Pandora's Box (Criterion Collection)

In 1929 famous German director G.W. Pabst released his silent masterpiece, Pandora's Box.  Based on a couple of beloved plays by Frank Wedekind, it was a hugely ambitious and distinctly German project.  So the German public was outraged when American actress Louise Brooks was cast as Lulu, the lead in the film.  What they could not have known was that Ms. Brooks would give such a captivating performance that she would become famous worldwide and come to embody the 1920's & 1930's "flapper" girl.

Louise Brooks had co-starred in several silent pictures in the States and was on her way to becoming a leading lady when her contract expired.  Rather than accept a low-ball offer from Hollywood, she took a better offer from Pabst to star in his new ambitious film, Pandora's Box.  Pabst had been having trouble casting the iconic part of Lulu but had become convinced the 20 year old Brooks was perfect after seeing her on screen in one of her American roles.  But he had trouble reaching her and had given up.  The great Marlene Dietrich was in his office and was being offered the job (even though Pabst considered her too old for the role) when Brooks returned his call to see what he had wanted.  He immediately cast her over the phone without even meeting her.

Watching Pandora's Box in it's restored glory, you realize 2 things; Pabst was a genius and Louise Brooks was as dazzling a star as the world would see for a long while.  Pasbt's movie runs over 2 hours in length and it never lulls in it's storytelling, even with the very limited dialogue that is present due to it being a silent picture.  It tells the story of Lulu, who has been a kept girl numerous times, always climbing up the ladder.  As the movie begins she is the mistress of a rich newspaper editor and he keeps her in a beautiful apartment.  He tries to break off the affair because he is getting married, but Lulu laughs him off.  "Is that the reason you won't kiss me?" she asks and the affair continues.  Her first sugar daddy (Carl Goetz as the repulsive Schigolch) re-enters the picture and Lulu feels indebted to him, so she is always dragging him along, trying to help him out.  Lulu systematically destroys every man around her, but she does it not out of cruelty, but out of sweetness and not being able to say no.  She is far from the typical femme fatale; while she knows her allure and her sexual power, she is out for nothing more than a good time.  Either she is oblivious to the fact that she is toying with the emotions of those that fall under her spell or she does not comprehend the damage she does.  Either way, she is the downfall of many men and eventually she is dragged down as well.

While the movie itself is wonderful, ambitious and stunningly photographed in the German expressionistic vein, by far it's most powerful virtue is Ms. Brooks herself.  What a sight she must have been to audiences back in the day!  Trained in dance, she had the grace of a swan and a natural beauty that was emphasized by her unusual hair style, which was often called a black helmet.  She wore it very short and it made her splendid facial features stand on their own.  The most accurate modern day comparison I can think of is Isabella Rosellini back in the early 80's.  Brooks is absolutely luminous on the screen.  You can't take your eyes off of her, especially that face with those deeply expressive eyes.  You can see why an international star was born when Pandora's Box was released.

Of course back then foreign films didn't play very often in America, so Brooks remained fairly obscure in the States.  She made a couple of more films in Germany and then came back to Hollywood.  But she had burned some bridges when she had gone to Germany.  With "talkies" now all the rage in Hollywood, the studios tried to strong arm their actors into accepting lesser contracts for fear of being replaced by voice actors.  Louise Brooks was a very intelligent, independent and strong-willed woman, something rare and not tolerated in Hollywood.  When she balked at the lesser contract, the studios blackballed her, putting out word that her voice was terrible on film.  She worked only sporadically thereafter and only in lesser quality films.  The brightest star in the galaxy had burned out amazingly fast.

Louise Brooks ended up basically becoming a hermit in her later years, an alcoholic that was bitter with the way Hollywood treated her.  She would eventually rebound late in life and become an outstanding writer on film.  She also gave some interviews about her amazing career and her life and times as the "It Girl."  There are 2 excellent documentaries about Ms. Brooks on the Criterion Collection's edition of Pandora's Box. What an amazing life she had!  She was a hedonist at heart; she had no intention of having one lover, of settling down in any one place, of being someone you could pigeonhole.  She loved being out on the town, dancing the night away in nightclubs with whatever man was currently tickling her fancy.  She didn't care what others thought of her and she was, as mentioned earlier, far more intelligent and independent than most men of the time could handle.  She was very nearly Lulu in real life.  That she brought Lulu to life for us on screen is her everlasting gift to us.