I wish that the documentary had given this incident more emphasis, as I suspect that it was one of the major events in Brooks's life: much of her later behaviour was self-destructive, and very much fits the profile of someone who was sexually abused in childhood.

The narration briefly mentions an incident in Brooks's childhood, when a male neighbour molested her, and afterwards her mother blamed her. As usual for Neely's excellent documentaries, he comes up with some amazingly obscure photos and artefacts here. Both actresses began as dancers, both had minor success on Broadway before achieving Hollywood stardom, and both were intensely devoted to a younger brother (in MacLaine's case, Warren Beatty). In some ways, MacLaine's life and career are very different from Brooks's, yet in other ways they're very similar. 'Looking for Lulu' is narrated by Shirley MacLaine, an interesting choice. Admittedly, it was Brooks who encouraged this habit with her fascinating memoirs. I dislike the fact that many overviews of Brooks (including this documentary) make a point of referring to Brooks herself as 'Lulu', as if she was that fictional character. Regrettably, Brooks's fans continue to assert that she WAS Lulu, the character she played in one (or, unofficially, both) of her two German films. (Which is nonsense: if Marilyn Monroe really WERE Norma Jean, her fans wouldn't be interested.) In Brooks's case, her fans tend to skim over her entire Hollywood career in order to fixate on the two films she made in Germany for GW Pabst: those two films *do* contain Brooks's two best performances, but I feel that the constant emphasis on her German films does a great injustice to her Hollywood films, in several of which Brooks does give excellent (and sexy) performances.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, Marilyn's fans would have us believe that Monroe was some wounded little fawn, who - underneath the glamour - was actually Norma Jean the girl next door. (Full disclosure: I've had some professional dealings with Hugh Neely, and I consider him a friend, but I hope that this hasn't coloured my perceptions of his films.) I enjoy Louise Brooks's movies, but I tend to be alienated by her fandom cult, much as I'm alienated by the fandom cult for Marilyn Monroe.

'Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu' is one instalment in an ongoing series of documentaries by Hugh Munro Neely, each spotlighting an actress of the early film era.

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