The experience of the silent film really clicked for me with G.W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box, it’s only the third one I’ve seen after John Ford’s The Iron Horse and Carl Theodore Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc and even though I’d say I still prefer those two I’m so thankful for what this gave me in the way of advancing my understanding of this form of art. There’s a very calming feeling I get while watching a silent film, the way I don’t have to focus on what I’m hearing with only some beautiful music filling the soundscape makes these a completely unique experience, and as someone who (tries to at least) watches 2+ movies a day that unique experience can be very important to the preservation of my film stamina. My enjoyment didn’t come exclusively from building a better understanding of this film genre though, this is a truly fantastic story with some great themes and messages within it, and like my thoughts with The Iron Horse, I’m most shocked by how well this was paced as to never produce a dull moment through this near two and a half hour runtime. And as someone who loves scriptwriting more than anything in the world at this point in my life I am sad that there isn’t much to praise here, that’s not due to quality though, every line we got was brilliantly written I just wish there was more of it to appreciate, although I’m not sure more would’ve done well for the story. Because that’s another thing, even though I wanted more of this beautiful script I also absolutely loved how every placement of words felt so necessary, not one line of dialogue is wasteful as each one progresses the story and gives us a furthered understanding of our characters and it’s even more impressive how much was told through facial expressions and actions in place of words. No one mastered that wordless acting here like Louise Brooks who’s infectious in the lead role, it’s hard for me to compare a silent film performance and a speaking role but off the top of my head Brooks’ work here would have to be a top 20-ish lead of mine pre-1950. Next to her I most enjoyed Fritz Kortner in the first half with Francis Lederer and Carl Goetz improving the second, Kortner’s physical acting is almost on the same level as Brooks’ just in a different and scarier way and Lederer and Goetz had the best chemistry with Brooks out of the cast. Technically speaking it’s stunning as the ethereal lighting gives the whole movie a dreamy feel and with Günther Kampf’s stunning cinematography it makes this one of the best looking, not just silent films, but black and white films I’ve ever seen, knowing Kampf also did the cinematography for F.W Murnau’s Nosferatu makes me even more excited to catch that sometime this year as well. I can’t say what exactly drove me to give this a chance tonight but I’m very happy that I did, expect more silent films from me in the near future because this one helped me connect with this medium more than I ever thought possible for myself and I’m so much more excited to see more now.
The experience of the silent film really clicked for me with G.W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box, it’s only the third one I’ve seen after John Ford’s The Iron Horse and Carl Theodore Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc and even though I’d say I still prefer those two I’m so thankful for what this gave me in the way of advancing my understanding of this form of art. There’s a very calming feeling I get while watching a silent film, the way I don’t have to focus on what I’m hearing with only some beautiful music filling the soundscape makes these a completely unique experience, and as someone who (tries to at least) watches 2+ movies a day that unique experience can be very important to the preservation of my film stamina. My enjoyment didn’t come exclusively from building a better understanding of this film genre though, this is a truly fantastic story with some great themes and messages within it, and like my thoughts with The Iron Horse, I’m most shocked by how well this was paced as to never produce a dull moment through this near two and a half hour runtime. And as someone who loves scriptwriting more than anything in the world at this point in my life I am sad that there isn’t much to praise here, that’s not due to quality though, every line we got was brilliantly written I just wish there was more of it to appreciate, although I’m not sure more would’ve done well for the story. Because that’s another thing, even though I wanted more of this beautiful script I also absolutely loved how every placement of words felt so necessary, not one line of dialogue is wasteful as each one progresses the story and gives us a furthered understanding of our characters and it’s even more impressive how much was told through facial expressions and actions in place of words. No one mastered that wordless acting here like Louise Brooks who’s infectious in the lead role, it’s hard for me to compare a silent film performance and a speaking role but off the top of my head Brooks’ work here would have to be a top 20-ish lead of mine pre-1950. Next to her I most enjoyed Fritz Kortner in the first half with Francis Lederer and Carl Goetz improving the second, Kortner’s physical acting is almost on the same level as Brooks’ just in a different and scarier way and Lederer and Goetz had the best chemistry with Brooks out of the cast. Technically speaking it’s stunning as the ethereal lighting gives the whole movie a dreamy feel and with Günther Kampf’s stunning cinematography it makes this one of the best looking, not just silent films, but black and white films I’ve ever seen, knowing Kampf also did the cinematography for F.W Murnau’s Nosferatu makes me even more excited to catch that sometime this year as well. I can’t say what exactly drove me to give this a chance tonight but I’m very happy that I did, expect more silent films from me in the near future because this one helped me connect with this medium more than I ever thought possible for myself and I’m so much more excited to see more now.
