Pandora's Box (1929)There are some who lead a charmed life; they are the lucky ones. There are some who know they lead a charmed life, and exploit it; and these are the dangerous ones, who will lead you to ruin. Lulu (Louise Brooks) is one such creature, who exerts an animal magnetism, affecting all around her with her seductive charm. For women like Lulu, it is not enough to get everything they want, they must do so on their own terms and enjoy the power and freedom to command their own destiny, regardless of whomever they leave crippled in their wake. Be wary, lest you open Pandora's box, and set loose upon the world the evil of your wont.
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Pandora's Box (1929) is one of the most sophisticated silent movies of the era, directed by G.W. Pabst, and starring the sultriest of silver screen sirens, the indomitable Louise Brooks. The wild legacy and purported wantonness of the starlet would make her portrayal of Lulu an ironically apt act of casting. Her reputation as a firebrand who burned more than a few bridges on her way out of Hollywood has been recorded--most famously--in her own memoir, "Lulu in Hollywood". More than just a headliner for the movies, Louise Brooks showcases her overwhelming talent in this film, her most iconic role. One of the most elegant things about a silent movie is that the best of them are not concerned with flashing a multitude of title cards to try to expound a story at you; the experience is in absorbing the story presented by the actors. Like Gloria Swanson says (as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard), "we didn't need words...we had faces"; this is so true in Pandora's Box, and Louise Brooks gets all the best lines in that department. Consider moments--and they are plentiful--when Lulu manipulates men (and women) to perceive her as a helpless girl, a naive innocent, or other fabrication. Moments prior to these close-ups, if you are paying close attention, you might just catch a frame here and there where her expression is not entirely in keeping with the persona she adopts. There is a calculated, thoughtful furrowing of her brow, a raised eye, or a smirk which speaks volumes; but you have to be watching for it, because Lulu is in the business of seducing us just as she is her benefactors. Pabst's film is a riches-to-rags story, where Lulu has already made it, having dug for gold in more than a few mines--the wallets of well-to-do elderly gentlemen, including newspaper publisher, Dr. Ludwig Schön (Fritz Kortner), who tries to resist her wiles, but falls short time and again. Lulu's shameless decadence in her penthouse apartment appalls Schön enough to drive him away at first. Her "father"--and presumed pimp, Schigolch (Carl Goetz)--skulks about in a shabby suit, feeding brandy from his hand to a noisy dog, and feeds her advice on how to milk Schön for even more money, while also inviting his accomplice, Rodrigo Quast (Krafft-Raschig) into their inner circle. Lulu's sorcery is not restricted to the older Schön, but also to the son, Alwa Schön (Francis Lederer), a composer who has also fallen for the free-spirited flapper. A great scene in Act Two illuminates just how extensively Lulu's powers are stretched, when she visits the Schön apartment, and it seems like everyone there--including Alwa's female friend, the Countess Augusta Geschwitz (Alice Roberts)--is taken in by her powers. Her visit appears innocuous enough, but shortly after she has left, it is the father who suggests to his son to orchestrate a revue for Lulu to bring her fame. One has to imagine that by some level of extreme cunning that this was the real purpose behind her visit...as it always has been, to draw more fame and glory unto herself.
Lulu's presence dominates Pandora's Box; it is an altogether fine film in and of itself, but she shines like a golden sun when she is present, and her absence is felt when she is not on the screen--as though her powers from her on-screen personality are bleeding through onto us. Louise Brooks was pretty, no question, but she is not implausibly beautiful. What she does bring is coquettishness when that is the right way to provoke a response; she throws a backstage tantrum to push all of Schön's buttons to unravel his marriage to Charlotte Marie Adelaide von Zarnikow (Daisy D'Ora), and the camera exploits this. We see just enough of the skin on her back to know what kinds of lustful ideas must be swimming through Schön's mind here. One could argue that Pabst is selling Brooks here, just as Schigolch sells Lulu. But Lulu cannot be sold, much to the frustration of a riverboat gambler whom Lulu falls deep into debt with later in the film, who tries to reclaim some of his losses by offering her up into white slavery for an Egyptian's harem. I suspect that it is not the prospect of sleeping with men for money that disgusts Lulu, but the idea that she doesn't have a choice in the matter. For Lulu, freedom is everything; even when she is on the run, wanted for manslaughter, she makes it clear that she is calling the shots, even when she has no cards to play. When Karl tries to hide her away in a train car, a nosy fellow traveler, the Marquis Casti-Piani (Michael von Newlinsky) discovers her identity, which he uses to blackmail Karl. This is because Lulu wanted herself to be spotted, to make it clear to Karl that he has dynamite on his hands, and she is in control. And when fortunes have finally dried up for Lulu, she makes an overt effort to prostitute herself to bring in some money for food, although she has the misfortune of ultimately attracting a serial killer as her first--and final--client. Oddly enough, the killer--credited as "Jack the Ripper" (Gustav Diessl)--informs Lulu that he hasn't any money to pay her, but she invites him up anyways, because she says she likes him. It is not even so much that Lulu likes him--a man who has not shown any murderous tendencies--but that she resents the idea of having to do anything for money, that she'd rather do it for nothing and feel that she has some semblance of control. There is a sense watching Pandora's Box that Lulu is as innocent as she claims, and that it is an audience which cannot stomach a woman leading as charmed of a life as hers being without some kind of punishment or reproach. It is a possible viewing, sure, but therein lies the coils of the serpent constricting around our good sense. Lulu's quick, sly look in her eye tells us everything we need to know--would that it was that obvious in real life, all the gold diggers would be out of work.
Recommended for: Fans of a sophisticated, performance-driven drama from the silent movie era. If you never knew the name Louise Brooks before you see Pandora's Box, you will after, and won't be able to forget the Machiavellian deftness with which she insinuates herself into the lives of a wealthy family, only to bring it to ruin.
Lulu's presence dominates Pandora's Box; it is an altogether fine film in and of itself, but she shines like a golden sun when she is present, and her absence is felt when she is not on the screen--as though her powers from her on-screen personality are bleeding through onto us. Louise Brooks was pretty, no question, but she is not implausibly beautiful. What she does bring is coquettishness when that is the right way to provoke a response; she throws a backstage tantrum to push all of Schön's buttons to unravel his marriage to Charlotte Marie Adelaide von Zarnikow (Daisy D'Ora), and the camera exploits this. We see just enough of the skin on her back to know what kinds of lustful ideas must be swimming through Schön's mind here. One could argue that Pabst is selling Brooks here, just as Schigolch sells Lulu. But Lulu cannot be sold, much to the frustration of a riverboat gambler whom Lulu falls deep into debt with later in the film, who tries to reclaim some of his losses by offering her up into white slavery for an Egyptian's harem. I suspect that it is not the prospect of sleeping with men for money that disgusts Lulu, but the idea that she doesn't have a choice in the matter. For Lulu, freedom is everything; even when she is on the run, wanted for manslaughter, she makes it clear that she is calling the shots, even when she has no cards to play. When Karl tries to hide her away in a train car, a nosy fellow traveler, the Marquis Casti-Piani (Michael von Newlinsky) discovers her identity, which he uses to blackmail Karl. This is because Lulu wanted herself to be spotted, to make it clear to Karl that he has dynamite on his hands, and she is in control. And when fortunes have finally dried up for Lulu, she makes an overt effort to prostitute herself to bring in some money for food, although she has the misfortune of ultimately attracting a serial killer as her first--and final--client. Oddly enough, the killer--credited as "Jack the Ripper" (Gustav Diessl)--informs Lulu that he hasn't any money to pay her, but she invites him up anyways, because she says she likes him. It is not even so much that Lulu likes him--a man who has not shown any murderous tendencies--but that she resents the idea of having to do anything for money, that she'd rather do it for nothing and feel that she has some semblance of control. There is a sense watching Pandora's Box that Lulu is as innocent as she claims, and that it is an audience which cannot stomach a woman leading as charmed of a life as hers being without some kind of punishment or reproach. It is a possible viewing, sure, but therein lies the coils of the serpent constricting around our good sense. Lulu's quick, sly look in her eye tells us everything we need to know--would that it was that obvious in real life, all the gold diggers would be out of work.
Recommended for: Fans of a sophisticated, performance-driven drama from the silent movie era. If you never knew the name Louise Brooks before you see Pandora's Box, you will after, and won't be able to forget the Machiavellian deftness with which she insinuates herself into the lives of a wealthy family, only to bring it to ruin.