Firstly, a massive thank you to our Patreon supporters. Your generosity touches me deeply. These supporters have become the single biggest contributing factor to the survival of DVDBeaver. Your assistance has become essential.
What do Patrons receive, that you don't?
1)
Our
weekly
Newsletter
sent to your Inbox every
Monday morning!
Please consider keeping us in existence with a couple of dollars or more each month (your pocket change!) so we can continue to do our best in giving you timely, thorough reviews, calendar updates and detailed comparisons. Thank you very much. |
Search DVDBeaver |
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
(aka "Die Büchse der Pandora" or "Lulu" or "Pandora's Box")
Directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Germany 1929
In a role intended at one point for Marlene Dietrich (The
Blue Angel), 22-year-old Louise Brooks (Diary
of a Lost Girl), with her fragile beauty and iconic dark bob hairstyle,
gives a performance, decades ahead of its time, that immortalized her as an
icon. Largely condemned and censored upon its initial release for its daring
treatment of sexuality and female desire, Brooks’ understated yet erotically
charged performance endures as among the most modern of the silent era. |
Posters
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Theatrical Release: February 9th, 1929
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Review: Masters of Cinema - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Box Cover |
|
CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Masters of Cinema Spine #280 - Region 'B' - Blu-ray | |
Runtime | 2:14:26.232 | |
Video |
1. 33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 47,525,361,037 bytesFeature: 39,676,606,848 bytes Video Bitrate: 3 4.91 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
|
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
||
Bitrate Blu-ray: |
|
|
Audio |
LPCM Audio 2304
kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit Dolby Digital Audio English 320 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps / DN -31dB |
|
Subtitles | English, None | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Masters of Cinema
1. 33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 47,525,361,037 bytesFeature: 39,676,606,848 bytes Video Bitrate: 3 4.91 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details: • New audio commentary by critic Pamela Hutchinson • New visual appreciation by author and critic Kat Ellinger (20:34) • New video essay by David Cairns (18:34) • New video essay by Fiona Watson (19:34) • Restoring Pandora's Box with Martin Koerber (8:24) PLUS: A 60-PAGE BOOK featuring new writing on the film by critics Alexandra Heller Nicholas, Imogen Sara Smith, and Richard Combs; alongside archival stills and imagery
Transparent Blu-ray Case inside hardbound case Chapters 17 |
Comments: |
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
Opening screens, in German with optional English subtitles, inform us: "The editing of the film was funded as part of the digitization campaign of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media based on a resolution by the German Bundestag. Pandora's Box premiered in Berlin on February 9th, 1929 and was not a huge success at the time. The film only became famous after Louise Brooks was rediscovered in the 1950s by her admirers Henri Langlois of the cinémathèque francaise and James Card of the George Eastman House. As far as is known, neither the original negative nor a copy from the time it was made has survived. The only copies available today are from the 1950s and 1960s, made from heavily damaged material. The only way to show Pabst's images back to anything close to their original beauty was digital editing. For this purpose, we were given the three versions of the film that have survived - a duplicate negative made in 1952 from the cinémathèque francaise, a recopy from 1970 by Gosfilmofond of Russia, and the 1964 copy from the Närodni Filmovj, archive in Prague - from the aforementioned archives and the Cineteca di Bologna made accessible. By combining these three materials, it was possible to recreate the image sequence of Pabst's famous flowing montage and to reinstate missing image frames and scenes as much as possible. With the help of digital image processing, an attempt was made to bring the photographic characteristics of the various materials closer together in such a way that a coherent overall impression was created. However, some damage and traces of time had to remain in the material as they were currently uncorrectable. New 35mm backup negatives and copies were made from the restored version and a digital cinema version was created. The montage follows very closely the working copy that Enno Patalas made in the Munich Film Museum in the 1980s. The text of the intertitles comes from a list that Gero Gandert was able to find in Riksarkivet, Sweden. Recommended demonstration speed: 20 fps." We compared the Criterion and Second Sight DVDs in 2006, HERE. The 1080P, with approaching 5 X the bitrate of the Criterion SD transfer, image look somewhat sepia, with almost muddied contrast beside the previous DVDs. I got used to this, almost, 'sfumato' appearance. I don't know if this is more correct but the higher resolution does wonders for the film's textures. Despite the restoration, there remain patches of wear, light damage and inconsistencies. I enjoyed my HD presentation very much. NOTE: My buddy David sent me this quote from the Nitrateville Forum of an error:
"The mistake: When Lulu stuffs some money into the meter
reader's hand, he is so distracted that he lets two coins drop onto the
carpet and doesn't even realize it. The digital clean-up software registered
those two falling coins as defects and erased them. So we do not see
anything fall out of his hand. and another:
"Eureka/MoC merely licensed the restoration and would not
be able to make corrections. They got what they paid for and that was the
end of that. I did alert Martin Koerber, though. Whether he and his
colleagues might be in a position to correct this fault in future releases,
I do not know. The master file would include the raw scan and so it would be
easy enough to bring the coins back in, but would there ever be an
opportunity? By the way, I once sat in on a review session at Paramount, and
so I saw how tricky it is to outwit the software, especially in a film with
which the technicians are not intimately familiar.
NOTE: We have added 58 more large
resolution Blu-ray captures
(in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE
On their
Blu-ray,
Masters of Cinema use a linear PCM 2.0 channel track (24-bit) for Pandora's Box
supporting the exquisite orchestral score by Peer Raben
Fassbinder's
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Despair, plus
Tenderness of the Wolves,
The Marriage of Maria Braun,
In a Year with 13 Moons.)
It supports the film so well and sounds crisp via the uncompressed transfer.
Exceptional. Masters of Cinema have German Intertitles with optional English
subtitles on their Region 'B'
Blu-ray.
The Masters of Cinema
Blu-ray
Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Pandora's Box
is a Weimar German cinema masterwork - although in the director's
'New Objectivity' period - a counter to expressionism. In 1921 there was an earlier
screen adaptation of Pandora's Box by Arzén von Cserépy with Asta
Nielsen in the role of Lulu. With her bangs like a shiny black helmet
Louise Brooks projects a pure, almost innocently exotic, sexuality,
devoid of pretense and her dancing helped convey that with her
character's naturalistic movements. It made her the stuff of cinema
legend. The interest in Pandora's Box runs from the spectrum
seamlessly from prostitution and
lesbianism to Jack the Ripper. Pure gold. The Masters of Cinema Blu-ray
with extensive restoration, new commentary, three visual essays and
60-page booklet is a
must-own. End of Year Poll stuff. Don't hesitate. |
Menus / Extras
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
1) Criterion (2-disc) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP2) Masters of Cinema - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
![]() |
![]() |
1) Second Sight - Region 0 - PAL TOP2) Masters of Cinema - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
![]() |
![]() |
1) Second Sight - Region 0 - PAL TOP2) Masters of Cinema - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
![]() |
![]() |
1) Criterion (2-disc) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP2) Masters of Cinema - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
![]() |
More full resolution (1920 X 1080) Blu-ray Captures for DVDBeaver Patreon Supporters HERE
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Box Cover |
|
CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Masters of Cinema Spine #280 - Region 'B' - Blu-ray |
Search DVDBeaver |
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |