Pandora's Box

Pandora's Box (1929)

  • 90% of critics liked it
    (30 reviews)

  • 87% of users liked it
    (4,748 ratings)

German filmmaker G.W. Pabst's late-silent classic Pandora's Box (Die Büchse der Pandora) stars the hauntingly beautiful Louise Brooks as libertine dancer Lulu. Ever out for the "main chance," Lulu persuades her wealthy lover Dr. Schön (Fritz Kortner) to marry her. But in a fit of… More

Unrated,
Directed By
Written By
Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Joseph Fleisler
Genres
Art House & International, Drama
In Theaters
Dec 1, 1929 Limited
Moviegraphs Inc.

Critic Reviews

  • Variety Staff, Variety

    Louise Brooks, especially imported for the title role, does 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.

  • Don Druker, Chicago Reader

    One of the classic films of the German silent era.

  • Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times

    Brooks overwhelms the lens with her magnetic eyes.

  • Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

    If you've never seen Brooks -- or Pandora's Box -- you've missed one of the most extraordinary personalities and films of the silent movie era.

  • Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

    The movie remains one of the most insightful depictions of the elemental incongruity between man's nature and woman's.

Read all 16 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Jennifer X


    The original melodrama. Louise Brooks is sooo sexy.

  • AJ V


    Brooks plays a girl who plays around with men, she doesn't want to be thought of as a prostitute or anything though, she never goes with guys she doesn't like. She marries an older man, but he believes he has ruined his reputation by doing so, so he decides they must die… More

  • Stella D


    it's hard to imagine the audience reaction to this when it premiered 80 (!) years ago. with frank sexual themes, lesbianism, prostitution and murder they couldn't have gone much further without lulu appearing stark naked. louise brooks looks amazing and gives a remarkable… More

  • Randy T


    <i>Pandora's Box</i> is a landmark film and an eye-opening experience for anyone who still thinks silent pictures are simplistic and benign. Louise Brooks' "Lulu" is iconic in every sense of the word. From her graceful form to her soft focus closeups… More

  • Cassandra M


    For his movie "Die Büchse Der Pandora (Panodra's Box)", G.W. Pabst took together the tragedies "Der Erdgeist" and "Die Büchse Der Pandora", forming the famous Lulu-diptych written by German dramatist Frank Wedekind (1864-1918), an important ancestor… More

Read all 11 featured audience ratings

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Cast

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