My dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
What do you usually do on a rainy Sunday afternoon? You sit on the sofa, read a book or stare grumpily out of the window because of the bad weather outside? How about a good film for a change? In case your local theatre is currently closed due to this unspeakable pandemic or does not provide a suitable programme, why not moving the theatre to your home? In case you do not have the right reel at hand, a well-known online video platform offers a surprisingly wide range of free accessible silent movies, which I recently used to indulge in one that I have had in mind for a long time: Pandora’s Box from 1929 with Louise Brooks (there will be a separate article about her soon).
The plot of the film is loosely based on the theatre plays “Earth Spirit” and “Pandora’s Box” from Frank Wedekind. A young dancer named Lulu lives with her rich favourer Dr Schoen, a middle aged newspaper editor. He plans on leaving her to enter into a befitting marriage. Through a clever scheme, Lulu succeeds that he drops his plans to marry her instead. But this marriage ends in a tragedy as one can easily imagine. Dr Schoen’s son Alwa falls under Lulu’s spell as well as the Countess Geschwitz (the first lesbian character on screen!). Lulu and Alwa soon live as outlaws and get caught in a spiral of poverty, gambling addiction and prostitution.
Despite the runtime of more then two hours, the film is not dull in any way. Lulu’s character captivates the audience. Louise Brooks plays the role with a certain amount of innocence and ostensible naivety while always knowing her own sexuality and persuasiveness which she does not hesitate to use to her advantage. The figure is so interesting because she does not only arouse desire in those who fall for her but also a strong urge to destroy her. Love and hate are the driving forces in this tragedy, against which everyone around Lulu seems to be powerless.
Even if you can hardly believe it today, after the release of the film, Louise Brooks was harshly criticised for her too passive portrayal, which she describes in her autobiography “Lulu in Berlin”. In the 1920s, Berlin was sexually charged due to the countless frivolous nightspots and establishments. Persuasiveness was equal to lasciviousness, which actresses such as Marlene Dietrich perfectly embodied. The fact that sexuality does not necessarily have to be superficial, but can also be conveyed through apparent naivety (and is thus all the more perfidious) was not accepted by the audience. Thus, unfortunately, "Pandora's Box" did not become a big hit for Brooks, but fell into oblivion in the following decades and was only rediscovered in the 1950s.
Personally, I was highly impressed by the film as well as by Louise Brooks. Also the other actors, Fritz Kortner (Dr Schoen), Franz Lederer (Alwa Schoen), Carl Goetz (Schigolch), Gustav Diesel (Jack the Ripper) and Alice Roberts (Countess Geschwitz) play their roles amazingly. Scenes such as the famous tango dance between Lulu and the Countess on Lulu’s wedding day, or the court hearing where she stages herself as a grieving widow but at the same time tries to use her seductive skills to her advantage, and the fatal encounter with Jack the Ripper at the end are certainly unique in cinematic history.
So, ladies and gentlemen, if you like suspense and tragedy with a pinch of subtle eroticism, I can highly recommend “Pandora’s Box” to you. Enjoy this true masterpiece of the silent film era!
Yours, Marleen Tigersee
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