One of the masters of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo), and perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst’s lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora’s Box. Sensationally modern, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora’s Box is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks and a testament to Brooks’s dazzling individuality. (G.W. Pabst, Germany, 1929, 141 min., silent w/ score by Peer Raben) German intertitles with English subtitles

2K restoration from best surviving 35mm material (1952, 1964, and 1970 duplicate elements) by Haghefilm Conservation, w/ archival sponsorship and FIAF coordination by the George Eastman House and the collaboration of the Cinémathèque française, Cineteca del comune di Bologna, Národní filmový archiv, and Gosfilmofond of Russia. Restoration conceived and supervised by Martin Koerber and funded by Hugh M. Hefner.

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