Enjoyable as a document of the voice of Louise Brooks. Her voice was fine. The problem of transition was more complex. After becoming an icon of the age in silent movies, the sudden appearance of her voice along with her filmed image shattered the imaginary of her silent movie acolytes, who had imagined but not heard her voice in photoplays. We perceive the same artistic surprise when a novel is transposed in a movie, when a B&W picture is colorized, and an innovation in sight and sound is introduced. Along the same lines, 1080p when introduced on home TVs and DVD Blu-ray sources had the unexpected effect to "show the set" on some old movies and especially on some old TV serials like MASH, Friends and ER, because lightning and direction was for 480i video sources.
Another example is the transposition of comic strips into movies or cartoons: it was very difficult for me to appreciate The Peanuts in movies after an extensive and prolonged love for The Peanuts comic strip: my imaginary of Snoopy and Charlie Brown was shattered once motion and voice was added, and the pleasure I felt reading the strip simply was not there in the least while watching the cartoon.
So, in the end, it is true that Louise Brooks career was damaged by the sound recording of her voice, however the problem was not her voice quality, but the sudden appearance of the voice in an imaginary context where she had become a silent icon and allowed countless movie viewers to have a personal and imaginary idea of what her voice should have been.
Louise Brooks is an eternal icon of intense and complex feminine sensuality, transcending time. Any photoplay, including this badly preserved short talkie, is worth watching and collecting as a timeless artistic expression and document of her contribution to adding joy and pleasure to this world.
