Pandora’s Box (1929)
91%RT Audience Score: 86%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Marked by GW Pabst’s innovative, atmospheric direction and a surprisingly modern storyline, Pandora’s Box ultimately owes its power to Louise Brooks’ monumental, iconic performance.
Pandora’s Box is a classic film that has stood the test of time. It’s got everything you could want in a movie: drama, romance, and even a little bit of murder. Louise Brooks is captivating as Lulu, and her performance is truly hypnotic. The film’s black and white cinematography only adds to its allure, making it feel both timeless and modern. It’s no wonder that this film is still being talked about today, decades after its release. If you haven’t seen Pandora’s Box yet, you’re missing out on a true cinematic gem.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Nero-Film Studio, Berlin, Germany
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
1930
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Silent
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Aspect ratio:1.33 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):None, German
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Feb 9, 1929 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 1, 2014
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Pandora’s Box, Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer, Carl Goetz, Alice Roberts, Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Heinz Landsmann, Ladislaus Vajda, Drama, $44.8K, 1929, MPAA rating, reviewed by Audra Schroeder, Tom Dawson, Wally Hammond, Tara Brady, Kevin Maher, Deborah Ross, CJ Sheu, Daniel Barnes, Jennie Kermode, Cole Smithey, Louise Brooks’ performance, German silent film, Lulu, Dr Ludwig Schön, Alwa Schön, Schigolch, Gräfin Geschwitz, Charlotte Marie Adelaide v Zarnikow, Marked by GW Pabst’s innovative, atmospheric direction, surprisingly modern storyline, tragedy, downward spiral, siren charms, newspaper publisher, musical producer, circus performer, seedy old friend, respectable, Pandora’s Box ultimately owes its power to Louise Brooks’ monumental, iconic performance
Worldwide gross: $62,686
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,387,683
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,514
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 151,329
US/Canada gross: $53,485
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,184,000
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,152
US/Canada opening weekend: $9,950
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $220,264
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,632
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Fritz Kortner – Dr. Ludwig Schön
Francis Lederer – Alwa Schön
Carl Goetz – Schigolch
Alice Roberts – Gräfin Geschwitz
Daisy D’Ora – Charlotte Marie Adelaide v. Zarnikow
Director(s)
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Writer(s)
Ladislaus Vajda
Producer(s)
Heinz Landsmann
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (41) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (3)
The way the camera lingers on Brooks is voyeuristic; she, in turn, is oblivious to the fact we’re there – the scene where she swings on the arm of muscle-head producer Rodrigo Quast is a classic example.
June 16, 2020
Audra Schroeder
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Pandora’s Box is a richly atmospheric work, and Pabst is equally at home in Berlin high society or in London’s impoverished East End, where Lulu encounters Jack the Ripper.
June 16, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
Tom Dawson
BBC.com
TOP CRITIC
GW Pabst’s extraordinary, erotic and tragic adaptation/conflation of two Wedekind plays, ‘Pandora’s Box’, owes to the electrifying, photogenic and iconic presence of Louise Brooks
June 16, 2020
Wally Hammond
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
There is something hypnotically unbridled about Brooks’s performance.
June 8, 2018 | Rating: 5/5
Tara Brady
Irish Times
TOP CRITIC
It’s lightning in a bottle – remarkable, and endlessly fascinating.
June 1, 2018 | Rating: 5/5
Kevin Maher
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
With Pandora’s Box you forget that it’s black and white. You forget that the internet has yet to happen… You forget that more than two hours have gone by. You forget because it’s completely modern… 100 per cent gripping and involving.
May 31, 2018
Deborah Ross
The Spectator
TOP CRITIC
Brooks’s energy, enhanced by the expressionist vision of G. W. Pabst, even energizes scenes from which she’s absent[.]
July 1, 2020
CJ Sheu
Review Film Review
The film is laid out in a strange, semi-successful eight-act structure (just like von Trier’s Nymphomaniac), and right from the start, Pabst lets us know this will not be a strident tale of a good girl who falls from grace.
February 5, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Daniel Barnes
Dare Daniel
Full of striking imagery which, once seen, will stay with you forever, this is a highly accomplished piece of work which brings together some of the greatest talents of the era.
June 1, 2018 | Rating: 4.5/5
Jennie Kermode
Eye for Film
[VIDEO ESSAY] [“Pandora’s Box”] can be construed as the first international LGBT film ever.
November 4, 2014 | Rating: A+
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
The movie’s horrifying and beautiful conclusion becomes more poignant and powerful with each passing year.
February 27, 2013 | Rating: 4/5
TV Guide Staff
TV Guide
There is so much of modern movie life here that the picture, like Brooks’ beauty, defies the ravages of time.
February 27, 2013
Richard Luck
Film4…
Plot
In Pandora’s Box, the beautiful and alluring Lulu draws in multiple men, including a newspaper publisher and a circus performer, leading to tragedy for them all.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Louise Brooks’ performance in Pandora’s Box is described as “monumental” and “iconic.”
Georg-Wilhelm-Pabst.jpg
