Pandora's Box, directed by G.W. Pabst and starring Louise Brooks, debuted on this day in 1929. That first showing -- the film's world premiere -- took place at the Gloria–Palast in Berlin. And despite what has been stated elsewhere, Louise Brooks did not attend the premiere. (She had already returned to the United States.)
Based on two plays by the acclaimed German dramatist Frank Wedekind, the 1929 film Die Büchse der Pandora (or Pandora’s Box in English translation), tells the story of Lulu, a lovely, amoral, and somewhat petulant showgirl whose behavior leads to tragic consequences. Louise Brooks plays Lulu, a singular femme fatale. As Brooks’ biographer Barry Paris put it, her “sinless sexuality hypnotizes and destroys the weak, lustful men around her.” And not just men. . . Lulu’s sexual magnetism had few bounds, as this once controversial film features what is thought to be the screen’s first lesbian character.
More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website's filmography page.
Before the film premiered in February of 1929, critics and the movie-going public were somewhat dismissive of the much anticipated work. The very idea of the film had been rejected by those who claimed “Lulu is inconceivable without the words that Wedekind made her speak.” Hoping to deflect such criticism, director G.W. Pabst conducted a well-publicized search for an actress who was just the “right type”: according to one film journal of the time, Pabst’s search was a topic of considerable interest, and “Everywhere one went one heard ‘What about Lulu?’ and ‘Is Lulu found yet?’” (Later, a worldwide publicity campaign echoed the public’s interest when it asked “Wer ist Lulu?” or “Who is Lulu?) Once the part was cast, some Germans objected to the little known Brooks in the role, doubting an American actress could play what was thought to be an essentially German character.
The G.W. Pabst-directed film premiered at the Gloria–Palast theatre in Berlin on February 9, 1929. According to at least one report from the time, it was a great success. “The gala premiere of Wedekind’s Lulu tragedy, filmed by G. W. Pabst, has just taken place at Berlin’s Gloria-Palast. Despite the Siberian cold … the turnout for the premiere was enormous. The most prominent personalities from the film, theater, and literary worlds were present. The critical audience was incredibly captivated by the film, and there was thunderous applause at the end of the screening. All actors, with the exception of Louise Brooks (Lulu), who has returned to Hollywood, appeared before the curtain again with G. W. Pabst.“
On the 11th of the month, reviews and articles began to appear in the major Berlin newspapers including Berliner Tageblatt, Berliner Morgenpost, Die Welt, Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Neue Berliner Zeitung / Das 12 Uhr Blatt and other publications. As a psychological study, some found Pandora’s Box a disappointment, while others regretted Pabst’s seeming retreat from the social and political engagement of his earlier works. Some critics were taken aback by what was then considered a rather frank portrayal of sexuality, as had been the censors. Even from afar, the poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), writing in the English / Swiss film journal Close Up, noted the controversy when she stated the film had only “passed by the German censors after a stormy discussion of several hours duration.”
One brief anonymous review in the trilingual journal Der Film stated, “A film has been produced on the basis of Wedekind’s drama of the same title, but which neither comes up to the spirit of Wedekind nor excels in direction, performance or manuscript. The film leaves one cold and cannot even be described as an entertainment film, although it was given a big show in Germany at the premiere. Technique is satisfactory. With regard to business prospects, this journal does not take the liberty of offering an opinion”.
Pabst’s choice of Brooks as Lulu was thought by many to be a mistake, and accordingly her acting came under fire. German critics stated she looked attractive but was unconvincing. Siegfried Kracauer, writing in Frankfurter Zeitung, thought Brooks not enough of a prostitute, or whore, while another called Brooks “an inanimate dummy.” (This latter comment came at a time when “dummy” might translate to something like mannequin, which once was analogous to the term model, as in fashion model = nevertheless, the sentiment is akin to calling someone “pretty but dull” or “pretty but stupid”.) The critic for Tempo put it this way: “… Lulu, in the delightful guise of Miss Louise Brooks from Hollywood, clearly demonstrates that she has nothing whatsoever to do with the events around her. Her smiling disinterest makes the hustle and bustle around her completely incomprehensible. This charming American movie actress barely has two different nuances of expression for the primal force of Lulu.” Likewise, Variety’s correspondent in Germany chimed in with a critique hardly more sympathetic, “Louise Brooks, especially imported for the title role, did not pan out, due to no fault of hers. She is quite unsuited to the vamp type which was called for by the play from which the picture was made.”
Over the next number of months, Pandora’s Box opened across Europe (except in those places where it was banned). When shown, it was censored according to local standards and similarly critiqued as it had been in Germany and neighboring Austria. In France, for example, censors thought it indecent for a father and son to vie sexually for the same woman. Their solution was to tinker with the titles and convert Alwa from Dr. Schön’s son to his male secretary. In England, where the film was given an “adults only” rating, the critic for the London Observer suggested the “chaotic” film suffered from being cut. Other changes were made for other reasons in other countries, especially Russia. Nevertheless, over the next year or two, the film would be shown in north Africa, in the Caribbean and South America, and even in a few countries in Asia. In Japan, where Brooks was a cult star nearly as popular as Clara Bow, the film was heavily promoted.
n the United States, Pandora’s Box suffered a similar fate both in terms of censorship as well as criticism. When it debuted in America in late 1929, a substantial amount (perhaps as much as 20 minutes) of the film had been cut. The 55th Street Playhouse in New York City, the small art house that debuted the film, projected a statement lamenting the film had been censored. The theater also apologized for the “added saccharine ending” in which Lulu joins the Salvation Army. (For more on the film’s battle with censors both in Europe and the United States, see the Louise Brooks Society webpage Pandora’s Box – Censorship History.)
Quinn Martin, critic at the New York World, wrote “It was the privilege of a few reviewers to see Pandora’s Box shortly after it was received by its American exhibitors and before the New York censors got at it. In the beginning it appeared to this one to be a rather harmlessly lewd little exhibition with misery and murder and a touch of abnormalcy along other lines, but at that time, at least, it told a sort of story. Now, it is recommended principally, if at all, for its striking photographs of Miss Louise Brooks, the American actress. At least, the persons who have charge of our film morals have seen fit to leave Miss Brooks’s back, legs, and haircut as they pictured at the outset. Miss Brooks, therefore, retains all of her original charms. . . . It does occur to me that Miss Brooks, while one of the handsomest of all the screen girls I have seen, is still one of the most eloquently terrible actresses who ever looked a camera in the eye.”
Billboard magazine had a similar take, “This feature spent several weeks in the censor’s board’s cutting room: and the result of its stay is a badly contorted drama that from beginning to end reeks with sex and vice that have been so crudely handled as not even to be spicily entertaining. Louise Brooks and Fritz Kortner are starred, with Miss Brooks supposed to be a vampire who causes the ruin of everyone she meets. How anyone could fall for la belle Brooks with the clothes she wears in this vehicle is beyond imagination. . . . This is a silent production that has no business playing anything but guild theaters.”
Photoplay, one of the leading fan magazines of the time, noted “When the censors got through with this German-made picture featuring Louise Brooks, there was little left but a faint, musty odor. It is the story, both spicy and sordid, of a little dancing girl who spread evil everywhere without being too naughty herself. Interesting to American fans because it shows Louise, formerly an American ingénue in silent films, doing grand work as the evil-spreader.” Mordaunt Hall, critic for the New York Times, famously countered when he wrote, “Miss Brooks is attractive and she moves her head and eyes at the proper moment, but whether she is endeavoring to express joy, woe, anger or satisfaction it is often difficult to decide.” Variety put the nail in the coffin when its critic opined “Better for Louise Brooks had she contented exhibiting that supple form in two-reel comedies or Paramount features. Pandora’s Box, a rambling thing that doesn’t help her, nevertheless proves that Miss Brooks is not a dramatic lead.”
Regina Crewe, writing in the New York American, said “But
not even the censors may be blamed for all the film’s deficiencies – the
acting, for instance, and the rather absurd melodramatic story. . . .
Unlike Anna May Wong, and other Hollywood actresses who have blossomed
into skilled players under European influence, Miss Brooks doesn’t seem
to have improved since her departure. She is comely as ever, but her
pantomimic abilities are sadly limited. . . . The picture is one of the
less deserving efforts and was received with apathy by the audience.”
But was it? Despite poor reviews, the film was widely written about (for a limited release) and did well in its New York debut. The New York Sun reported Pandora’s Box “ . . . has smashed the Fifty-fifth Street Playhouse’s box office records. It will therefore be held for another week.” At a time when most new or first-run films played only one week, a two-week run was considered noteworthy, and above average.
By late 1929, however, sound had arrived and poorly reviewed silent films from abroad were little in demand. Although exhibition records of the time are far from complete, the film was seldom shown in America in the years following its New York debut. Pandora’s Box was shown at the Little Theater in Baltimore (January 1930), Acme Theater in New York City (May 1930), Little theater in Newark, New Jersey (May 1931), and 5th Ave. Theater in New York City (December 1933). The film’s last known public showing in the United States (prior to its later, post WWII revival) was a one-off screening at the Sunday playhouse at Taliesin, the Wisconsin estate of architect Frank Lloyd Wright (May, 1934). A more detailed account of the early screening history of Pandora’s Box in the United States can be found in this Film International article from 2023, “Lulu in America: ‘Sin Lust Evil!’ and the Lost History of Louise Brooks and Pandora’s Box.”
After that, Pandora’s Box fell into obscurity, and was more often than not referenced in early film histories as a failed film by an otherwise noted German director. It took decades for critics, historians and audiences to rediscover the work. In his 1989 biography of Brooks, Barry Paris put it this way: “A case can be made that Pandora’s Box was the last of the silent films—not literally, but aesthetically. On the threshold of its premature death, the medium in Pandora achieved near perfection in form and content.”
SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:
— The jazz combo seen playing in the wedding scene is Sid Kay’s Fellows. They were an actual musical group of the time. Founded in 1926 and led by Sigmund Petruschka (“Sid”) and Kurt Kaiser (“Kay”), Sid Kay’s Fellows were a popular ten member dance band based in Berlin. They performed at the Haus Vaterland (a leading Berlin night-spot) between 1930 and 1932. And in 1933, they accompanied the great Sidney Bechet during his recitals in the German capitol. Sid Kay’s Fellows also accompanied various theatrical performances and played in Munich, Dresden, Frankfurt, Vienna, Budapest, Barcelona and elsewhere. The group’s depiction in Pandora’s Box predates their career as recording artists. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power, Sid Kay’s Fellows were forbidden to perform publicly. They disbanded, and transformed themselves into a studio orchestra and made recordings for the Jewish label Lukraphon.
— When Pandora’s Box debuted in Berlin in 1929, an orchestra playing a musical score accompanied the film. The score was reviewed in at least one of the Berlin newspapers. The score, however, does not apparently survive. What is also not known is if the music of Sid Kay’s Fellows, or any sort of jazz, played a part in the music of Pandora’s Box. [Director G.W. Pabst also included a jazz combo in his next film, The Diary of a Lost Girl.]
And, more about Pandora's Box can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Pandora's Box (filmography page).
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 © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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