Like each of Louise Brooks’ other films, Pandora’s Box was shown all around the world in the years following its release. Today, the film has a reputation for having been something of a commercial failure, but that really isn’t true. In fact, it circulated for more than six years on five continents — all across Europe (where it wasn’t banned), in north Africa, in a few countries in Asia, in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America. This page displays examples of vintage film posters for Pandora’s Box. Most come from Europe, though there is one from Argentina and one from Japan. Each was in use in 1929 or 1930, except for the first, which may date from 1928. (Notably, it does not depict Louise Brooks, but does depict Franz Lederer.)
Posters can be interesting documents, not just graphically, but for the details they reveal, such as the title of the film in different languages and different countries, the name of its distributor, the name of the poster artist, and the way the film was promoted. The Argentinean poster, for example, describes the film as a “great movie” with “extraordinary sound”. But what sound? (Might this be the same “thrilling sound effects” once used to promote the film in New Jersey in 1931?) Also, if you are surprised to see a Japanese poster for Pandora’s Box, don’t be. The film was also shown in Korea and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). It got around! And anyways, Brooks was a major star in Japan who enjoyed a cult following almost the equal of Clara Bow!
Other promotional graphics can be found on these LBS web pages: Movie Posters || Promotional Material || Newspaper Advertisements For more about the film, check out the Pandora’s Box (filmography page). If you know of other posters, have additional information, or have a scan of a poster you would like to share, please CONTACT the Louise Brooks Society. It would be great if someone could translate the text from the Japanese poster….
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| Germany, c. 1928 | Germany, 1929 | Germany, 1929 | Germany, 1929 |
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| Austria, 1929 | Belgium / The Netherlands, 1929 | France, 1929 | France, 1929 ? |
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| Argentina, 1929 | Japan, 1929 |