April 29, 2011
The original melodrama. Louise Brooks is sooo sexy.
Louise Brooks,
Fritz Kortner,
Francis Lederer,
Carl Goetz,
Krafft-Raschig
... see more 
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 per... read more
DVD Release Date: November 28, 2006
Stats: 320 reviews
Your Rating
Flixster Reviews (320)
-
-
October 23, 2010Brooks 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 togethe... read more
-
July 27, 2009it'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 perfo... read more
-
February 23, 2009Pandora's Box 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 to the way she approached a... read more -
December 31, 2008For 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 of literary expressionism, who... read more
-
October 21, 2008One of the best silent films I have ever seen (not that I have seen a lot). Louise Brooks is one of the most captivating screen presence's of all time. She is not only beautiful, but the performance she gives is way beyond her time. Considering she doesn't have any lines to deal ... read more
-
-
April 16, 2007Prostitution, muder, gambling, lesbians. Who said silent films couldn't be raw and racy. A film so controversial in its day, most countries had their own edit of the film. Told in 8 seperate acts, each one working as a short film within itself. The film is suprisingly modern, dea... read more
-
June 13, 2010Superbly shot by GW Pabst, this silent-era treasure of the late 20s has only one weakness: it's too long for it's own sake. Maybe I shouldn't have watched the uncut version. Whatever. It's completely worth the time if you see the restored version. Louise Brooks simply shines like... read more
-
June 8, 2008Amazing film. Louise Brooks is just mesmerising, my eyes were fixed on her the whole time. Has a great moody, sexual atmosphere throughout. Overall a must see of the silent era.
Critic Reviews
October 13, 2006
Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times
October 12, 2006
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. Full Review
July 7, 2006
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
The movie remains one of the most insightful depictions of the elemental incongruity between man's nature and woman's. Full Review
June 15, 2006
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
2006 is the centennial of actress Louise Brooks, and to honor it, her greatest film, Pandora's Box, is being released in a new 35-mm print in New York's Film Forum before being taken around the country. Full Review
June 15, 2006
A.O. Scott, New York Times
Neither an exposé of social conditions nor a psychological case study and certainly not a moral parable G. W. Pabst's Pandora's Box is a tour de force of cinematic eroticism. Full Review
June 13, 2006
J. Hoberman, Village Voice
There would never be another Lulu -- nor will there ever be. Full Review
March 27, 2005
Mordaunt Hall, New York Times
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. Full Review
January 1, 2000
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
One of those revered classics, so steeped in critical hysteria that it's almost heresy to question its greatness. Full Review
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
This synopsis could apply equally to a great or a laughable film. Brooks makes it a great one. Full Review
January 3, 2010
Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks
The film...is more interested in the waywardness of almost everyone's longings and in their failures of self-preservation than it is about Lulu's particular immorality or recklessness. Full Review
View more
Pandora's Box
reviews
Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
