Erdgeist

The wonderful Asta Nielsen in a fabulous film where she demonstrates her great talent. This film is both tragic, dramatic and (un)intentionally humorous. It is amazing how much the silent films still have left to tell us. Asta brings this film up to a very high level, her gestures and elegant moves make the whole difference. Just to watch her hands is a joy. Something special about this film is the fabulous set design. There are oversize flowers, i.e. a three meters tall lily, and the costumes are both glamorous and funny. This film is basically a great example of how much you can tell with very few tools. By the way, I watched the film with dutch text (I do not speak dutch!), but still, the point was clear.

Frank Wedekind's drama 'Erdgeist' premiered in 1898, the second part, 'Pandora's Box' in 1904. In 1913, the author merged the two plays into one work, which he called 'Lulu Tragedy' after the main character. In all its forms, the Lulu material was and remained as scandalous as Wedekind's earlier drama 'Spring Awakening' (1891), as the author looks behind the façade of the bourgeois society of his time and discovers the animal instincts that were thought to have been overcome. Julius Bab wrote about Lulu in the journal 'Schaubühne' in 1905: 'Sex in the form of the demonic, innocent, guilelessly devilish woman destroys an entire generation of men who want to grasp and control life with their brains.'

In the 1920s, the scandal was still fresh and bourgeois double standards were still alive and kicking. 'Lulu' was then filmed twice, once under the title "Erdgeist" in 1923 and once as "Die Büchse der Pandora" in 1929. A comparison of the two films highlights the rapid development of German film in the course of the 1920s.

Leopold Jessner, one of the great representatives of expressionist theatre in Berlin, directed the film in 1923. And so the buildings, but also the performances of the actors in 'Erdgeist' are characterised by expressionism. Eyes roll and arms are raised in stage-like settings with oblique angles and painted details. Everything here revolves around Lulu, played by the international star Asta Nielsen. This casting can be seen as ambivalent. Nielsen was too old for the 'child woman' of Wedekind's play, and she could no longer appear 'innocent' or 'guilelessly devilish', as she had made the role of the seductress her own since her film premiere in 'The Abyss' (DK 1911). On the other hand, Asta Nielsen had the necessary charisma and erotic fluidity for the role and was still a real box office magnet in 1923.

The plot is quickly told. A series of men fall in love with Lulu and vie for her: Dr Schön (Albert Bassermann), his son Alwa (Rudolf Forster) and the artists Dr Goll (Gustav Rickelt) and Schwarz (Carl Ebert). Lulu quite likes this, but she doesn't want to commit herself, because there is also her old protector Schigolch (Alexander Granach), who wants to tie her up with the acrobat Rodrigo (Heinrich George). The whole thing inevitably ends tragically.

'Pandora's Box', shot by G. W. Pabst in 1929, is a showpiece of the new German silent film of the late 1920s, which had shed its expressionist traits and worked with the means of New Objectivity. Not least because of the casting of the film icon Louise Brooks in the leading role, the fame of the later film caused 'Erdgeist' to fall into oblivion. Erdgeist' does not deserve this, because it is a solidly made, entertaining film with a stunning Asta Nielsen, who, despite all her expressiveness, also has the opportunity to play naturally, for example when she rolls around with pleasure on the bed with Schigolch.

Asta Nielsen is Lulu, the object of desire for men in the arty crowd. One by one, they get to view her as a personal possession, then along comes a betrayal, a death, and it's on to the next man. Miss Nielsen says she doesn't want it, that she was much happier when she was a poor, barefoot dancer.... but she sure looks good in the white furs and shiny dresses they clothe her in.

There certainly were a spate of movies, particularly in Germany, that centered on the femme fatale which evolved into film noir. It sounds to me like guys blaming the woman, but Miss Nielsen bounces from one fur-covered bed to the next , occasionally interspersed with her dancing on stage in a butterfly costume. Interestingly, like the best-remembered of these Erdas, Louise Brooks (also called 'Lulu') in Pabst's PANDORA'S BOX, Miss Nielsen wears a black wig in a shiny shingle cut.

It was considered rash at the time to attempt a remake of what was then considered the definitive version of Franz Wedekind's cautionary tale, but few are now aware that there even was an original.

Nearly twenty years older than her famous successor they share a sleek bob but little else. Instead of Louise Brooks' wild child who destroys men oblivious, we here get a high maintenance vamp who knows only too well what she's doing, relishes the fact and makes Theda Bara look demure.

In 1910 the earthy sensuality of Asta Nielsen created a sensation in 'The Abyss'. It would seem a natural progression for her to play the ultimate femme fatale Lulu but thirteen years were to elapse before she did so in this adaptation by Carl Mayer of the first part of Franz Wedekind's play. It was to be another six years before G. W. Pabst cleverly merged both parts into 'Pandora's Box' with the luminous Louise Brooks as Lulu. Pabst had directed the Great Dane in 'Joyless Street' and could not have been unaware of her performance in 'Earth Spirit'. That both actresses sport a pageboy bob hairdo cannot be coincidental. There the similarities end.

At twenty three Miss Brooks is in the full bloom of her beauty and stunningly feminine whereas Miss Nielsen is knocking on forty and despite her favoured cameraman Axel Graatkjaer she looks distinctly mannish in close up, especially when wearing an ill-advised Pierrot costume. In longshot her still nubile physique belies her years and being a great actress she plays 'coquettish' very well but she remains alas too long in the tooth for the role. As for her 'androgynous' look I have little doubt that for some viewers this will exert a perverse fascination. One film historian has suggested that Wedekind put a great deal of himself into the character of Lulu. The mind boggles.

Leopold Jessner's film is Expressionist through and through from the incredible sets by the ill-fated Robert Nappach to the mannered performances. There are some fine moments to be sure but not enough to place it in the first rank. It is also to be regretted that the makers have chosen to omit the lesbian Countess Geschwitz which would have given the film an added dimension.

One either regards Lulu as predator or victim and whereas Miss Brooks is decidedly the latter Miss Nielsen definitely qualifies as the former.