louisebrooks19061985: Reform School Girls: Thymian (Louise Brooks) is subjected to the horrors of th
louisebrooks19061985: Reform School Girls: Thymian (Louise Brooks) is subjected to the horrors of the ‘school for wayward girls’ - the horrible soup! the sewing of baby clothes that reduce her to tears! exercise, marching and bunk beds! A creepy towering administrator (Andrews Engelmann) and his equally creepy dictatorial headmistress (Valeska Gert) run the place with an iron fist. Louise writes a pleading letter home almost immediately, then changes her mind and writes to her friend Count Osdorff instead. Meanwhile, her father has decided to marry the new housekeeper (Franziska Kinz), who instantly seems to be pregnant and takes over Thymian’s bedroom as the new nursery. Also, things aren’t going so well for Count Osdorff (Andre Roanne), who seems to be failing each attempt at ‘learning a trade’ that his father, the Elder Count Osdorff (Arnold Korff) throws his way (the latest, a comical attempt to milk a cow, seems to be a way for Pabst to lighten up the proceedings after so much doom and gloom), and has disinherited him from the family fortune. The young Osdorff tries to plead with Thymian’s father and his new wife, but they are not swayed by his arguments, especially since he is now penniless (a lot seems to ride on how much money is either owed or in hand in this picture of society).Back at the reform school, Thymian has made a friend with bunkmate Erika (Edith Meinhard), but things aren’t getting any easier with the administrators of the school. In one particularly memorable and weird scene, the headmistress oversees a rigid exercise class whilst beating a tin drum, and seems to enjoy the experience, well, … a bit much. At one point, the girls seem to have had enough and revolt, and during the melee, Thymian and Erika escape the school and take to the streets, where they meet up with Count Osdorff. Osdorff and Erika head for a nearby ‘house of ill repute’ as a refuge, giving Thymian an address for later reference. Thymian is immediately concerned with the welfare of her baby (who we last saw left in the care of a wet nurse). She makes her way to the wet nurse’s apartment only to find that the baby has died. Thymian walks the streets in a daze, running into a crowd of people around a hot dog vendor, who knows of the address that she has scribbled down from Erika, and takes her to the whorehouse. -- source link