Reminder: Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, screens in Austin, Texas on June 16

Pandora's Box (1929), the landmark silent film starring Louise Brooks, will be shown on Sunday, June 16 (at 3:45 in the afternoon) and Wednesday, June 19 (at 6:00 in the evening) in Austin, Texas. This "Signature Presentation" of the recently restored version of the film is being presented by the Austin Film Society. More information about these screenings can be found HERE.

The Austin Film Society says this about the film: "Thoroughly, startlingly modern, this look at Lulu, a sexy-but-innocent showgirl who suffers for desire (her own) and others, made an icon of its star — Kansas-native, former Ziegfeld girl, and later film critic, Louise Brooks — and became one of the most controversial films in history."

Directed by G. W. Pabst
Germany, 1929, 2h 21min, DCP, Silent with English intertitles

The local Austin Chronicle ran a short piece on the screenings. It can be found HERE. And here is what they said.

1928, Not rated, 109 min. Directed by G.W. Pabst. Starring Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer, Carl Goetz and Alice Roberts.

In the Greek legend of Pandora, all the ills of the world were unleashed when she opened her forbidden jar, and all that was left was that most precious and fragile of forces – hope. That’s sort of the story of Pandora’s Box. Reviled and censored on release, film fans and historians long hoped that it would be restored and reevaluated. Now the tale of Lulu, a libertine, and her sexual exploits across a repressive Europe, is seen as a masterpiece of Weimar cinema, most especially in the tension between Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s post-expressionistic directorial style and an eternally captivating and haunting performance from Louise Brooks, the American star who beat out Marlene Dietrich for the part. – Richard Whittaker

 

I don't know why the Austin Chronicle listed the wrong year and gave a much shorter time for the film!

For those who can't make this signature presentation, please note that Pandora's Box is now showing on HBO Max. See the previous LBS blog post.

For more about Pandora's Box, please visit the newly revamped filmography page on the Louise Brooks Society website. 

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