Pandora's Box - The Masters of Cinema Series|Louise Brooks

Product Code: EKA70545

EAN: 5060000705454
Catalogue Code: EKA70545
Title: Pandora's Box - The Masters of Cinema Series,
Principle Contributor: Louise Brooks
Contributors: Georg W. Pabst, Seymour Nebenzal, Heinz Landsmann, Ladislaus Vadja, Peer Raben, Günther Krampf, Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, Carl Goetz, Krafft Rashig, Sig Arno, Daisy D'Ora, Gustav Diessl, Michael von Newlinsky, Alice Roberts
Genre: Classic
Produced by Label/Studio: Eureka, 1929
Published by: Eureka, 16 Sep 2024
Format: Blu-ray / Restored,
Media: 1 disc(s)

Booklet|Commentary: Pamela Hutchinson (critic)|Interviews: Martin Koerber|Visual appreciated by Kat Ellinger (author/critic); Video essay by David Cairns; Video essay by Fiona Watson

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£20.00

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Cover Notes: In a role intended at one point for Marlene Dietrich (The Blue Angel), 22-year-old Louise Brooks (Diary of a Lost Girl), with her fragile beauty and iconic dark bob hairstyle, gives a performance, decades ahead of its time, that immortalised her as an icon. Largely condemned and censored upon its initial release for its daring treatment of sexuality and female desire, Brooks' understated yet erotically charged performance endures as among the most modern of the silent era. Adapted from a pair of plays by Frank Wedekind, Pandora's Box tells the story of prostitute Lulu, a free spirit whose open sexuality breeds chaos in its wake. When Lulu's latest lover, the newspaper editor Dr Ludwig Schon (Fritz Kortner, The Hands of Orlac), announces plans to leave her to marry a more respectable woman, Lulu is devastated. Cast in a musical revue written by Schon's son, Alwa (Francis Lederer, The Return of Dracula), Lulu seduces Schon once more - only to have their tryst exposed, and Schon's plans for a more socially acceptable marriage shattered. Left with no choice but to marry Lulu, Schon meets with tragedy on their wedding night. Lulu stands trial for the incident, facing years of imprisonment. With the aid of her former pimp (Carl Goetz, Tom Sawyer), an infatuated lesbian countess (Alice Roberts, The Merry Widower) and Alwa, she flees toward a fate of increasing squalor and peril, finally crossing paths one Christmas Eve with Jack the Ripper. Reviled and bowdlerised at its debut, Pandora's Box has since been recognised as one of the masterpieces of early German cinema. A sordid melodrama made with great style, it affirms G. W. Pabst as a daring and important director and Louise Brooks as one of cinema's most exquisite and distinctive performers.

Extras: Booklet|Commentary: Pamela Hutchinson (critic)|Interviews: Martin Koerber|Visual appreciated by Kat Ellinger (author/critic); Video essay by David Cairns; Video essay by Fiona Watson

More Details: High Definition extras tbc

Even More Details: Language(s): Silent (German intertitles)|Subtitles: English|Interactive Menu|Screen ratio 1:1.33

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