Pandora's Box - Criterion Collection

Pandora's Box - Criterion Collection
by Georg Wilhelm Pabst

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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Carl Goetz, Francis Lederer, Fritz Kortner, Krafft-Raschig, Louise Brooks
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Sig Arno
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: German (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 133 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-11-28
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion

Movie Reviews of Pandora's Box - Criterion Collection

Movie Review: A beauty to disintegrate men's souls
Summary: 5 Stars

Somewhere emblazoned in the pathos of Greek mythology, the God's created Pandora, a female object of pristine beauty and unbridled sexual ferocity. She possessed a box, one that contained all the evils of the world. And once opened, chaos was unleashed in frenetic fasion.

This classic story here features Louise Brooks, who is a goddess in her own right. She plays Lulu, the most gorgeous, alluring, hypnotic, and dangerous female character in the history of cinema. High praise, but believe me, she casts an irresistable spell over any man who wanders into her vicinty.

Lulu is a real charmer, seducing men with her radiant smile and affectionate ways. Her beauty is so powerful, so controlling, that it could drive a man to do foolish things.

Like when one poor fella tries to resist, she replies with a sweet sort of keen elegance, "YOU'LL HAVE TO KILL ME TO GET RID OF ME." Whoa ho ho, a powerful bit of foreshadowing.

The story advances with a murder, trial, and escape, with the camera rarely drifting far from Lulu's glorious visage. The drama builds as she's eventually forced into prostitution, with an astounding climax with Jack the Ripper. Few cinematic exchanges hinge with such an absorbing level of uncertainty. Movie making at its absolute finest. This silent film offers some incredible scores as well, to lull you into a state of beautiful oblivion.

On a side note, Quentin Tarantino tried to somewhat recreate this mesmerizing femme fatale with Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. The likeness in undeniable, but really you can only catch lightning in a bottle once, if you're lucky.

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Summary of Pandora's Box - Criterion Collection

One of the masters of early German cinema, G.W. Pabst had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst's lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora's Box. Sensationally modern, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora's Box is one of silent cinema's great masterworks, and a testament to Brooks's dazzling individuality.

G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box serves as a filmic window into the decadent Weimar Republic because of its tauntingly beautiful star, Louise Brooks. Brooks, encompassing the very essence of sexual allure and mystery, is iconically linked to her character, Lulu, the dancer-turned-streetwalker who captivates all men in her path with her elusive beauty. Set in Berlin, 1928, Pandora's Box is about Lulu, an aspiring star whose patron, Dr. Sch?n (Fritz Kortner), finds loyalty to his fianc? impossible because of Lulu's unsurpassed charm. Sch?n's son, Alwa, also falls in love with Lulu until a series of tragic incidents render them destitute in London, where Lulu resorts to prostitution and, in a final devastating scene, picks up her final john, Jack the Ripper. In the silent film era, Brooks's expressive face and graceful movements enabled her to epitomize a Roaring Twenties' version of feminism: innocence underpinned by sexual innuendo. Key scenes in Pandora's Box, such as when Lulu thrills at Dr. Sch?n's fianc? discovering he and Lulu embraced, or when Lulu's gleaming eyes mimic Jack the Ripper's polished knife blade, are radically risqu? examples of all-time seductive cinematic moments. The Criterion Collection's beautifully packaged release of Pandora's Box features a thorough booklet of essays and photos, as well as a biographical documentary about Brooks and an interview with Pabst's son, Michael. After languishing in obscurity for many years preceding her death in the '80s, Louise Brooks will now forever be remembered as Lulu, Hollywood's finest vixen. --Trinie Dalton

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