Which 1929 film is titled Pandora’s Box in German cinema history?

The 1929 German film titled Pandora’s Box is a landmark silent drama directed by G. W. Pabst.

The film stars Louise Brooks as Lulu, a woman whose relationships and social environment lead to tragedy. It adapts Frank Wedekind’s plays Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box rather than directly staging Hesiod’s ancient Greek narrative. Its use of the Pandora title signals a figure associated with fascination, danger, and destructive consequences.

Pandora’s Box is often discussed as a major example of Weimar-era German cinema. Brooks’s performance became especially influential after the film’s reputation grew through restorations and later critical writing. The movie is also a common source of confusion because it shares its English title with the myth’s later popular name, while its plot belongs to a different literary tradition.

The film’s year, director, star, and source plays make it easy to distinguish from other works called Pandora or Pandora’s Box. It is a silent film, so its storytelling relies heavily on visual performance, editing, and intertitles rather than synchronized dialogue.