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.
