Based on two plays by the acclaimed German dramatist Frank Wedekind, Die Büchse der Pandora (or Pandora’s Box), tells the story of Lulu, a lovely, amoral, and somewhat petulant showgirl whose behavior leads to tragic consequences. Louise Brooks plays Lulu, the singular femme fatale. As Brooks’ biographer Barry Paris put it, her “sinless sexuality hypnotizes and destroys the weak, lustful men around her.” And not just men. . . Lulu’s sexual magnetism had few bounds, and this once controversial film features what is thought to be the screen’s first lesbian character.
When the film premiered at the Gloria–Palast in Berlin at the beginning of 1929, critics and the movie-going public were largely dismissive of the much anticipated work. The very idea of the film had been rejected by some who claimed “Lulu is inconceivable without the words that Wedekind made her speak.” Hoping to deflect such criticism, director G.W. Pabst conducted a well-publicized search for an actress who was just the right type: according to one film journal of the time, the search was a topic of considerable interest, and “Everywhere one went one heard ‘What about Lulu?’ and ‘Is Lulu found yet?’” Once the part was cast, however, Germans objected to the little known Brooks in the role, doubting an American actress could play what was thought to be an essentially German character.
As a psychological study, some also found Pandora’s Box a disappointment; such critics regretted Pabst’s seeming retreat from the social and political engagement of his earlier works. Critics and censors were likewise taken aback by what was then considered a rather frank portrayal of sexuality. Even from afar, the poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), writing in the English/Swiss film journal Close Up, noted the controversy when she stated the film had “passed by the German censors after a stormy discussion of several hours duration.”
Pabst’s choice of Brooks was said to be a mistake, and her acting came under fire. Many German critics stated she looked attractive but appeared unconvincing. Siegfried Kracauer, writing in Frankfurter Zeitung, thought Brooks not enough of a whore. While one German critic called Brooks “an inanimate dummy.” Variety’s correspondent in Germany chimed in with a critique hardly more sympathetic, “Louise Brooks, especially imported for the title role, did not pan out, due to no fault of hers. She is quite unsuited to the vamp type which was called for by the play from which the picture was made.”
Pandora’s Box played across Europe, where it was similarly received and cut according to local standards. In France, for example, censors thought it indecent for a father and son to vie sexually for the same woman. Their solution was to tinker with the titles and convert Alwa (Franz Lederer) from Dr. Schön’s son to his male secretary. Other changes were made in other countries. The film was shown in north Africa, South America, and Asia.
By the time Pandora’s Box debuted in the United States in late 1929, nearly a third of the film was reportedly missing. The 55th Street Playhouse in New York City, the small art house that debuted the film, projected a statement lamenting that the film had been censored. The theater also apologized for the “added saccharine ending” in which Lulu joins the Salvation Army.
Quinn Martin, critic at the New York World, wrote “It was the privilege of a few reviewers to see Pandora’s Box shortly after it was received by its American exhibitors and before the New York censors got at it. In the beginning it appeared to this one to be a rather harmlessly lewd little exhibition with misery and murder and a touch of abnormalcy along other lines, but at that time, at least, it told a sort of story. Now, it is recommended principally, if at all, for its striking photographs of Miss Louise Brooks, the American actress. At least, the persons who have charge of our film morals have seen fit to leave Miss Brooks’s back, legs, and haircut as they pictured at the outset. Miss Brooks, therefore, retains all of her original charms. . . . It does occur to me that Miss Brooks, while one of the handsomest of all the screen girls I have seen, is still one of the most eloquently terrible actresses who ever looked a camera in the eye.”
Billboard magazine had a similar take, “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. Louise Brooks and Fritz Kortner are starred, with Miss Brooks supposed to be a vampire who causes the ruin of everyone she meets. How anyone could fall for la belle Brooks with the clothes she wears in this vehicle is beyond imagination. . . . This is a silent production that has no business playing anything but guild theaters.”
Photoplay, one of the leading fan magazines of the time, noted “When the censors got through with this German-made picture featuring Louise Brooks, there was little left but a faint, musty odor. It is the story, both spicy and sordid, of a little dancing girl who spread evil everywhere without being too naughty herself. Interesting to American fans because it shows Louise, formerly an American ingénue in silent films, doing grand work as the evil-spreader.” Mordaunt Hall, critic for the New York Times, famously countered when he wrote, “Miss Brooks is attractive and she moves her head and eyes at the proper moment, but whether she is endeavoring to express joy, woe, anger or satisfaction it is often difficult to decide.” Variety put the nail in the coffin when its critic opined “Better for Louise Brooks had she contented exhibiting that supple form in two-reel comedies or Paramount features. Pandora’s Box, a rambling thing that doesn’t help her, nevertheless proves that Miss Brooks is not a dramatic lead.”
Regina Crewe, writing in the New York American, said “But not even the censors may be blamed for all the film’s deficiencies – the acting, for instance, and the rather absurd melodramatic story. . . . Unlike Anna May Wong, and other Hollywood actresses who have blossomed into skilled players under European influence, Miss Brooks doesn’t seem to have improved since her departure. She is comely as ever, but her pantomimic abilities are sadly limited. . . . The picture is one of the less deserving efforts and was received with apathy by the audience.”
But was it? Despite poor reviews, the film was widely written about (for a limited release) and did well in its New York debut. The New York Sun reported Pandora’s Box “ . . . has smashed the Fifty-fifth Street Playhouse’s box office records. It will therefore be held for another week.” At a time when most new or first-run films played only one week, a two-week run was considered noteworthy, and a little above average.
In 1929, however, sound had come in and poorly reviewed silent films from abroad were little in demand. Although exhibition records of the time are far from complete, the film was rarely shown in America in the years following its New York debut. Following New York, Pandora’s Box was shown at the Little Theater in Baltimore (January 1930), Acme Theater in New York City (May 1930), Little theater in Newark, New Jersey (May 1931), and 5th Ave. Theater in New York City (December 1933). The film’s last known public showing in the United States prior to its later revival was at the Sunday playhouse at Taliesin, the Wisconsin estate of Frank Lloyd Wright, in May, 1934.
After that, Pandora’s Box fell into obscurity, and was only recalled in reference works as a failed film by a noted German director. It took decades for film historians and audiences to rediscover the work. In his 1989 biography of Brooks, Barry Paris put it this way: “A case can be made that Pandora’s Box was the last of the silent films—not literally, but aesthetically. On the threshold of its premature death, the medium in Pandora achieved near perfection in form and content.”
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STORY SYNOPSIS:
Lulu is a beautiful young woman who all men find irresistible. She is being kept by the rich industrialist, Dr. Ludwig Schön. She is his mistress, and he is engaged to be married to a respectable woman of his own class. To be rid of her, Schön arranges for Lulu to appear in his son’s musical revue, but the son too falls for Lulu’s charms. When Schön and his fiancée go to see the revue, Lulu gets upset, Schön attempts to calm her, and the two are caught in a compromising situation. The elder Schön now feels he must marry Lulu, knowing full well it will ruin his reputation. On the wedding day, everything comes to a crisis. Schön’s actions (spoiler alert) cost him his life, and Lulu is tried for manslaughter. She escapes with the help of her old cronies, and together, they flee the country and enter a seemingly inescapable downward spiral toward destitution and further tragedy … and Jack the Ripper.
PRODUCTION HISTORY:
The film was in production in Berlin at the Nero-Film Studio between October 17 and November 23, 1928.
| CAST: | |
|
Louise Brooks
|
Lulu |
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Fritz Kortner
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Dr. Peter Schön |
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Franz Lederer
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Alwa Schön |
|
Carl Goetz
|
Schigolch |
|
Krafft-Raschig
|
Rodrigo Quast |
|
Alice Roberts
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Countess Anna Geschwitz |
|
Gustav Diessl
|
Jack the Ripper |
|
Sig Arno
|
stage manager (uncredited) |
|
Daisy D’Ora
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Charlotte M.A. von Zanik, Schön’s fiancée (uncredited) |
|
Michael von Newlinsky
|
Marquis Casti-Piani |
| Hans Casparius | chef / cook |
| Paul Falkenberg | |
| Sid Kay’s Fellows | wedding band (uncredited) |
| CREDITS: | |
|
Studio:
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Nero-Film AG |
|
Distributor:
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Süd-Film |
|
Producer:
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Heinz Landsmann and Seymour Nebenzahl (uncredited) |
|
Production manager:
|
Georg C. Horetsky |
|
Director:
|
Georg Wilhelm Pabst |
|
Assistant Directors:
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Mark Sorkin and Paul Falkenberg |
|
Writing Credits:
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Ladislaus Vajda (screenplay), adapted from the plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora by Frank Wedekind |
|
Cinematography:
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Günther Krampf |
|
Film editor:
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Unknown (mistakenly credited to Joseph R. Fliesler, the uncredited editor of the American release) |
|
Art Direction:
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Andrei Andreiev and Ernö Metzner (uncredited) |
|
Title cards:
|
Marcel Tuszkay |
|
Music:
|
Curtis Ivan Salke |
|
Costumes:
|
Gottlieb Hesch |
|
Format:
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Silent – black & white |
|
Running Time:
|
9 reels (10,676 feet), or 131 minutes – elsewhere reported as The Netherlands: 3029 meters. United Kingdom: 7,100 feet. |
|
Premiere:
|
February 9, 1929 (Gloria–Palast in Berlin, Germany) |
|
Release date:
|
January 30, 1929 |
|
Country of Origin:
|
Germany |
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Under its German title, Die Büchse der Pandora, documented screenings of the film took place in Austria, Danzig (a free city-state), Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia), Latvia (then part of the U.S.S.R), Luxembourg, Ukraine (then part of the U.S.S.R), and the United States.
Outside Germany, Die Büchse der Pandora was exhibited or written about under the title Loulou (Algeria); La caja de Pandora and Lulu (Argentina); Le boîte de Pandore and Loulou (Belgium); A caixa de Pandora (Brazil); Кутията на Пандора (Bulgaria); La caja de Pandora and Lulu (Chile); Lulu La Pecadora (Cuba); Pandořina skříňka or Pandořina skříňka (Lulu) and Umrít Büchse der Pandoru (Czechoslovakia) and Pandorina skrínka (Slovakia); Pandoras æske (Denmark); De doos van Pandora (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Pandora’s Box (England); Pandora laegas (Estonia); Pandoran lipas (Finland); Loulou and Le boîte de Pandore (France); Λούλου and Lulu- το κουτί της Πανδώρας (Greece); Pandóra szelencéje (Hungary); Lulu and Il vaso di Pandora and Jack lo Sventratore (Italy); パンドラの箱 or Pandoranohako and The Box of Pandora (Japan); Korea (Box of Pandora); Pandoras lade and Pandoras Kaste (Latvia); Pandoros skrynia (Lithuania); Lou lou La Boite de Pandore (Luxembourg); La caja de Pandora (Mexico); De doos van Pandora (The Netherlands*); Pandoras eske (Norway); Lulu and Puszka Pandory (Poland); A Bocéta de Pandora and A caixa de Pandora (Portugal); Cutia Pandorei and Lulu and Pandora szelenceje (Romania); Lulu and Pandorina skrinjica (Slovenia); La caja de Pandora (Spain); Pandoras ask (Sweden); Meş’um Fahişe and Meş’um Fahişe (Lulu) (Turkey); Dzieje Kokoty Lulu (Ukraine); Box of Pandora and Pandora’s Box (English-language press) and Pandora szelencéje (Hungarian-language press) and Ящик Пандоры (Russian-language press) (United States); La caja de Pandora and Lulu and El alma de la herrera (Uruguay, sound version); Lulu and Лулу and Ящик Пандорьі (U.S.S.R.); La caja de Pandora (Venezula).
Since the late 1950s, numerous screenings of the film have been taken place around the world, including first ever showings under the title Pandora’s Box in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, Northern Ireland, and elsewhere. Within the last decade, a first ever showing of the film took place in Turkey under the titles Pandora’nın Kutusu and Pandora’nýn Kutusuö. The film has also been shown on television in a few countries in Europe as well as in Australia, Canada, the United States.
* According to European censorship records, the film was banned in Finland (1929), Norway (1929), and Sweden (dates unknown). Despite the film also being banned in The Netherlands in 1930, it was shown on October 18, 1935 in Amsterdam at De Uitkijk theater. With the rise of Nazi party, the film was banned in Germany from 1933-45. It was also banned in Portugal from 1936-1945.
STATUS:
The film is extant, though some footage cut by censors following the film’s release is missing and considered lost. Over the years, a few differing versions of the film have been released both theatrically and for home video on VHS, Laser Disc, DVD, and Blu-ray in Europe and the United States.
FURTHER READING: RELATED DOCUMENTS, ARTICLES, PROGRAM NOTES, etc…
Along with the Barry Paris biography of Louise Brooks, two other books which provide a good deal of information on the film are Pandora’s Box (Lulu) (Lorrimer, 1971), and Pamela Hutchinson’s Pandora’s Box (BFI, 2018). Information on both of these titles can be found on ESSENTIAL READING. Additionally, the Pandora’s Box bibliography here on the LBS website contains links to a small number of online articles. Otherwise, here are some additional online pieces.
M. Поманебка. Ящик Пандоры. KiNO, March 1930.
— early Russian language article on the film (in need of translation)
Die Büchse der Pandora
— five pages of undated German censorship notes, not the inter-titles as stated
Card, James. “Psychological Masterpieces: Pandora’s Box.” University of California, Los Angeles, 1962.
— four pages of program notes from the UCLA series
anonymous. “Pandora’s Box.” National Film Theater (London), n.d.
— two pages of program notes
Pandora’s Box (Lulu): a film. Simon & Schuster, 1971.
— contains the shooting script of the film, cast listing and credits, and dozens of stills, as well as a brief introduction by Brooks, an article by the actress entitled “Pabst and Lulu,” and an essay by film writer Lotte H. Eisner entitled “Pabst and the Miracle of Louise Brooks.”
anonymous. “G.W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box.” Janus Films, 1973.
— two pages from an early Janus Films catalog
Card, James. James Card introduces Pandora’s Box at the Pacific Film Archive, 1978.
— audio recording of East House curator James Card, with an introduction by Tom Luddy
Bloch, Judy. “Restored treasures of German expressionist cinema from the Munich Film Archives: Pandora’s Box.” Pacific Film Archive, 1981.
— four pages of notes
anonymous. “Pandora’s Box.” George Eastman House, 1980s?.
— one page of program notes
Merritt, Russell. “Pandora’s Box.” San Francisco International Film Festival, 1995.
— one page of program notes
anonymous. “Die Büchse der Pandora.” Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin, 1997.
— two pages of program notes in German, French and English
Ebert, Roger. “Great Movies: Pandora’s Box“. RogerEbert.com, April 26, 1998.
— this essays was included in Ebert’s 2002 book, Great Movies
Kizirian, Shari. “Pandora’s Box“. San Francisco Silent Film Festival, 2006.
— program essay
Hagopian, Kevin. “Pandora’s Box.” New York State Writers Institute, n.d.
— recent film notes
Gladysz, Thomas. “Music in Pandora’s Box: Sid Kay’s Fellows.” Louise Brooks Society blog, April 29, 2012.
— illustrated blog post; see also “More on Sid Kay’s Fellows” on the Louise Brooks Society blog, October 20, 2012.
Gladysz, Thomas. “Pandora’s Box“. San Francisco Silent Film Festival, 2012.
— program essay
Hutchinson, Pamela. “‘Pandora’s Box with the lid off!’: Lulu’s misadventures in London.” Silent London, April 8, 2017.
— blog article by the author of the 2018 BFI book
Kermode, Mark. “Kermode Uncut: Pandora’s Box.” BBC, May 2018.
— video commentary from the UK critic
La Compagnia Cinema. “Lulù – Il vaso di pandora” di G.W.Pabst (1929) – Introduzione al film,” August 18, 2020.
— Italian-language video commentary
Gladysz, Thomas. “Lulu in America: ‘Sin Lust Evil!’ and the Lost History of Louise Brooks and Pandora’s Box.” Film International, April 23, 2023.
— online article which dispels some assumptions about the films
anonymous. “Pandora’s Box.” Janus Films, 2024.
— online press kit with links to press notes, stills, trailer and poster (the press notes contain factual errors)
| British Film Institute, 2018 | Janus Films trailer, 2024 |