Which 1929 silent film directed by G. W. Pabst made Louise Brooks famous as Lulu?

G. W. Pabst’s 1929 silent film Pandora’s Box made Louise Brooks famous internationally in the role of Lulu. The film is a German-language-era production, though it is silent, and its title refers to the destructive consequences surrounding its central character.

The screenplay draws on Frank Wedekind’s plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora. Brooks plays Lulu as a charismatic and sexually independent figure whose relationships lead to jealousy, violence, and ruin. Her distinctive bobbed haircut and performance became central to the film’s later reputation.

Pandora’s Box was not a direct dramatization of Hesiod’s Greek myth. Instead, it uses the mythological title as a metaphor for desire and catastrophe. That distinction matters because the film’s Lulu is a modern dramatic character, not the ancient Pandora.

The film was initially controversial and later became a major work of silent cinema. Brooks’s performance is now frequently cited among the defining screen performances of the silent era.