Sam F
Captured by Wedekind as an icon of the 20s sexual empowerment, Lulu went on as the heroine in the last opera of serialist Alban Berg, but she only became real, breathing and beckoning through Louise Brooks' more than human beauty, courage and talent. Pabst crowned the silent era with this masterwork, never to be forgotten.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
06/11/24
Full Review
Matthew B
Spare a thought for Georg Wilhelm Pabst. There are some who regard him as one of the greatest film directors of the 1920s and 1930s, but discussion of his two most famous works – Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl – often ends up focusing on his lead actress, Louise Brooks.
In 1929 when the film came out, neither Pabst nor Brooks got much credit for their work. In Germany, critics and audiences disliked the extent to which Pabst changed the original source material, Frank Wedekind's plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora. Pabst did anticipate this by referring to his film at the beginning as variations on the theme of the plays.
Louise Brooks too came in for criticism, as many people (including some of the cast and crew) felt that it was wrong to cast an American actress in a role that they saw as quintessentially German. As a result, the film was not a commercial success on its release, and it was largely forgotten until critics rediscovered it in the 1950s and realised that they had found a hidden classic.
Much of the credit must go to Pabst, who showed mastery in handling a wide array of disparate scenes, including a growing domestic tragedy, the hustle and bustle taking place at the back and front stage of a theatre, the seedy atmosphere of a gambling den, and the murky fog of London streets. The film also incorporates a wide range of genres including drama, melodrama, comedy, thriller and crime.
A lesser director would have left a movie of uncertain tone in which the various unconnected scenes are chaotic and messy. Pabst pulls it together offering richness to each scene, and ensuring that variety is mixed with a consistency of style.
The consistency is largely underpinned by his leading star, Louise Brooks. Her character Lulu dominates the film. The title is an indirect allusion to her. She appears in almost every scene, and when she is absent the linking scenes all relate to her.
It might seem as if Lulu is merely Louise Brooks herself (even the name Lulu sounds like a shortened nickname for Louise). Of course Brooks was not the same as Lulu in real life, but she certainly had many similarities. Like Lulu, Brooks had enormous magnetism. She is one of the best-remembered silent movie actresses.
Brooks was barely regarded as an actress at the time, and Pabst may not have helped by only permitting her to show one emotion per shot. What comes across now is her naturalness. She stares boldly out of the screen with a wide smile, and a mouth that promises fun. Even in a silent film she seems strangely modern. Her bobbed hair and bangs became popular at the time, the jet-black tresses contrasting with her pale skin.
The basic storyline of Pandora's Box is lurid but bold, and takes in promiscuity, lesbianism, crime, gambling and murder. Lulu is a mistress in early scenes. Later she is a performer on stage. Next she is an enthusiastic bride whose lack of boundaries with other men, even on her wedding night, results in tragedy. Then she is a grieving widow on trial.
Following on from this, she is an unrepentant fugitive from justice. She next appears in a gambling den where she is desperately struggling to avoid being sold like a sex slave. Finally she is starving on the streets of London and contemplating prostitution, where she shows a fatal compassion for one client.
Lulu is a force of nature, innocent but calculating, dangerous but fun, lively but deadly. She stands outside orthodox morality, and hardly realisse that it exists. Like Pandora she opens the box, and evils fly out. Everyone who comes into contact with her is corrupted, except her father who is already a rogue. A series of tragedies follow in her wake, and she is neither wholly blameless nor wholly guilty for their occurrence.
While Lulu's actions may often be wrong, her life serves to expose conventional morality as a fraud. Strip away the public display of monogamous and honest respectability, and we discover a world where people are led by secret carnal urges. Seemingly good people turn rotten. Friends become treacherous.
Lulu is exploited for greed or lust, and she plays on the baser desires of others to enjoy a comfortable existence. A glimpse into the nature of this society is offered when Alwa is caught cheating at cards, and the other players are quick to move in and help themselves to his ill-gotten money.
In line with conventional morality, Lulu must be punished at the end of the story. However in a final act of subversion, Pabst ensures that Lulu's undoing is caused by an act of unselfish kindness, and not by her calculating manipulation of the gallery of cracked actors who probably deserved their fate at her hands.
I wrote a longer appreciation of Pandora's Box on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2021/09/08/pandoras-box-1929/
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/05/23
Full Review
Marc C
Louise Brooks is a modern icon in this wildly panoramic film, her eyes state nothing in the openness of what became the film that symbolised Lulu in Hollywood
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
05/21/23
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Neil W
The most consequential silent movie ever. Way ahead of its time. Louse Brooks exudes more innocent sexuality than does 10 Lolitas.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/12/23
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CodyZamboni
Movie is a not too subtle morality tale. Everyone Lulu meets, lusts after her, and then gets destoyed. Louise Brooks is the movie. She is sooo pretty and charismatic, that despite Lulu's major character faults, we still root for her.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
09/03/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Masterpiece. The movie which ignites Louise Brooks
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
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