Opiniones de usuarios

Things I love about this film:

• Louise Brooks gives an extraordinary performance, as unaffected and natural as any I've ever seen. She's seductive, but has such a buoyant simplicity about her, and it's not the simplicity or innocence of a girl as in other screen stars who channel this as part of their allure, she's more like an elemental force of nature.

• The scene in act three when she's backstage with the newspaper publisher (Fritz Kortner) who has decided to end their affair and marry someone else is one example of this. She's refused to go onstage for them, and while arguing, turns her back to him and eventually lies down, the metallic strap of her outfit making a large thin Y on her otherwise bare back. We can just feel his desire to kiss the back of her neck, and after some tussling around, soon he is kissing her. It's at this moment that his son (Francis Lederer) and fiancée (Daisy D'Ora) walk in, and the look that Brooks gives them is just mind-blowing. I cannot imagine better acting; she's defiant and yet bemused, passionate and yet detached.

• Another great example is in act four, when the son tells her he can't live without her. Her eyes are captured so perfectly by Pabst, who adds a sparkle in their reflection which is almost demonic, and yet she has such tenderness as puts his head in her lap.

• On the surface it may seem to be a morality tale, but it's not with the way Pabst directed it, and this includes the wise casting of Brooks over Marlene Dietrich (who was apparently literally in Pabst's office when Brooks finally agreed to take the part). Lulu, Brooks's character, is never judged for pursuing pleasure. During her trial it's the prosecutor who likens her to Pandora, but the comparison is hollow, and we don't really believe it. The sexuality of the character is so natural it's presented as a sort of purity, which is a very rare thing in films of the period (or any period).

• By contrast, it's the male characters who are portrayed as evil, and it's because their pleasures are all tainted by exploitation, greed, or violence. There's the hypocrisy of Kortner's character who carries on with Brooks but tells his son, she's not the kind of girl one marries, and then later asks her to kill herself. Her first 'patron', an old man (Carl Goetz) who likely took advantage of her when she was a child, and who has no moral qualms about her prostituting herself late in the movie. The son, who starts off pure (so much so that Brooks comments "Alwa is my best friend, the only one who never wants anything from me. Or do you want nothing from me because you don't love me?"), but who we later see addicted to gambling, despondent, and not defending her. The trapeze artist (Krafft-Raschig) who blackmails her, and in one scene leans over her ominously with a giant alligator appearing over his head, mounted to the wall in the background. Another acquaintance who tries to sell her to a creepy Egyptian brothel owner, claiming that he's "looking out for her" because the authorities won't think of searching for her in Cairo. And then of course the final man she encounters, who initially is so stunned and touched by her kindness that he shows her real tenderness, though ultimately he can't control himself. It's all pretty damning, and more an indictment of the male of the species.

• Pabst has lots of great moments too, getting the most out of this story and telling it in a pretty creative way. The scene of the Kortner confronting Brooks on their wedding day when he finds her old patrons and his son playing around with her has the camera drifting ever so slightly in and out of focus, just as we can imagine him reeling from all of his emotions. The accidental shooting, with that beautiful work of art we see first on the left at a dramatic angle, and then in the background. And lastly, the handling of Brooks in that scene at the end, starting with her flashing that radiant smile with a sparkle in her eyes on the way up to her room, then later gazing at the candle with her chin on her hand and looking upward, and finally a remarkable restrained murder scene with just her hand falling away. It's brilliant, and Pabst continuing on with this to see the celebration of Christmas and people singing 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing' really adds contrast and heightens pathos. The feeling conveyed is not one of well, she deserved it for her wantonness, it's sadness that such a pure creature has been so abused and snuffed out.

• The openness of the lesbian character (Alice Roberts) is refreshing, and in keeping with the lack of moral judgment present in the film. As an aside, from reading 'Lulu in Hollywood', my understanding is that Roberts refused to look at Brooks with the requisite lust, and Pabst had to shoot her looking at him and then cut that in. Regardless, Roberts and Pabst were breaking new ground here.

• Lastly, aside from the great acting, Brooks is simply iconic in this film. Her short bob and bangs look had considerable influence at the time, and according to TCM's Ben Mankiewicz, was also studied and leveraged by Liza Minelli for Cabaret (1972). She's also very stylish in her wedding dress, at the trial in widow's garb, as well as when her hair is not in bangs to disguise herself while on the run.

Great actress, great film.

One of the last great silent films this is a German movie that is surprisingly short on cinematic expressionism and long on the glamorous, sultry, hypnotic beauty of Louise Brooks. It is her dynamic performance and fallen Goddess looks that makes her, and by attachment Pandora's Box, a wonder to behold.

The thematic sexual content is handled with reverence rather than raunchiness and it is her glorious, giddy, and sincere playful naive nature that is compelling. She not only, just by proximity, seduces any man in close contact, as well as the audience with a childish charm of calming cuteness but unleashes primal desire as well as a protective desire manifested by her magnetism.

The film is long and deeply depressing but it carries us through to her inevitable descent and destruction with so much pathos that it is hard to detach oneself from her destiny and want this obviously playful, not prey-full, soul to live happily ever after. But this is not a fairy-tale and she is not Snow White. This is Greek tragedy.

Besides the grim fatalist moral lesson, the film is lacking Expressionist ideals, and is more in tune with later Weimar cinema. The fact that it has a female lead certainly separates it from the classic Expressionist works. And shadowing and landscape techniques are much more modernized reflecting Weimar's embrace of technology and immersion into consumer culture. Even today, there are few female actors that represent such a powerful will and dominant presence as Louise Brooks did in her masterful performance. The film was not very popular at its time of production and I wonder how much that has to do with this strong female presence.

Lulu, the protagonist of _Pandora's box_ portrayed by Louise Brooks, lives beyond the constraints of time. She was radiant, outrageous - an icon of modernity that seemed to transcend all time and place. She challenged sexual conventions, and became a screen seductress like no other - not through the traditional devices of the femme fatale, but rather through her bold, kittenish innocence.

This portrayal of innocence is largely what makes her performance both powerful and unique. She's outrageously excessive and provocative, but because she engenders such sympathy, we cannot fail to identify with her. In a sense, she seduces us as she seduces the men whom she encounters. That identification, despite her destructiveness, is much of what makes this film so compelling; we love her despite ourselves.

There are three films that permanently altered my sense of the power of the silent cinema: Sunrise (Murnau); The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer), and this triumph.

This film reaches the highest pinnacle of the cinematic experience; it transforms the viewer through its indelible images and hypnotic captivation.

I can only wish that the first time viewer has the pleasure of experiencing this film and Brooks' immortal performance in a theater with live accompaniment as I did at the Virginia Film Festival.

This feature has quite an unusual feel to it - generally downbeat, but engrossing, and filled with sordid characters and settings, yet somehow artistic. Moreover, it's not downbeat or sordid in the pretentious, empty way that characterizes so many recent movies. Rather, despite portraying its characters in a largely unfavorable light, it neither exploits them nor glorifies them. These persons are shown simply to be what they are, and while there is a certain inevitability about many of the things that befall them, there is a thoughtfulness as well. You would not want to be like, or perhaps even meet, most of these characters, and yet you want to wish them better luck.

Louise Brooks gets most of the attention (both in the movie itself and from those who discuss it). The "Pandora's Box" image for her character is appropriate, in that Lulu is never ill-intentioned nor malicious, and yet she often puts the other characters in difficult situations, just by being who she is and acting naturally. All of the other significant characters are defined largely in terms of their responses to her and relationships with her, and all of the characters (including Lulu) have very evident faults and make some very preventable blunders. The result is an unusual and very interesting movie. Director G.W. Pabst deserves the credit most of all for creating the atmosphere, putting everything together, and making it work so well.

For his movie "Die Büchse Der Pandora (Panodra's Box)", G.W. Pabst took together the tragedies "Der Erdgeist" and "Die Büchse Der Pandora", forming the famous Lulu-diptych written by German dramatist Frank Wedekind (1864-1918), an important ancestor of literary expressionism, who wrote amongst other works "Frühlings Erwachen" that caused many scandals.

What is congenial about this movie, is not only the fact, that Louise Brooks is doubtless the best Lulu ever seen (in theater as well as on the screen), but how G.W. Pabst managed to amalgamate this two literary masterpieces of the time of sexual liberation in Europe.

It is a real pity, that not more of Pabst work can be reached in the US and that most of his work is not available at all on DVD.

Louise Brooks may have never studied acting, but every actor should study her. How much they can learn is questionable though. This dancer/chorus girl turned film star was one of those rare creatures who probably couldn't have told you what she was doing, even if she thought long and hard about it (and Brooks was an intelligent, articulate woman.)

Like a great natural athlete, she simply could do it, and do it better than almost anyone else. Pandora's Box is the greatest existing record of her technique and remarkable talents.

On the surface, a run of the mill story of a femme fatale who destroys the men around her, this G. W. Pabst film is complicated, dark, moody, and seemingly packed with contradictory messages. Well acted and well directed by Pabst, it nonetheless would have been forgotten decades ago, had it not been for its star.

Brooks was one of the most beautiful, most photogenic woman to ever appear on the screen. From some angles, her face is so remarkable it almost doesn't seem real.

Her personality exceeds her beauty and it was the perfect personality to capture the childish, petulant, self centered, yet sweetly innocent kid who is the embodiment of every pretty girl who wants what she wants, regardless of the consequences.

Pabst' film, based on two German stage plays, is also a fascinating look at male sexual obsession, at men unable to control their lust who want to destroy the object of that lust before she destroys them.

Yet all the messages aside, it is simply Brooks totally natural performance that in the end will be remembered here.

Ironically, Brooks was really no more than a starlet in her American silent film days and it took her three European films to elevate her name above the title. And those films were hardly seen in the U.S. in their day. Yet today, women whose names were household words in America in the silent era, like Coleen Moore and even Clara Bow, are all but forgotten, while the Brooks legend grows stronger each year.

While Brooks has benefitted from a well written biography and the adoration of much of the press, a close examination of Pandora's Box proves she was much more than just hype.

This movie is one of the great treasures of the cinema, and Louise Brooks is one of the most talented and most fascinating actresses to ever appear in movies, on either side of the Atlantic.

Describing a film like PANDORA'S BOX is difficult. As a sterling example of German Expressionism you know it's not a piece of fluff. It's complex, deep, and not for the sitcom and Star Trek crowds. You have to lose yourself in it, and that is to lose yourself in Louise Brooks as PANDORA'S BOX is her movie. Not to diminish the genius of G.W. Pabst but it is Brooks that dominates this movie like so few actors can do. Without Brooks this movie could not exist.

Whew. And what's it about you may ask? It's a morality play made and set in the Berlin of 1928. While I watched the film I could not shake the knowledge of the cataclysm that was to be unleashed on Germany in five short years. In a way Pabst knew it too. (I was particularly weirded by the prominent display of a menorah in one of the Berlin apartment sets.)

I recommend that everyone that loves movies should at some point find the video store in their neighborhood that stocks old movies, rent PANDORA'S BOX, and experience it for themselves.

Tightly paced, well-directed tale of Lulu (Brooks), a tramp with a heart of gold -- sort of. Brooks is a job to watch, and she's supported by a good cast.

Not realist in style, very cinematic, editing is a key in telling the story and the use of film is amazingly efficient. I found myself wondering towards the end of the film if I had seen any title cards at all -- there were so few and the action and emotion were so well conveyed by the directing.

I'm really not a big fan of German expressionism in film, nor silent movies for that matter, so I regard PANDORA'S BOX as an interesting but highly flawed study of female perversity embodied by Lulu, as played by LOUISE BROOKS. She seems to be a woman without a conscience--and rather than compare her to Greta Garbo or any other screen greats I would say her Lulu character resembles Rita Hayworth's amoral nature in GILDA--a woman of mystery with loose morals.

The story is just plain awful, heavy-handed stuff about an amoral girl during the Jazz age in Europe who seems to attract men like moths around a light. And women too. LOUISE BROOKS has a very natural way of expressing herself and even in close-ups does not give in to that stylized way actresses had in silent films. She is reminiscent of the very sexy CLARA BOW but she's an even better actress.

Interesting to see FRANCIS LEDERER as the young man (he died only a couple of years ago at 100) and he too does a nice job of natural acting as the son of the wealthy man she marries. The story has each man she forms a relationship with meet an unhappy fate, while her own life takes on a tragic turn when she is accused of murdering her husband but manages to escape after a guilty verdict. From then on, she is a woman in hiding and her fortunes take a downward spiral until she is living in poverty in the London slums.

During the latter portion of the film she takes up with a man who, unknown to her, is the man who has been terrorizing London with a series of brutal murders, played with appropriate menace by GUSTAV DIESSL. Her demise at his hands is apparently supposed to be the price she pays for a life of sin.

It's about as downbeat as any of the expressionist films of that era, including those by Fritz Lang, but the weakness lies in a storyline that is weak and a lack of subtitles for many wordy scenes so that the viewer is never sure just what is going on between characters heavily engaged in conversation. This is a huge mistake.

Summing up: Notable only for watching the screen presence of LOUISE BROOKS. Otherwise, quite a dud dramatically and not likely to appeal to contemporary audiences except as a vehicle in which to view the actress who today has quite a reputation as a screen siren of the '20s.

I had heard "Pandora's Box" called a German Expressionist film, the class to which such great and outlandish films as Wiene's "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", and Lang's "Metropolis" and the sadly dated but very interesting "Nosferatu" by Walter Murnau, I expected it to have the same elements-- extremely stylized acting and direction, bizarre artificial sets, and a general atmosphere of utter surreality. So I was very surprised at and fascinated with the naturalism of G. W. Pabst's "Pandora's Box", particularly with Louise Brook's celebrated performance as the cheerful, childlike, tragic femme fatale Lulu. Pabst's direction is essentially modern, even without the use of sound. While sometimes the direction and acting in even "Caligari" and "Metropolis" provoke laughter from the bemused audience,"Pandora's Box" holds the viewer spellbound, and its not infrequent humor is intentional. Like other German Expressionist silent films, "Pandora's Box" has a dark message. From the beginning, however, it is far less stylized, and the settings look like they might actually have existed in the 1920's, instead of only in someone's dream world. Nevertheless the film makes excellent use of Expressionistic lighting and chiaroscuro, which highlights the visions of fruitless and immoral frivolity, desperate gambling and unhealthy sexuality.

Altogether, this film is beautiful and absorbing, and even if nothing else, it should not be missed for Louise Brooks' superb performance.

The dancer and prostitute Lulu (Louise Brooks) is the mistress of the newspaper owner Dr. Ludwig Schön (Fritz Kortner) and lives in an apartment paid by him. When her former "protector" Schigolch (Carl Goetz) visits Lulu, he brings the opportunist agent Rodrigo Quast (Krafft-Raschig) that invites Lulu to dance in a play.

Dr. Schön tells Lulu that he will marry the aristocratic Charlotte Marie Adelaide v. Zarnikow (Daisy D'Ora) and mesmerizing Lulu forces him to marry her. However, in the wedding party, Dr. Schön finds Lulu partying with Schigolch and Rodrigo Quast in their bedroom and he gets his pistol and forces Lulu to shoot him. Lulu is arrested and almost six months later, she goes to the tribunal for trial. Despite the testimony of Dr. Schön's son Alwa Schön (Franz Lederer) and his friend Countess Anna Geschwitz (Alice Roberts), Lulu is sentenced to five years in prison in a prejudicial verdict. But her friends cause a bedlam in court and Lulu flees. Alwa and Lulu decide to travel to Paris, but in the train, they are convinced to follow the crook Marquis Casti-Piani (Michael v. Newlinsky) in the beginning of Lulu's downfall.

"Die Büchse der Pandora" is a tragic masterpiece by Georg Wilhelm Pabst with the beautiful and talented Louise Brooks in the lead role. This actress seduces not only the men in the film, but the male viewers with her beauty and innocent and naive look. Last time I saw "Die Büchse der Pandora" was on 12 October 1999 and yesterday I was spellbound again by this lovely actress. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "A Caixa de Pandora" ("The Pandora Box")

The thing which stood out for me in my experience of this movie was its exquisite lighting. If i had to name the most incredible use of lighting i've ever seen, i would name this. There are images here which are illuminated as delicately as a flickering candle, or often as evocative as a flickering candle. It is often called intoxicating and shimmering, and people get this impression of it because of its light.

A colourful cast of decadent misfits accompany showgirl and prostitute Lulu (Louise Brooks, who has an incredibly charismatic presence, was forever nicknamed Lulu after this role) in her major misadventure, her love for a married man, which is what opens pandora's box in this tale. Each character has such a wonderfully suggestive face, due to the way they are lit. And they are all introduced really well, so that they have a really distinct character, and you remember all of them. Each character has a distinctive persona, which borders on caricature. Most of the band of misfits seem like broad comedy characters, but then they turn around and surprise you with a serious moment.

Note: beware music which is not Timothy Brock's score:

Unfortunately, the art gallery who were playing it were playing it at sound speed, which is way too fast, and almost makes farce of what was dark comic-tragic action - and it had the single worst attempt at capturing the mood of a silent movie in music. Timothy Brock (The Last Laugh, Sunrise) has done a score for this one, and i expected to here that, since Brock has a real feel for silents, and writes incredible, moody scores - but instead I was presented with a cliched piece of utter garbage which patronised every subtle element of this movie. I had trouble ignoring the music - but i did constantly feel like the action onscreen was not well summarised/generalised by the happy/sad plonking of the piano accompaniment, which pulled out of its hat every cliche tune to characterise a mood you ever heard. So undoubtedly i would have enjoyed it better with better music and more appropriate speed.

I have to say I disagree with those who consider Brookes' acting to be wooden, the range of emotions her face portrays in this film is staggering, and she glides across the screen like a dancer (which, of course, she was). German Expressionism produced some fantastic films, but this is has to be just about the best. Pabst obviously knew how to get the best out of her, as she performs better here than in any of her Hollywood vehicles. Her acting is really understated, which led many people to say she wasn't doing much, but her face expresses so much. Francis Lederer is pretty good as Alwa, except for the scene in which he finds her in his father's house after the court trial and completely hams it up, pulling the most excruciating "moolie" ever seen on a cinema screen. Louise Brooks was one of a kind.

The story of Lulu, was already familiar with the story from seeing and hearing Alban Berg's opera 'Lulu', is an immensely harrowing and tragic one, and a brave one to dare to adapt on film at this particular time in film history. GW Pabst was one of the best and most influential silent film directors, known for the authenticity of his settings visually and in atmosphere (coined "street realism"), how his films were edited and his direction of actresses and how he developed their skills.

All three can be found here in 'Pandora's Box', which made star Louise Brooks a cinematic icon for very good reason. It has Pabst written all over it, that's how big an impression his style and direction make here, and to this day is one of his and Brooks' best films. Even better than the wonderful 'Diary of a Lost Girl' (also directed by Pabst and also starring Brooks hence the comparison), which has pretty much all the brilliant things 'Pandora's Box' has but 'Pandora's Box's' ending works much better and takes more risks (even with again being significantly censored in various countries at the time) which is what makes it marginally better.

'Pandora's Box' looks fantastic even now, with some of the most truly beautiful and atmospheric images for any silent film. The lighting is moody, which adds so much to the dark, sleazy tone of the story, and the editing typically seamless for a Pabst film. The sets are far from static and are not static, even if they weren't authentic in real life they certainly looked and felt authentic, which is where Pabst's pioneering street realism comes in. Best of all visually is the exquisite, rich in atmosphere and very creative cinematography.

Moreover Pabst's direction is masterly, it's a triumph visually and creating a hugely realistic mood that is as hard hitting and moving as is required for the story. This is far from too safe directing, always admire it when directors and writers bring a pull no punches approach to uncompromising subjects and that was something that Pabst was consistently brilliant at and doing it in a way that makes one feel that they are there (another example of his street realism).

The most familiar of the music scores available for 'Pandora's Box' is Stuart Oderman's. To me, it fitted quite well even if it will never go down as one of my favourites. It was foreboding and leaves one unsettled even when not being complex in instrumentation, there are melodramatic parts but the nature of the story calls for that. While the story may seem too melodramatic and lacking in cohesion for some, to me it had some intense sensuality and some darkly humorous moments without resorting to camp. But above all it was violently harrowing and moving, with an unforgettably disturbing ending that never fails to shock. One of Pabst's biggest stengths and what set him apart was how he portrayed the dangers and plights of his female lead characters, most evident in 'Pandora's Box' and 'Diary of a Lost Girl'. Atmosphere-wise, 'Pandora's Box' is quite unlike any film released before and at the time and is still quite unique now.

Despite the characters not being ones one sympathises with (Alwa comes closest but namely down to how he is treated), with Lulu being pretty amoral, they are very interesting and the interactions between them induce a wide range of emotions. The cast are all strong, with Gustav Diessel a big standout as a truly sinister Jack the Ripper. Along with Pabst and the production values, one of 'Pandora's Box's' biggest treasures is the magnificent and quite iconic performance of Brooks in a challenging role that she embodies every single shade of. She looks wonderful on camera too and her face and eyes tell so much, one believes everything she conveys.

In summation, a silent film masterpiece. While the critical and commercial failure at the time is understandable, the acclaim it's garnered over-time is more so. 10/10

Much as been written about this silent-era classic and star, Louise Brooks. A mid-80s videotape release is available (with music added). You won't find this at blockbuster, but I located a copy at my local library. Louise will blow you away. She has a timeless quality. She seems so modern, as if she actually lives today and was magically transported back to the 1920s for this film.

I originally saw this picture in "History of silent film" class in 1988 at the University of Kansas and have never forgotten it. An excellent biography of Louise is also available, written by Barry Paris. She lived in interesting times, was witness to much of the popular cultural phenomena of her day, and was poised to become a superstar herself. Of course, we know that last part didn't happen. Find out why when you read the book. It's fascinating. But I recommend you see 'Pandora' first, and discover for yourself why people still worship her more than 70 years later.

There are a handful of films you have to watch from each decade purely based on word of mouth, this was another.

I had started watching silents from the late 1800's to learn and watch film grow in acting, film making and editing.

Whilst this film has some nice moments, the down points are, any real lack of dialogue in storyboards. Alot of scenes are dramatically overacted, it feels like a late 1910's film in that regard, not a decade later.

And the whole film is too slow paced, i mean how long does it take for someone to leave the room once they have stood up! I know it's for dramatic effect, but there are too many scenes like this, and it's not just because it's a 1920's film, as said above, other films had moved on from this slow style and were better paced by this point in cinema history.

Worth the watch the once (obviously has it's fans for Louise) but you do find yourself wishing it would speed up on multiple occasion's, and there is not enough drama, emotion or empathy for the characters to warrant a return visit.

Continuing my interest in movies from the silent era, I happened on this 1929 feature directed by the celebrated Austrian director G W Pabst starring American actress Louise Brooks.

Usually with silent movies, allowances have to be made for things like technology and technique both in front of and behind the camera. To some extent, that is still the case here, but of all the recent silents I've watched, this seemed to be the most watchable. Director Pabst presents the narrative in a surprisingly modern manner, his camera moving freely from scene to scene with no ugly jumps or edits. Sometimes the best technique is no technique and of course that applies in particular to Ms Brooks's performance. There have been many screen sirens in prominent roles often exploiting their sexuality, you only have to think of Dietrich (considered for the part), Harlow, Russell, Monroe, Hayworth, Fonda, Welch and Bardot to name but several, but I can't ever recall before being quite as transfixed and beguiled by an actress as this. In truth more Eve than Pandora, she lights up the screen with her every entrance and you immediately wish her back whenever she exits. With her bob-cut, diaphanous clothing but most of all, her disarming personality, she effortlessly exudes sex-appeal, effectively seducing the viewer just as easily as she does the various men who cross her path.

The story is distinctly pre-Code as we immediately drop in on her having an affair with her sugar daddy, a wealthy press baron with a grown-up son but who's engaged to a much more socially acceptable fiancée. Lulu however puts paid to that plan as she compromises him in her dressing room just as her rival puts her head in the door, the first of several times she will entrance any man who comes into her orbit but yet even she's unable to prevent herself from falling headlong into trouble in this man's man's man's man's world. In fact, you can add women to that list as we witness the infatuation of her lady-friend admirer which I think it's fair to say goes more than skin-deep.

Unfortunately, scandal and danger follow Lulu wherever she goes, her biggest fault being her own compliant and trusting nature as man after man lines up in different ways to take advantage of her.

Told over nine distinctly titled acts, it all ends up rather melodramatically when, now reduced to prostitution, she encounters a John who turns out to be a Jack, the Ripper, no less. Even here though, Pabst's expressionist camera work and dramatic chiarascuro lighting make her demise compelling and tragic.

The overdramatic ending apart, this was a fascinating and entertaining document of Weimar-era Germany before the rise of Nazism containing at its heart a remarkably alluring performance by its leading lady.

This movie makes a big mistake in one area: it doesn't provide enough written dialog. You watch this film for interminable minutes not knowing what the people are saying! It's frustrating and makes for an extremely slow movie. It gets to be like pulling teeth to try to finish watching it. The 100 minutes feel more like 1,000.

Not only that, the story is a real downer, and I certainly wasn't surprised to hear that this was a disaster at the box office. Word must have gotten out.

The only memorable facet to this film - to me, as a male - was ogling Louise Brooks, a beautiful and sexy woman. She had one of the prettier faces of her day. The supporting cast was okay, but nothing memorable, even Gustav Diesel as the "Ripper."

Maybe like other viewers, back then and today, I was expecting a lot more. This is yet one more example of critics fooling us. It's "in" to praise everything Brooks did, so beware. Watching this movie will disappoint you, big-time!