pandora's box

To be frank, i did not enjoy Pandora's box. Here are the reasons why

- I am not a huge fan of scilent movies. I get extremely annoyed that i cant hear sound other then that darn piano ( alothough i do give props to the pianist for his/her improv of the score). After about thirty minutes i have this burning desire to hear something, anything, other then that piano. I also was not pleased by the fact that the movie only gave you minimal diologue. I understand why they did it- to make people not focus on what is being said but why and how it is being said- but i found it frustrating to know that people are taking but not see what they are saying. In that entrie two and a half hour movie there was probabily about 30 lines of diologue that was shown.

- Another thing that i did not like about this movie was the fact that it dragged along at some points. For example, in the act where they are on the boat, i felt that some aspects of the plot could have been cut out. For another example, i dont think that they needed to have the subplot of the man asking Lulu for the $20000. I beleve that it was both an excuse for that character to die, and an excuse to throw a reoccuring theme of the movie back into it (that money corrupts).

- All things aside however, i found Louise Brooks to be enthralling. Even though I dont find her to be the prettiest woman in the world, i think she is an amazing actress. She is the reason that i was able to keep up with what was happening in the movie and how other characters were related to the movie's plot. As we said in class, Louise only acts as herself because that is all she knows how to do. This is most likely why she is so good. In silent films it is common for characters to overexaggerate their movements and actions, so that the viewer may have a clearer understanding as to what is going on, since there is no dialogue. However, Louise did not need any of these gimmics because she portraid her emotions and actions so realistically that her audience could actually connect to what she was feeling or doing, and actually know what she was feeling/doing.

- I also enjoyed various shots in the movie, like the "down to hell" shot where they assend the stairs to the gambling parlor, or the shot where the son of the editor finds his father dying and looks up at Lulu holding the pistol next to the painting,or the scene where Lulu is on her bed and the light is shining on her face and there is a kind of divinity to her.

Im one for classics but i much rather prefer them with a soundtrack and some diologue, i guess im just not a melodramatic silent movie type of guy.