Louise Brooks - Pandora's Box 1929

German poster, stone lithograph, 1929.

American dancer, actress and writer Louise Brooks (1906-1985) is perhaps best known for her starring role in the G.W. Pabst (1885-1967) German silent film of 1929 Pandora's Box. This classic Wiemar era movie featured a vivacious and stunningly beautiful Brooks in the tragic story of a hedonistic young woman in search of thrills and unabashed sexual union. The feature was both praised and criticised upon release, and severely cut in foreign markets due to its racy script and sexually charged performances. Pandora's Box appeared at the end of the silent film era, with sound just around the corner. The fact that it was such a visual film, and Pabst able to produce expressive performances from his cast, was one of the reasons it remains a classic to this day, despite a lack of dialogue. Another element was the naturalistic acting in the film, especially from Brooks. This was very much the antithesis of the forced, stagey, over-the-top performances so often seen during the silent era.

Pandora's Box, 1929, duration: 131.42 minutes.

Pandora's Box has a sense of modernity about it in regards to direction, cinematography and individual performances. It is largely ageless, unlike other films of the era such as Fritz Lang's 1927 Metropolis, where some of the lead characters act in that exaggerated, unrealistic style. Pabst was very much responsible for the subtle, emotive, psychological performances we see in Pandora's Box, and most especially capturing on film the natural, untrained style of Brooks.

Pandora's Box, BFI re-release trailer, 2018. Duration: 1 minute.

Louise Brooks: The Story of Lulu, The 1920s Channel, 8 May 2023, duration: 38.36 minutes.

The original director's cut of the movie was 133 minutes long. It premiered in Germany on 30 January 1929. By the time of its United States release on 1 December 1929, the film had been savagely cut down to a mere 66 minutes and, in regions such as France, the story line was greatly altered. Fortunately, it has been restored and is available in its almost original form, with the addition of contemporary and modern soundtracks. Publicity for Pabst's Pandora's Box began in September 1928, around the time of Brooks' arrival in Berlin, with a cover story in the film magazine Kinematograph. It continued with the Hamburger Illustrierte of 13 October and Das Illustrierte Blatt in November, during which month filming was completed and Brooks returned to New York.

Kinematograph, Berlin, 30 September 1928.

Hamburger Illustriertre, Hamburg, 13 October 1928.

Das Illustrierte Blatt, Berlin, November 1928.

There was some controversy in Germany at the time of the film's production in relation to the use of a relatively unknown American actress for what was seen as a very German role, namely that of "our Lou Lou / Lulu". Marlene Dietrich tested for the part, but Pabst had no qualms about giving the role to Brooks. He also used her in his following film from 1929, The Diary of a Lost Girl.

P.W. Pabst, The Diary of a Lost Girl, 1929. Duration: 1.52.57.

Pandora's Box was also known by the name Lou Lou in Germany and upon its release in countries such as France and Italy.

Looking for Lulu, 1998, duration: 59.47 minutes.

Posters

One element associated with the film reflected contemporary graphic art styles, namely the posters issued in connection with its release. Below is a brief listing of some of the known original posters. Many of these are stone lithograph prints, a method commonly used during the 1920s. Offset photolithography would become the norm and dominate during the following decade. The original German release posters are good examples of the art of the stone lithograph. For example, the stunning pink, black and dark blue poster reproduced above featured a full frontal image of the face of Louise Brookes and is a classic of the genre. A different version in dark green is also known. The poster portrait was reused on the cover of Brooks' own reminiscences of her life and time in Germany (Brooks 1983).

German poster, 1929.

German poster / advertisement, 1929.

German lobby card / still photograph, 1929, hand tinted, 8 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches.

Italian poster, 1929.

French poster, 1929.

Belgian poster, 1929.

A Japanese insert poster for Pandora's Box reveals the then distinctive application of a graphic design style which emphasised textual variation and colour within a stylised geometrical framework.

Pandora's Box, Kabusi-za Theatre, Tokyo, Japan, c.1930, 11 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches.

The face of the star does not dominate, as it did with American and European posters, though it is nevertheless enticing in the Japanese silent-era equivalent.

Japanese lobby card / advertisement, c.1930.

Additional promotional material included the original German-language, Austrian 4 page film program which was part of the Illustrierte Film-kurier series published in Berlin and printed in sepia. The cover comprises the photograph of a finely dressed Brooks in a typical vaudeville dancer's pose.

A 4 page French trade advertisement is also known, taken from a film yearbook covering the years 1929/30.

Spanish magazine.

Mundo Grafico, Madrid, Spain, 3 April 1929.

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Louise Brooks - Hollywood Babylon and beyond the Bob-cut, ObsoleteOddity, duration: 28.14 minutes.

References

BBC, Louise Brooks [documentary], Arena, BBC Productions, London, 1986, duration: 55 minutes. URL: https://youtu.be/bHfGLB9rYR4.

Brooks, Louise, Lulu in Hollywood, Alfred A. Knopf, 1983.

Conklin, Gary, Louise Brooks and Francis Lederer [interview], 1976, duration: 3.08 minutes. URL: https://youtu.be/jIg7_mI0CWo.

Cowie, Peter M., Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever, Rizzoli, 2006.

de Lafayette, Maximillian, Louise Brooks: Her men, affairs, scandals and persona, DeVault-Graves Agency, 2015.

Gladysz, Thomas, Louise Brooks - The Persistent Star, Pandora's Box Press, 2018.

Graves, Tom, Louise Brooks, Frank Zappa and other charmers and dreamers.

Jaccard, Roland, Louise Brooks: Portrait D'une Anti-Star, Phebus, Paris, 1977.

Leacock, Richard and Woll, Susan Steinbert, Lulu in Berlin [documentary], 1979, duration: 47 minutes. URL: https://youtu.be/02xMWmc64ps. Includes a lengthy interview with Louise Brooks from 1971.

Louise Brooks (biography), Mysteries and Scandals [documentary excerpt], duration: 14.50. URL: https://youtu.be/wPPh8R0U1Y4.

Louise Brooks, Interview [audio], 15 July 1982, duration: 1.24 minutes. URL: https://youtu.be/xjIcFZ7kbWg.

Louise Brooks Society [website], 1995. URL: https://www.pandorasbox.com/.

-----, do., [blog], 2002. URL: http://louisebrookssociety.blogspot.com.

Pabst, G.W., Pandora's Box (Lulu), Classic Film Scripts, Simon & Schuster, 1971.

Paris, Barry, Louise Brooks: A Biography, Anchor, 1989, 549p.

Rolick, Jeffry, Louise Brooks [Interview], 1969. URL: https://youtu.be/vkfP5V-ANn4.

Tynan, Kenneth, The Girl in the Black Helmet, New Yorker, 11 June 1979.

Wahl, Jon, Dear Stinkpot: Letters from Louise Brooks, Bear Manor Media, 2009.

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Last updated: 18 June 2020

Michael Organ

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