Die Buchse der Pandora [2 Discs] [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

German filmmaker G.W. Pabst's late-silent classic Pandora's Box (Die Buchse der Pandora) stars the hauntingly beautiful Louise Brooks as libertine dancer Lulu. Ever out for the "main chance," Lulu persuades her wealthy lover Dr. Schon (Fritz Kortner) to marry her. But in a fit of jealous rage, he pulls a gun, a scuffle ensues, and she shoots him. Eventually escaping to London with the doctor's moonstruck son Alwa (Francis Lederer), Lulu takes up residence with her "adopted" father Schigolch (Carl Gotz), where she is reduced to walking the streets, with tragic consequences. Pandora's Box (based on two works by the controversial German writer Franz Wedekind) exudes smoky sensuality in every frame; regarded now as a masterpiece, the film received surprisingly scathing reviews, with most of the critical broadsides aimed at Louise Brooks (this was long before Brooks graduated from just another pretty Hollywood starlet to Cult Goddess). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Screen: Black and White
• Audio: Silent
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Subtitle: Eng
• Features:
  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the definitive Munich Film Museum restoration
  • Four musical scores, each offering its own interpretation of the film
  • Audio commentary by film scholars Thomas Elsaesser and Mary Ann Doane
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu (1998), a 60-minute documentary by Hugh Munro Neeley
  • Lulu in Berlin (1984), a rare, 48-minute interview with Louise Brooks, by verite documentarian Richard Leacock and Susan Steinberg Woll
  • New video interviews with Leacock and Michael Pabst, the director's son
  • Stills gallery
  • Plus: a book featuring Kenneth Tynan's 1979 essay "The Girl in the Black Helmet," an article by Brooks on her relationship with Pabst, and a new essay by critic J. Hoberman

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Louise Brooks - Lulu
       Fritz Kortner - Dr. Peter Schon
       Francis Lederer - Alwa Schoen
       Alice Roberts - Countess Anna Geschwitz
       Gustav Diessl - Jack the Ripper
       Michael von Newlinsky - Marquis Casti-Piani
       Daisy D'Ora - Charlotte M.A. von Zanik
       Carl Gotz - Schigolch (Papa Bromnier)
       Krafft Raschig - Rodrigo Quasi
       Sig Arno - Instructor

• Director:

  G.W. Pabst

• Producer:

  S. Nebenzahl

• Screenwriter:

  G.W. Pabst, Laszlo Vajda

• Cinematographer:

  Gunther Krampf

• Production Designer:

  André Andrejew

REVIEW:

• G.W. Pabst's most famous film featured his first, star-making collaboration with American actress Louise Brooks in a complex exploration of sexual psychology and Weimar Germany's social decadence. Working from Frank Wedekind's play in Pabst's trademark realist style, Pabst and Brooks transformed the character of Lulu from an evil temptress into a hedonistic innocent at ease with her sexuality. Pursued by men and women alike, Lulu is prey as much to social repression as to her own insatiable desires, as she winds up blamed for the troubles that others have brought on themselves through their own sexual hypocrisy. The appearance of Jack the Ripper at the conclusion is a sign less of sensationalist melodrama than of Lulu's internalized victimization. Brooks's subtle, nuanced performance and Pabst's fluid editing style infuse Pandora's Box with a sensuality that remains undiminished to this day. Critically panned on its release, Pandora's Box has since come to be seen as a hypnotic masterwork, remarkable for its frank treatment of sexuality and the sympathetic, inscrutable, fascinating presence of Brooks, who became a Jazz Age flapper icon. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi