The original language of Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s 1929 film Pandora’s Box was German.
The film was made in Germany during the silent-film era and is commonly classified as a German drama. Although silent films relied heavily on visual storytelling, they were often distributed with intertitles. Those written title cards could be translated or replaced for different national markets, which sometimes makes the language of a silent film less obvious to modern viewers.
Pandora’s Box was directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst and stars American actress Louise Brooks as Lulu. Its story comes from Frank Wedekind’s German-language plays Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box. The film’s international reputation later helped make it accessible to audiences far beyond Germany.
It is important not to confuse the film’s original language with the languages of later restorations, subtitles, or home-video releases. Those versions may present translated intertitles, but the production itself belongs to German cinema.