PANDORA'S BOX (1929) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
D: G.W. Pabst
Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer,
Carl Goetz, Alice Roberts, Gustav Diesel
In a movie based on a couple of plays by Franz Wedekind, Louise Brooks plays Lulu, a seductive free spirit whose life follows a downward spiral through a series of relationships with mostly older men, the last of them Jack the Ripper. A classic silent melodrama, and a stunning showcase for one of the screen's most enigmatic stars. In retrospect, it's not hard to see parallels between the impish, hedonistic Lulu and Brooks herself. Like Lulu, Brooks loved to party and was good at burning her bridges. She played only a handful of leads before her career stalled out, just as the silent era came to a close. Shot in Germany when she was 22, this is the picture that made her a legend, and you can see why. With her pageboy bob, no-frills acting style and good-time-girl persona, she brought something to the screen that remains altogether unique, and Pabst more than anybody knew how to capture it with a camera. There was nobody else like her. Ever.
