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4.235.202.181
One of the two collaboration's between the 20's icon Louise Brooks (Lulu) and the German giant, Pabst.
I have owned and enjoyed the VHS of "Pandora's Box" for years and have kept the expected pleasure of this film as one would a fine wine, heightening the pleasure through anticipation.
Alas, it is pale, thin, and insipid when compared to the other.
For one, it paints such a rosy picture of a brothel that a poor girl would have been crazy not to have seen it as the profession of choice. No drugs, no sickness, no violence... just lots of champagne and fun!
Second, there is a scene that is the most anti-Semitic I've ever witnessed--and it goes on and on. Quite as bad as anything in old Vaudeville which made fun of African-Americans.
The plot?
Dumb beyond belief and incredible, even for its day.
A beautiful and very young girl is seduced by an employee of her father, becomes pregnant, has the child (which is given away), is thrown from the house into a wayward girls' home (which isn't portrayed as particulary bad), escapes to the streets and a bordello, etc.
Louise, which is the only reason to see the film, is radiant and Pabst does a wonderful job of lighting her beauty. In one memorable scene, perhaps only so for the truly smitten such as I, Lulu's character is seen offstage putting the finishing touches on her "helmet" hair as a dance troupe entertains on stage. Without a cut, Lulu leaves her grooming, takes a breath, and dances onstage, pirouetting through the troupe in one continuous fluid unforgettable motion.
Follow Ups:
I have the recent Criterion DVD release of the restored Pandora's Box and KINO's Diary of a Lost Girl, restored and released on DVD several years back, that includes previously unseen censored footage. To fairly assess your criticism I'll watch Diary again later today, but one should keep in mind that Germany in the 1920's was in a state of both moral and economic decline and the debauchery/decadence of a brothel may have been perceived more as an escape than as a prison for many young women in less than favorable economic circumstances. One should always try to view classic films in their proper historical context as well as a reflection of the quality of acting and direction.AuPh
as such, but I'm quite familiar with German modern history including painting, music, literature, and architecture.
Venereal disease, heavy drug and alcohol use, physical abuse, these are staples of any brothel, whether in Germany or Leningrad.
I purposefully left off the happy denouement, though it was almost as unbelievable as the earlier part.
Really, that school for girls was supposed to make a girl wish to escape to the streets? All we saw was some tough exercising and poor food. Perhaps the censors clipped worse parts but still it's hard to believe the same director made this and, especially, after he'd made PD.
Perhaps Pabst, and Lulu, wished for a happier vehicle after the overwhelmingly dark and tragic PD.
Did I mention how wonderful her performance was, anyway?
That apothecary was memorably nasty, too.
nt
...are you old enough to remember Hamm's.
"From the Land of Sky Blue Waters...."
Of course I remember Hamms. I lived in the Twin Cities for many years.
;^)
nt
nt
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