Who wrote the two plays adapted into Georg Wilhelm Pabst's 1929 film *Pandora's Box*?

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Frank Wedekind wrote the two plays adapted into Pabst's 1929 film *Pandora's Box*.

The film draws on Wedekind's dramas *Erdgeist*, usually translated as *Earth Spirit*, and *Die Büchse der Pandora*, or *Pandora's Box*. Both plays center on Lulu, a provocative figure whose relationships expose conflicts involving sexuality, class, morality, and social power.

Wedekind was a German playwright and actor whose work frequently challenged bourgeois conventions. His Lulu dramas were controversial on stage, and their frank subject matter led to censorship and heated debate. Pabst's film does not reproduce the plays word for word; it reshapes their material for silent cinema.

The ancient Pandora story supplies the film's title and symbolic association, but Wedekind's Lulu is not the mythological Pandora. Confusing the playwright with the film's director or star is a common mistake: Wedekind supplied the source plays, Pabst directed, and Louise Brooks played Lulu.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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