"Pandora's Box" is the tale of a young woman with joie de vivre and flexible morals, living in Weinmar Germany. I didn't understand a word of it. The version I have is in German. It doesn't make a bit of difference. All you need to know is this:

 

 

Once again, let's just look at the faces. The only thing that keeps this from looking utterly up-to-date is the fact that everyone wears suits.

 

 

Think this guy's having one of those brains vs. lust moments?

 

 

 

Think he might have gone with lust, and been driven to violence when his passions are uncorked?

 

 

 

You could tell a modern woman by her haircut - and it makes them look so much more adult, but vulnerable:

 

 

The bed-head look was not confined to the artists of our own time:

 

 

I love this shot:

 

 

You don't have to know anything about the situation to know what's going on.The director was Pabst, and while the film is called by some "German Expressionist" it's nowhere near the tilty hallucinogenic style taht characterized the genre. It's proto-noir, if anything, in the way it handles the smoky palette of black and white.

I mean, really: this could be a still from a Hollywood film two decades later.

 

 

 

 

Now, just to mash it all up: an OMD music video based on the movie. Lots of Louise.

 

 

The poster: