Pandora's Box

G.W. Pabst's 1929 silent classic about a totally amoral girl who uses people like tissue paper is given the Criterion red carpet treatment in this handsome double-disc set. Opening in Weimar-era Berlin, Pandora's Box stars the luminous Louise Brooks in her signature role as Lulu, a prostitute who seduces a wealthy doctor (Fritz Kortner), before turning her sights on his son (Franz Lederer)—a move that enrages the father, who is subsequently killed in a fight with Lulu. Fleeing her upcoming trial, Lulu and the doctor's son escape to London, where she once again takes up her carefree ways, only this time with the wrong man: Jack the Ripper. On the face of it, Pandora's Box sounds like a simple morality tale about a bad girl and her comeuppance, but while we cannot sanction Lulu's promiscuous behavior, we also cannot ignore the fact that she possesses a burning vitality that the milksop men in her life lack. Still powerful and disturbing, Pandora's Box makes its U.S. DVD debut with a fine digitally remastered transfer and a choice of four musical scores, as well an informative audio commentary by film scholars Thomas Elsaesser and Mary Ann Doane on the first disc. The second disc features Hugh Munro Neeley's solid hour-long 1998 biographical profile “Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu,” the 48-minute 1984 interview with Brooks “Lulu in Berlin” by filmmakers Richard Leacock and Susan Steinberg Woll, and new video interviews with Leacock and Pabst's son Michael. In addition, the set includes a 96-page illustrated paperback with essays by film critics J. Hoberman and Kenneth Tynan, as well as one by Brooks. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman)