Anthology Film Archives series includes new G.W. Pabst documentary and two films starring Louise Brooks

The Anthology Film Archives in New York City is hosting a major retrospective of films by G.W. Pabst which includes not only two masterpieces featuring Louise Brooks, PANDORA'S BOX and DIARY OF A LOST GIRL, but also such classics as WESTFRONT 1918, KAMERADSCHAFT and other works. Anchoring the series is PANDORA'S LEGACY, a 2024 documentary about Pabst by Angela Christlieb, which is making its New York premiere. 

The series, which is presented in collaboration with the German Film Office, an initiative of the Goethe-Institut and German Films, runs November 22 through December 3. More information, including ticket availability, can be found HERE.

Here is what the Anthology Film Archives says about the series: "One of the most influential cinematic voices of Weimar-era Germany, #GWPabst bears a legacy as complex and diverse as the 20th century itself. This retrospective features Pabst’s most essential films, including classics like PANDORA'S BOX, DIARY OF A LOST GIRL, and THE THREEPENNY OPERA. 

Headlining the series is the New York premiere of PANDORA'S LEGACY, a new documentary film by Angela Christlieb that explores the filmmaker’s enduring appeal through the eyes of his lifelong partner Trude Pabst. Q&As with Christlieb Nov 21–23 and 30!"

I have just seen this new documentary, which I blogged about back in May. It is fascinating. Here is what the Anthology Film Archives says about Christlieb's film: "The new film by Angela Christlieb – whose previous documentary-fiction hybrids URVILLE (2009), NAKED OPERA (2013), WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GELITIN (2016), and UNDER THE UNDERGROUND (2019), have all been showcased at Anthology in past years – PANDORA’S LEGACY is a journey through the family universe of renowned German filmmaker G.W. Pabst, told through the eyes of the woman who was his great love and lifelong partner: Trude Pabst.

“Georg Wilhelm Pabst was one of the world’s most well-respected filmmakers during the 1920s and early ’30s. Described as a staunch socialist auteur, Pabst became something of a black sheep during the 1940s, when he agreed to work for the Nazi industry – the circumstances under which are still up for discussion. In cinematic ‘politics’, Pabst is a left-wing love affair gone dreadfully bad, with few inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Angela Christlieb approaches Pabst from an angle that feels eerie: his family. There’s his writer-actress-artistic confidante wife, Trude, who’s present solely through words and archival images. Some of their children and other relatives who are still around and willing to discuss this seemingly mysterious man make an appearance too. PANDORA’S LEGACY is less about the meaning of Pabst in cinema and more about the imprint of his life and work on those closest to him. It’s fascinating to hear the letters Georg and Trude wrote to one another when they were young; it becomes mesmerizing when his next of kin discuss him in detail, separating the myths from their precious recollections. PANDORA’S LEGACY looks at film history from a different angle – how rare and precious!” –Olaf Möller, ROTTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL"

And here is the trailer for this new documentary.

Both PANDORA'S BOX and DIARY OF A LOST GIRL will be shown three times, as will PANDORA'S LEGACY. If you live in the New York City area, don't miss this special event!

PANDORA'S BOX will be screened November 22, 26, and 30. Here is what the Anthology Film Archives says about the film: "Pabst had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo), and perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst’s lurid, controversial melodrama PANDORA’S BOX. Sensationally modern, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, PANDORA’S BOX is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks."

DIARY OF A LOST GIRL will be screened November 23 and 28 and December 3. I was pleased to find that the Anthology Film Archives quoted me in their description: here is what the venue says about the film: “The second and final collaboration between Pabst and Louise Brooks is a provocative adaptation of Margarethe Böhme’s notorious novel, in which the naive daughter of a middle-class pharmacist is seduced by her father’s assistant, only to be disowned and sent to a repressive home for wayward girls. She escapes, searches for her child, and ends up in a high-class brothel, only to turn the tables on the society which had abused her.” –Thomas Gladysz

A publicity pic for Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks
(second from left) and G.W. Pabst (far right)

More information about PANDORA'S BOX can be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page devoted to the film. It is a multi-page extravaganza of information and images.

 

More about DIARY OF A LOST GIRL can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website on its filmography page devoted to the film. It is also packed with information and images.

 

 

G.W. Pabst directing Louise Brooks in Diary of a Lost Girl

In 2010,  the Louise Brooks Society published a corrected and annotated edition of the original 1907 English language translation -- notably, this edition, the first in English in 100 years -- brought this important work of feminist literature back into print in English. It includes an introduction by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society, detailing the book's remarkable history and relationship to the 1929 silent film. This special "Louise Brooks Edition" also includes more than three dozen vintage illustrations.  (Purchase on amazon.)

 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. <meta name="fediverse:creator" content="@LouiseBrooksSociety@sfba.social">