Director: G.W. Pabst
Germany | 1929 | Narrative | Silent w/English subtitles | 110 mins
Featuring one of the greatest, sexiest and most overwhelming performances ever put on film, Pandora’s Box is one of the silent era’s essential films. That performance comes from Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by this delightfully lurid, controversial melodrama. Helmed by the titanic German auteur G.W. Pabst – who also discovered Garbo – this very Weimar film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu (Brooks), whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora's Box is a testament to Brooks's dazzling individuality. Plus, Jack the Ripper makes one of his greatest screen appearances in an oddly compelling, if anachronistic, cameo.
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