Pandora’s Box has about as rich a history as any Weimar era film. This page on the Louise Brooks Society website brings together various documents of interest. Altogether, they help tell the story of this singular film. Please note: this page is a work in progress. More miscellaneous items will be added as warranted.
Prior to the Pabst production, there were three other cinematic adaptions of the two Frank Wedekind Lulu plays, Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora. The first is the Mihály Kertész directed Hungarian production, Lulu (Phönix-Film, 1918), with Clair Lotto as Lulu. (Bela Lugosi was also in the cast of this early Michael Curtiz film.) The second is the Arzén von Cserépy directed German production of Die Büchse der Pandora (Konkordia Film, 1919), with Asta Nielsen as Lulu. And the third is the Leopold Jessner directed German production of Erdgeist (Leopold Jessner-Film, 1923), with Nielsen again as Lulu.
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| Clair Lotto on a German postcard | Asta Nielsen in 1930 | Asta Nielsen on a German postcard |
Notably, there was serious interest in making yet another film of Pandora’s Box in the year before G.W. Pabst directed Louise Brooks. This full page advertisement appeared in the German film magazine Kinematograph on July 10, 1927, about a year and a half before Die Büchse der Pandora debuted in Berlin. The ad was placed by Nero-Film A.-G., the same studio responsible for the Pabst film. The ad states “We alone own the copyrights and are the producers of the film Pandora’s Box by Frank Wedekind. Script: Berthold Viertel and Adolf Lantz. Director: Robert Land. The monopoly rights for Germany are still available! We are the sole distributor of the film worldwide! We have initiated legal action against those who spread claims to the contrary!” Apparently, Pabst and his producers Heinz Landsmann and Seymour Nebenzahl came to some sort of understanding regarding the Wedekind property.
One later adaption of the Wedekind Lulu plays is the Walerian Borowczyk directed French production, Lulu (Whodunit Productions, 1980), with Anne Bennent as Lulu.