Which 1929 film titled Pandora’s Box made Louise Brooks internationally famous?

The 1929 film Pandora’s Box made Louise Brooks internationally famous.

Pandora’s Box is a German silent film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst and starring American actress Louise Brooks as Lulu. It was released in 1929 and is loosely based on Frank Wedekind’s plays Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box. Brooks’s performance and distinctive bobbed hairstyle became strongly associated with the film.

The movie is not a direct screen retelling of Hesiod’s Greek myth. Its title evokes the mythological idea of a dangerous force being released, while the plot follows Lulu through relationships, scandal, violence, and social downfall. The film is now regarded as an important work of Weimar-era cinema.

Because the title is shared with the mythological expression, it is useful to identify the year and star when discussing this film. It is also sometimes confused with other movies called Pandora’s Box, but the 1929 German production is the one most closely linked with Louise Brooks and Georg Wilhelm Pabst.