Pandora’s Box is the 1929 German silent film directed by G. W. Pabst and based on Frank Wedekind’s Lulu plays. The movie combines material from Wedekind’s Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box, centering on the character Lulu.
Louise Brooks plays Lulu, whose magnetic personality affects the people around her and drives the film’s tragic progression. The production is one of the best-known examples of late silent German cinema and was later reassessed as a major film after its initial controversy.
The title refers to the mythological image of Pandora, but the film is not a direct dramatization of Hesiod’s story. It uses the name as a symbolic connection to danger, desire, and consequences. This is why the film should be distinguished from the 1951 fantasy romance Pandora and the Flying Dutchman.