Which 20th-century film titled Pandora’s Box was directed by G. W. Pabst?

Pandora’s Box (1929) was directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst.

This German silent film adapts Frank Wedekind’s Lulu plays and stars American actress Louise Brooks as Lulu, a charismatic figure whose relationships contribute to a destructive chain of events. The film is not a direct screen retelling of Hesiod’s Greek myth. Its title invokes the mythic idea of temptation, danger, and consequences.

Pabst’s film was produced during the late silent-film era, shortly before synchronized dialogue transformed international cinema. Louise Brooks’s performance later became one of the defining screen roles of the silent period, and the film was rediscovered and critically reassessed decades after its release.

The title can cause confusion because several films and television productions use “Pandora’s Box.” The specific work associated with Pabst is the 1929 German film. Its source is Wedekind’s Lulu drama, while the ancient myth supplies the symbolic title rather than the plot’s literal setting.