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Amazon.co.uk Review
Amazon.co.uk Review
Hollywood never knew what to do with Brooks who, with her fierce intelligence and her open delight in sex, refused to play the coy flappers then in fashion. In Pabst, whose genius, she wrote, "lay in getting to the heart of a person", she found the director she needed, and he brought out her a screen persona with a depth of eroticism that's still breathtaking to see. The film features some of the finest German acting talent of the period--Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer--but it's Brooks' luminous performance that rivets the eye and makes her a great screen icon.
Though the action is nominally set in the late-19th century--Lulu ends up in a shadowy London where she encounters Jack the Ripper--Pandora's Box breathes the gamey air of the Weimar Republic, vividly captured by Günther Krampf's pungent photography. This release runs well over two hours and includes, for the first time in decades, over 30 minutes of cut footage, restoring the film to something very close to Pabst's original masterpiece.
On the DVD: Pandora's Box on DVD is a clean, crisp transfer in the classic 4:3 ratio, and the mono soundtrack brings out all the detail of Peer Rubens' Kurt Weill-inflected score, stylishly performed by the Kontraste Ensemble. Dialogue intertitles can be read in either English or German. We also get an outstanding 60-minute documentary, Looking for Lulu, about Brooks' life and career: warmly narrated by Shirley MacLaine, it features excerpts from an interview with Brooks from 1976. --Philip Kemp
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Customer Reviews
This version of Pandora's Box is the one to have and to view over and over again. It is filled with a richness that defies age.
To compensate, Second Sight have provided a marvellous little biopic lasting around an hour including an interview with Louise Brooks herself (among many sentimental reflections from friends etc., and a sprinkling of extracts). US viewers would recognise this as "Looking for Lulu" (available on DVD on the Image label).
What's lacking - this is why I could only rate it 4 - was a leaflet of any sort. A list of chapter points would have been nice - I don't like having to stop the film just to restart it via the scene selection menu; or flick about with the remote control when I could simply key in the scene I want from the list. Further, notes on Wiederkind's two Lulu plays (from which this film was drawn) would have been appreciated. They were censored in Germany and one wonders what sort of reception Pabst received. Also, we might have gained a better insight into the character of Lulu. The interpretive notes on the sleeve are questionable, portraying her as an evil seductress discarding one lover for the next when she's got what she wants. An equal interpretation is that of a woman unable to give what people demand of her; the seeds of her downfall sown in her very naivety, ultimately leading to her degradation and death. In short, she had no measure of the anguish she was causing.
As for the film, Pabst is recognised as one of the cinema's all-time greats so there is little to say. The timing, acting, subtlety of expression, camera angles all make for a superb atmosphere; the closing scenes are classic. Louise Brooks was probably the finest Lulu Pabst could have found.
Sometimes the slight cropping (to fit 4:3 TV) does make the image seem crammed but that's a small complaint. The contrast is softer than usual for a digital restoration making it very easy on the eye. A marvellous film, it equals Pabst's other works of which "Diary of a Lost Girl" (also Louise Brooks) and "The Love of Jeanne Ney" are available on VHS (and DVD from the US, both without region-coding).
In short, an excellent and overdue offering for fans of silent cinema but lacking historic and cultural notes that fans of this genre might have found useful.
Overwhelmingly however, it is the truly astounding and magnetic portrayal by Louise Brooks of this most fatale of femme fatales. In the midst of excellent acting and superb direction by the legendary German Director Georg Pabst she towers above everything, literally becoming the character.
To understand Louise Brooks achievement one must learn about the actress, the documentary on her life included on the DVD seems a good start. One learns that Louise was in fact a real life Lulu, thoughtless, wilful, promiscuous, captivating, highly intelligent, wayward to the degree of self destruction.
What a woman!
One of her biographies will soon be on my Amazon wish list.
Interestingly Brooks was Pabst first choice for the part, with Marlene Dietrich second. I agree with Pabst assessment when watching Blue Angel recently, Dietrich is good but lacks that final indomitable self centred detachment needed for the part.
If you find the Lulu character interesting, even if you hate silent films, give this a try. You also get a chance to become acquainted with the life of Louise Brooks.
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