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Pandora's Box (film)
Encyclopedia
Pandora's Box is a 1929 German
silent
melodrama
film based on Frank Wedekind
's plays Erdgeist
(Earth Spirit, 1895
) and Die Büchse der Pandora
(1904
). Directed by Austrian
filmmaker Georg Wilhelm Pabst
, the film stars Louise Brooks
, Fritz Kortner
, and Francis Lederer
. Brooks' portrayal of a seductive, thoughtless young woman whose raw sexuality and uninhibited nature bring ruin to herself and those who love her, although initially unappreciated, eventually made the actress a star.
The next day, Lulu goes to see her best friend Alwa (Francis Lederer), who happens to be Schön's son. Schön is greatly displeased to see her, but comes up with the idea to have her star in his son's musical production to get her off his hands. However, Schön makes the mistake of bringing Charlotte to see the revue. When Lulu refuses to perform in front of her rival, Schön takes her into a storage room to try to persuade her otherwise, but she seduces him instead. Charlotte finds them embracing.
A defeated Schön resigns himself to marrying Lulu. While the wedding reception is underway, he is disgusted to find Lulu playfully cavorting with Schigolch and Quast in the bedchamber. He gets his pistol and chases the interlopers out. The shocked guests leave while Lulu claims that Shigolch is her father. Once they are alone, Schön insists his new wife take the gun and shoot herself. When Lulu refuses, the gun goes off in the ensuing struggle, and Schön is killed.
At her murder trial, Lulu is sentenced to five years for manslaughter
. However, Schigolch and Quast trigger a fire alarm and spirit her away in the confusion. When Alwa finds her back in the Schön home, he confesses his feelings for her and they decide to flee the country. Countess Augusta Geschwitz (Alice Roberts
), herself infatuated with Lulu, lets the fugitive use her passport. On the train, Lulu is recognized by another passenger, Marquis Casti-Piani (Michael von Newlinsky). He offers to keep silent in return for money. He also suggests a hiding place, a ship used as an illegal gambling den.
After several months however, Casti-Piani sells Lulu to an Egyptian for his brothel
, and Quast blackmails Lulu for financing for his new act. Desperate for money to pay them off, Alwa cheats at cards, but is caught at it. Lulu turns to Schigolch for help. He has Geschwitz lure Quast to a stateroom, where he murders him. Then, he, Lulu, and Alwa flee.
They end up living in squalor in a drafty London
garret. On Christmas Eve
, driven to prostitution
, Lulu has the misfortune of picking a remorseful Jack the Ripper
(Gustav Diessl
) as her first client. Though he protests he has no money, she likes him and invites him to her lodgings anyway. Schigolch drags Alwa away before they are seen. Jack is touched and secretly throws away his knife. Inside however, he spots another knife on the table and cannot resist his urges. Unaware of Lulu's fate, Alwa deserts her, joining a passing Salvation Army
parade.
Cast notes:
in the role of Lulu. As there were musical, plays
and other cinema features of the film at the time, the story of Pandora's Box was well known. This allowed Pabst to take liberties with the story.
During the first week or two of filming, Brooks went out partying every night with her current lover, George Preston Marshall
, much to Pabst's displeasure. When Marshall left, a relieved Pabst imposed a stricter lifestyle on his star.
called it "a disconnected melodrama", with "a seldom interesting" narrative. The reviewer found Brooks "attractive", but her expressions "often difficult to decide", and concluded it was "filmed far better than the story (deserved)".
The film was re-discovered in the 1950s by critics, who acclaimed it greatly. Modern critics now praise the film as one of the classics of Weimar Germany's cinema, along with The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari, Metropolis
, The Last Laugh, and The Blue Angel.
Renowned critic Roger Ebert
reviewed the film in 1998 with great praise, and remarked of Brooks' presence, "she regards us from the screen as if the screen were not there; she casts away the artifice of film and invites us to play with her".
subplot in the attraction of Countess Augusta Geschwitz (in some prints Anna) to Lulu. The character of Geschwitz is defined by her masculine look; she wears a tuxedo. Roberts resisted the idea of playing a lesbian.
The title is a reference to Pandora
of Greek mythology
, who upon opening a box given to her by the gods released all evils into the world, leaving only hope behind. This connection is made explicitly by the prosecutor in the trial.
In the United Kingdom, Pandora's Box was released on DVD on June 24, 2002 by Second Sight Films.
In North America
, Pandora's Box was released on a two disc DVD set on November 28, 2006 by the Criterion Collection. Four soundtracks were commissioned for the film's DVD
release: an approximation of the score cinema audiences might have heard with a live orchestra, a Weimar Republic
-era cabaret
score, a modern orchestral interpretation, and an improvisational piano score.
Cinema of Germany
Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film.Unlike any other national cinemas, which developed in the context of relatively continuous and stable political systems, Germany witnesses major changes to its...
silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
film based on Frank Wedekind
Frank Wedekind
Benjamin Franklin Wedekind , usually known as Frank Wedekind, was a German playwright...
's plays Erdgeist
Earth Spirit (play)
Earth Spirit is a play by the German dramatist Frank Wedekind. It forms the first part of his pairing of 'Lulu' plays , both of which depict a society "riven by the demands of lust and greed". In German folklore an erdgeist is a gnome, first described in Goethe's Faust...
(Earth Spirit, 1895
1895 in literature
The year 1895 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* Carlyle's House in Chelsea opens to the public.* Robert Frost marries Elinor Miriam White.* Ernest Thayer recites his poem, Casey at the Bat, at a Harvard class reunion....
) and Die Büchse der Pandora
Pandora's Box (play)
Pandora's Box is a play by the German dramatist Frank Wedekind. It forms the second part of his pairing of 'Lulu' plays , both of which depict a society "riven by the demands of lust and greed".G. W. Pabst directed a silent film version , which was loosely based on the play, in 1929...
(1904
1904 in literature
The year 1904 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* January - Mark Twain begins dictating his autobiography.* 16 June - "Bloomsday": the day on which the action of James Joyce's novel Ulysses takes place in Dublin....
). Directed by Austrian
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
filmmaker Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
-Biography:Pabst was born in Raudnitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary , the son of a railroad employee.Returning from the United States, he was in France when World War I began...
, the film stars Louise Brooks
Louise Brooks
Mary Louise Brooks , generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, noted for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G. W...
, Fritz Kortner
Fritz Kortner
Fritz Kortner was an Austrian-born stage and film actor and theatre director.Kortner was born in Vienna as Fritz Nathan Kohn. He studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. After graduating, he joined Max Reinhardt in Berlin in 1911 and then Leopold Jessner in 1916. Also in that year...
, and Francis Lederer
Francis Lederer
Francis Lederer was a film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States.-Europe:...
. Brooks' portrayal of a seductive, thoughtless young woman whose raw sexuality and uninhibited nature bring ruin to herself and those who love her, although initially unappreciated, eventually made the actress a star.
Plot
Lulu (Louise Brooks) is the mistress of a respected, middle-aged newspaper publisher, Dr. Ludwig Schön (Fritz Kortner). One day, she is delighted when an old patron Schigolch (Carl Goetz) shows up at her door. However, when Schön also arrives, she has Schigolch hide on the terrace. Schön breaks the news to Lulu that he is going to marry Charlotte von Zarnikow (Daisy D'Ora), the daughter of the Minister of the Interior. Lulu tries to get him to change his mind, but when he discovers the disreputable-looking Schigolch, he leaves. Schigolch introduces Lulu to Rodrigo Quast (Krafft-Raschig), who wants her to join his new trapeze act.The next day, Lulu goes to see her best friend Alwa (Francis Lederer), who happens to be Schön's son. Schön is greatly displeased to see her, but comes up with the idea to have her star in his son's musical production to get her off his hands. However, Schön makes the mistake of bringing Charlotte to see the revue. When Lulu refuses to perform in front of her rival, Schön takes her into a storage room to try to persuade her otherwise, but she seduces him instead. Charlotte finds them embracing.
A defeated Schön resigns himself to marrying Lulu. While the wedding reception is underway, he is disgusted to find Lulu playfully cavorting with Schigolch and Quast in the bedchamber. He gets his pistol and chases the interlopers out. The shocked guests leave while Lulu claims that Shigolch is her father. Once they are alone, Schön insists his new wife take the gun and shoot herself. When Lulu refuses, the gun goes off in the ensuing struggle, and Schön is killed.
At her murder trial, Lulu is sentenced to five years for manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
. However, Schigolch and Quast trigger a fire alarm and spirit her away in the confusion. When Alwa finds her back in the Schön home, he confesses his feelings for her and they decide to flee the country. Countess Augusta Geschwitz (Alice Roberts
Alice Roberts (actress)
Alice Roberts was a Belgian actress active from the late 1920s to the late 1930s.She may be best-remembered in Georg Wilhelm Pabst's silent German film Pandora's Box . The film was memorable due to the overt lesbian overtures between Roberts' character, the Countess Geschwitz, and Louise Brooks'...
), herself infatuated with Lulu, lets the fugitive use her passport. On the train, Lulu is recognized by another passenger, Marquis Casti-Piani (Michael von Newlinsky). He offers to keep silent in return for money. He also suggests a hiding place, a ship used as an illegal gambling den.
After several months however, Casti-Piani sells Lulu to an Egyptian for his brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
, and Quast blackmails Lulu for financing for his new act. Desperate for money to pay them off, Alwa cheats at cards, but is caught at it. Lulu turns to Schigolch for help. He has Geschwitz lure Quast to a stateroom, where he murders him. Then, he, Lulu, and Alwa flee.
They end up living in squalor in a drafty London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
garret. On Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
, driven to prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, Lulu has the misfortune of picking a remorseful Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
(Gustav Diessl
Gustav Diessl
Gustav Diessl was an Austrian artist, and film and stage actor.-Biography:Diessl was born Gustav Karl Balthasar in Vienna. In 1916, he was an extra on different stages in Vienna but was soon recruited into the army for World War I...
) as her first client. Though he protests he has no money, she likes him and invites him to her lodgings anyway. Schigolch drags Alwa away before they are seen. Jack is touched and secretly throws away his knife. Inside however, he spots another knife on the table and cannot resist his urges. Unaware of Lulu's fate, Alwa deserts her, joining a passing Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
parade.
Cast
- Louise BrooksLouise BrooksMary Louise Brooks , generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, noted for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G. W...
as Lulu - Fritz KörtnerFritz KortnerFritz Kortner was an Austrian-born stage and film actor and theatre director.Kortner was born in Vienna as Fritz Nathan Kohn. He studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. After graduating, he joined Max Reinhardt in Berlin in 1911 and then Leopold Jessner in 1916. Also in that year...
as Dr. Ludwig Schön - Francis LedererFrancis LedererFrancis Lederer was a film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States.-Europe:...
as Alwa Schön - Carl Goetz as Schigolch. There is no real explanation of his relation to Lulu, but it is suggested in the film that he is or has acted as a sort of pimp for Lulu.
- Krafft-Raschig as Rodrigo Quast
- Alice RobertsAlice Roberts (actress)Alice Roberts was a Belgian actress active from the late 1920s to the late 1930s.She may be best-remembered in Georg Wilhelm Pabst's silent German film Pandora's Box . The film was memorable due to the overt lesbian overtures between Roberts' character, the Countess Geschwitz, and Louise Brooks'...
as Countess Augusta Geschwitz - Daisy D'oraDaisy D'oraDaisy D'ora was a German beauty queen, socialite and actress.D'ora began her career in silent films, performing in the 1929 film Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, which became a worldwide success...
as Charlotte Marie Adelaide von Zarnikow - Gustav DiesslGustav DiesslGustav Diessl was an Austrian artist, and film and stage actor.-Biography:Diessl was born Gustav Karl Balthasar in Vienna. In 1916, he was an extra on different stages in Vienna but was soon recruited into the army for World War I...
as Jack the Ripper - Michael von Newlinsky as Marquis Casti-Piani
- Sigfried Arno as The Stage Manager
Cast notes:
- Pabst searched for months for an actress to play Lulu. On seeing Brooks as a circus performer in the 1928 Howard HawksHoward HawksHoward Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
' film A Girl in Every PortA Girl in Every Port (1928 film)A Girl in Every Port is a silent comedy film about two sailors. Renowned stripper Sally Rand played one of their many girlfriends.The film was remade as Goldie in 1931, with Spencer Tracy, Warren Hymer, and Jean Harlow.-Cast:...
, director G.W. Pabst tried to get her on loan from Paramount PicturesParamount PicturesParamount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. Pabst's offer was not even made known to Brooks by the studio until she left Paramount over a salary dispute. Pabst's second choice was Marlene DietrichMarlene DietrichMarlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
; in an interview many years later, Brooks stated that Pabst was reluctant to hire Dietrich, as he felt she was too old (at 25) and not a good fit for the character.
Production
Pandora's Box had already been adapted for the screen by Arzén von Cserépy in 1921 in Germany under the same title, with Asta NielsenAsta Nielsen
Asta Nielsen , was a Danish silent film actress who was one of the most popular leading ladies of the 1910s and one of the first international movie stars. Seventy of Nielsen's 74 films were made in Germany where she was known simply as Die Asta...
in the role of Lulu. As there were musical, plays
Pandora's Box (play)
Pandora's Box is a play by the German dramatist Frank Wedekind. It forms the second part of his pairing of 'Lulu' plays , both of which depict a society "riven by the demands of lust and greed".G. W. Pabst directed a silent film version , which was loosely based on the play, in 1929...
and other cinema features of the film at the time, the story of Pandora's Box was well known. This allowed Pabst to take liberties with the story.
During the first week or two of filming, Brooks went out partying every night with her current lover, George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall was the owner and president of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League from 1932 until his death in 1969.-Contributions:...
, much to Pabst's displeasure. When Marshall left, a relieved Pabst imposed a stricter lifestyle on his star.
Reception
On December 2, 1929, The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it "a disconnected melodrama", with "a seldom interesting" narrative. The reviewer found Brooks "attractive", but her expressions "often difficult to decide", and concluded it was "filmed far better than the story (deserved)".
The film was re-discovered in the 1950s by critics, who acclaimed it greatly. Modern critics now praise the film as one of the classics of Weimar Germany's cinema, along with The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari, Metropolis
Metropolis (film)
Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and...
, The Last Laugh, and The Blue Angel.
Renowned critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
reviewed the film in 1998 with great praise, and remarked of Brooks' presence, "she regards us from the screen as if the screen were not there; she casts away the artifice of film and invites us to play with her".
Themes
The film is notable for its lesbianLesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
subplot in the attraction of Countess Augusta Geschwitz (in some prints Anna) to Lulu. The character of Geschwitz is defined by her masculine look; she wears a tuxedo. Roberts resisted the idea of playing a lesbian.
The title is a reference to Pandora
Pandora
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. As Hesiod related it, each god helped create her by giving her unique gifts...
of Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, who upon opening a box given to her by the gods released all evils into the world, leaving only hope behind. This connection is made explicitly by the prosecutor in the trial.
French version
In France, the film was edited making Alwa's secretary and the countess become Lulu's childhood friend. Lulu is found innocent at her trial and there is no Jack the Ripper character as the film ends with Lulu joining the Salvation Army.Home video
In North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Pandora's Box was released on a two disc DVD set on November 28, 2006 by the Criterion Collection. Four soundtracks were commissioned for the film's DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release: an approximation of the score cinema audiences might have heard with a live orchestra, a Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
-era cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
score, a modern orchestral interpretation, and an improvisational piano score.
External links
- Hoberman, J. "Opening Pandora's Box", Criterion Collection essay
- Full plot summary and cast & crew biographies.