a Ziegfeld girl's wiggly walk, and at the employees' dance she gets to cut loose with a fast Charleston, dressed in black tights, a white tutu, a black leotard and a white top-hat. The camera didn't just love her, it was infatuated with her. An unrepentant, fun-loving sex kitten who lives off men and throws tantrums when she doesn't get her way come to think of it, Janie Walsh is not so different from Pabst's Lulu, though presented with none of the nuance or depth of Brooks's definitive role.
Leading man Lawrence Gray is a nondescript actor, and his character is something of a jerk even before he starts cheating on his fiancée with her sister. He has a high opinion of his skills as a window-dresser despite the fact that all his good ideas come from Mame; it never occurs to him to acknowledge this when he's praised by his boss. This characterthe cocky young man who needs to learn some hard lessonsis common in films of the twenties. In this case, however, he doesn't seem to learn anything. Finally, Osgood Perkins plays the creep down the hall who lures Janie into betting on the races, and cheats her out of her money when she wins. He's perfect as a homely would-be Casanova, who "spent six months curing halitosis only to find he was unpopular anyway." He thinks he's going to get lucky when Mame goes to his room for a drink: instead, she steals his wallet and then beats the stuffing out of him. Now if only, for a finale, she would repeat the procedure on her straying boyfriend!
A slight but charming film, LOVE 'EM AND LEAVE 'EM revolves around two orphaned sisters who live in a boarding house and work at a department store. The older sister Mame (Evelyn Brent) is responsible, virtuous, and slightly frumpy; the younger sister Janie (Louise Brooks) is a handful, a spoiled cutie who lives for Charleston contests and gets ahead by flirting with every man in sight. She has no scruples about stealing her sister's boyfriend (or her clothes) while she's away on a vacation, and she gets into trouble when she loses the money she's supposed to be collecting for an employees' dance on the horse races. Mame is saintly enough to come to her rescue in spite of everything, but she does so in a way that's anything but saintly, and that reveals her to be a more formidable woman than we previously suspected.
Evelyn Brent (perhaps best known as "Feathers," the gangster's moll in UNDERWORLD) is a striking woman, with narrow dark eyes, a pre-Raphaelite profile, and an intense, brooding presence. Unfortunately for Brent, she has to share the screen with the 19-year-old Louise Brooks, a situation no actress would welcome. As the spoiled Janie, Brooks is so natural and perfectly cast that you wonder if she's acting at allwhich can be a definition of great acting. Somehow you can't help but like her bratty character: she's so unrepentantly selfish, and so lustrous with youthful energy and delight in her own adorableness. She glistens, with her patent-leather bob and slinky black satin dresses, her bright black eyes and snow-white face, her incandescent smile. She has a Ziegfeld girl's wiggly walk, and at the employees' dance she gets to cut loose with a fast Charleston, dressed in black tights, a white tutu, a black leotard and a white top-hat. The camera didn't just love her, it was infatuated with her. An unrepentant, fun-loving sex kitten who lives off men and throws tantrums when she doesn't get her way come to think of it, Janie Walsh is not so different from Pabst's Lulu, though presented with none of the nuance or depth of Brooks's definitive role.
Leading man Lawrence Gray is a nondescript actor, and his character is something of a jerk even before he starts cheating on his fiancée with her sister. He has a high opinion of his skills as a window-dresser despite the fact that all his good ideas come from Mame; it never occurs to him to acknowledge this when he's praised by his boss. This characterthe cocky young man who needs to learn some hard lessonsis common in films of the twenties. In this case, however, he doesn't seem to learn anything. Finally, Osgood Perkins plays the creep down the hall who lures Janie into betting on the races, and cheats her out of her money when she wins. He's perfect as a homely would-be Casanova, who "spent six months curing halitosis only to find he was unpopular anyway." He thinks he's going to get lucky when Mame goes to his room for a drink: instead, she steals his wallet and then beats the stuffing out of him. Now if only, for a finale, she would repeat the procedure on her straying boyfriend!
