Like each of Louise Brooks’ other films, Pandora’s Box was shown all around the world. And from what we know from accounts of the time — as well as the few surviving records, the film was cut, censored and even banned in a number of countries. In fact, the film was deemed controversial from its very beginning.
Pandora’s Box was based on two plays by the widely acclaimed German dramatist Frank Wedekind. Despite it being a German production made from a well known work of German literature, German censors were taken aback by what was then considered the film’s frank portrayal of sexuality. The modernist poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), writing in the English / Swiss film journal Close Up, noted the controversy when she stated the film had only “passed by the German censors after a stormy discussion of several hours duration.” Following this stormy discussion, the film received an approval card, which allowed for its public screening, on January 30, 1929. Under the German title Die Büchse der Pandora, the G.W. Pabst-directed film debuted some ten days later in Berlin, but still proved controversial among critics and the public.
With the rise of the Nazi party and Germany’s turn toward fascism, the film was banned in Germany in 1934, and remained so for eleven years until the end of the second world war in 1945. The German censorship document shown below notes “At the request of the Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, the approval of the following films was revoked on April 9, 1934.” Among the three films banned was Die Büchse der Pandora. The document goes on to state that approval card “No. 21540 issued by the Berlin Film Censorship Board on January 30, 1929” is invalid. And then ads, “I respectfully request that the police authorities in the area be informed accordingly.” [I can’t make out the name of the individual who signed this document. It seems to be either Seeger or Geeger.]
Over the next number of months following its initial release, Pandora’s Box opened across Europe, where it was either altered, cut or banned outright according to local standards. In France, where it played under the title LouLou, censors thought it indecent for a father and son to vie for the same woman. Their solution was to tinker with the inter-titles and convert the character Alwa from Dr. Schön’s son to his male secretary. Despite drastic changes to its story, Loulou found a home in the film clubs of Paris. Writing about one such screening in 1930, a French critic praised the film but noted it’s “abominable mutilation.” In England, where it was shown with an adults only rating and cut to 80 minutes (from a reported length of 131 minutes), a London newspaper noted the film was “in a chaotic form which reduces it from an entertainment to a study.” According to other European records which have been accessed online, the film was banned outright in Finland (1929), Norway (1929), and Sweden (c. 1929/1930). It was also banned in The Netherlands in 1930, though records indicate the film was shown on October 18, 1935 at De Uitkijk theater in Amsterdam, suggesting the Dutch ban may have been lifted by that time. The film’s reception in Portugal was similar to that of Germany. Beginning in 1930, Pandora’s Box was shown under the titles A Bocéta de Pandora and A caixa de Pandora. A few years later, after an authoritarian government came to power in Lisbon, the film was banned beginning in 1936. The Portuguese ban lasted through 1945.
In the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia), De doos van Pandora was prohibited for persons under 17 years of age. In Cuba, it was shown under the title, Lulu la Pecadora, which translates into English as the finger-wagging Lulu the Sinner.
By the time Pandora’s Box arrived in the United States in October 1929, it had been altered and likely cut. (The print that arrived in the United States was likely one intended for English-speaking countries, as this print was known to have English subtitles.) In fact, as the New York “Application for License” shown below indicates, the title of the 10 reel film is given as “Pandora’s Box (Revised Print)”. As well, the eliminations line is checked on the bottom of the form, suggesting further cuts would be necessary for the film to be approved by the state’s Motion Picture Division. (At the time, a number of American states, and even some cities, had their own censorship boards.) The two page “Report of Examiner”, from less than a month later, details the requested cuts and notes on which reel the objectionable material could be found. For example, the first cut reads “Reel 3: Eliminate scenes where Dr. Schöen and Lulu embrace sensuously, on couch.” Notably, on this same form, the film has been reduced to eight reels, suggesting as much as 24 minutes may have been cut from the print.
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| Application for License dated October 29, 1929 | Report of Examiner dated November 23, 1929, page 1 | Report of Examiner dated November 23, 1929, page 2 |
The handwritten “Report of Examiner” memo was typed up two days later and sent to Joseph R. Fliesler, the managing director of Moviegraphs, Inc., a distributor which oversaw the selection of films shown at the Fifty-Fifth Street Playhouse (the theater where Pandora’s Box was first shown in the United States). It was no easy task, as Fliesler’s letter from two days later (shown below) makes clear. The examiner requested the removal of seven scenes and ten subtitles from five reels. The reasons given were “immoral” – “will tend to corrupt morals” – “will tend to incite to crime”. Fliesler’s November 27th reply (shown below) notes that most of the requested eliminations were made, but states it is “manifestly impossible” to cut the scene in which Dr. Schön urges Lulu to kill herself — as it would “destroy the intent of the film”. The Motion Picture Division replied the same day and stated the cuts ordered were not satisfactorily made. Apparently, Fliesler’s cut more and two days later, examiners from the Motion Picture Division determined the eliminations were “made as directed”. On November 30th, a seal (or license) was issued for Pandora’s Box (show below).
Pandora’s Box opened a day or two later at the Fifty-Fifth Street Playhouse. (The exact date is not known, exactly.) This small Manhattan theater projected a statement ahead of the film lamenting it had been censored. The theater also apologized for an added saccharine ending in which Lulu joins the Salvation Army, instead of Pabst’s original ending in which Lulu is murdered in London. Critics took note of the film’s heavily cut form, which some thought rendered it nearly incoherent. In its review, Billboard wrote, “This feature spent several weeks in the censor’s board’s cutting room: and the result of its stay is a badly contorted drama that from beginning to end reeks with sex and vice that have been so crudely handled as not even to be spicily entertaining.” Photoplay, one of the leading fan magazines of the time, had a similar take, stating “When the censors got through with this German-made picture featuring Louise Brooks, there was little left but a faint, musty odor.”
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| Letter dated November 27, 1929 | License dated November 30, 1929 | Letter dated October 20, 1932 |
After New York, the film’s next known public screening took place six weeks later, when the re-titled The Box of Pandora opened on January 26, 1930 at the Little Theater in Baltimore, Maryland. Advertised as an “Ultra-Sophisticated Drama,” the film managed a one week run after encountering the same censorship problems experienced in New York City. This little known Baltimore screening is especially notable, not only for the fact that it was the first after NYC, but also for the revelatory comments which appeared in one local paper, the Baltimore Sun. Writing on January 28 under the initials D.K., the Sun critic stated they had attended an earlier, private screening of the “uncensored” film on New Year’s Eve, 1929. Though it is not known what D.K. meant by uncensored, the critic might be suggesting the print they saw differed from what had been publicly screened in New York. Perhaps it was the 10 reel print which first arrived in the United States in October of 1929.
D.K. authored a surprisingly opinionated piece, writing “In many respects it is a remarkable film and in others it is a disappointment…. This print has been mutilated and distorted by the Maryland Board of Motion Picture Censors, so that seeing it is like reading a book with several chapters cut out and an ending from another volume pasted in the back.” D.K. went on to say they felt the censors weren’t to blame, “since it is their duty to execute the laws formulated for the protection of those likely to be influenced by pornographic films.” The Baltimore critic also added, “The fact that the Box of Pandora deals with sex in a thoughtful, mature and honest way apparently has no bearing on the case…. The objection to The Box of Pandora seems to be based on the fact that it digs out certain facts, morbid and ugly in themselves, but which must be assimilated by those who would know the world in its entirety.” The Baltimore critic also noted that in the “correct version” of the film, Lulu is murdered by Jack the Ripper. “Throwing out this ending, the censors forced the substitute of one showing Lulu, for no apparent reason, abruptly following a Salvation Army band to a better and finer life. This is an artistic monstrosity; the original ending was inevitable and thus good.”
[Unlike the state of New York, many of whose censorship records survive, I had trouble accessing the records of the Maryland Board of Motion Picture Censors. The closest I could get was the 14th Annual Report Maryland State Board of Motion Picture Censors 1929-1930, which noted that during the period of October 1, 1929 through September 30, 1930, fur films were ultimately “rejected” or banned outright, while more than 148 were “eliminated” or cut. Regrettably, this seven page report doesn’t specify which films were banned, nor does it say which films were cut — presumably, The Box of Pandora was among the latter. The very helpful individual at the Maryland State Archives informed me there was a gap in state records covering this period, and that may explain why more detailed records are not available. For those interested in examining the rules under which the Maryland State Board of Motion Picture Censors operated, be sure and check this legislative document, Act of 1922, Chapter 390 (As amended by the Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland of 1927 and 1929.]But that’s not quiet the end of the story of Pandora’s Box….
Though its reputation was seemingly tarnished, the film was shown a few more times over the next few years. Among the few documented screenings, it’s known that Pandora’s Box returned to New York City in May of 1930, where it played for three-days as an “adults only” attraction at the 600-seat Acme Theater on Union Square. One year later, in May of 1931, Pandora’s Box was shown at another theater named Little, this one located in nearby Newark, New Jersey. This Little theater was a 300-seat second-run house which sometimes showed sensational and exploitative fare. Newspaper ads for this three-day New Jersey run also warned “Adults Only” – with the film luridly promoted as “The German sensation that actually reveals most of the evils of the world” offering “Raw reality! A bitter exposé of things you know but never discuss.”
Despite its censored state and poor reputation — and never mind that it was a foreign silent film in the sound era — there were those who still believed in G.W. Pabst’s mistreated masterpiece. As the October 20, 1932 letter on Europa letterhead (shown above) notes, an individual from Moviegraphs Inc. — the American distributor who first brought Pandora’s Box to the United States, applied for and received a sub-seal (replacement license) in order to continue showing Pandora’s Box in the state of New York. Fae R. Miske of Moviegraphs wrote, “We enclose herewith application for sub-seal on PANDORA’S BOX. Will you please be good enough to have this seal ready for our boy tomorrow morning.” That sub-seal was put to use in December of 1933 when Box of Pandora was shown at the 5th Ave. Theater in New York City during another three day run advertised as “Adults Only”.
