Empty Saddles

Only reason to watch this dreary grade-B Western is to see Louise Brooks, the difficult but fascinating star of the late silent period. Brooks was a rising starlet in silent films, landed a few starring roles (the excellent Beggars of Life) but was too difficult for Hollywood to bother with. Brooks made 2 silent films in Germany (not France as the other review states), and it's on these 2 films--Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl--that her reputation has rested. Her refusal to refilm parts of The Canary Murder Case as a talkie sealed her fate. She sporadically attempted to get back into Hollywood films, but she never made much headway. She was relegated to supporting parts and B films. Toward the end of the 30s, she was cast only in Westerns, so at age 32, she left films forever. Brooks is not very good in this film, but it's interesting to see this fabled star playing an unexotic character. She's still a beauty and has a fine voice. But like Frances Farmer and Clara Bow and a rafter of other stars who crossed the studio system, none of that mattered. Her book of essays--Lulu in Hollywood--is still a great read. Buck Jones and Gertrude Astor, who has a small part, had also been in silent films. But beyond Brooks, Empty Saddles is boring claptrap.