Lights, camera, silence: About as far as the silent film could go - Pandora's Box

Obviously silent movies are not for everyone and even for those willing to go there you generally have a period of adjustment to a completely different cinematic grammar and narrative pace. I've watched G W Pabst's Pandora's Box over the past few days, and it did take me a day or two to begin appreciate the beauty and originality of this 1929 film. I watched it with the pretentious and overly academic commentary on (Criterion edition), which is pretty easy to do w/ a silent, even on first viewing. Eventually, just tried to focus on the film and not the commentary, though did learn a bit about the background - based on a Wedekind play which later became a Berg opera (Lulu), the film focuses on a sexually promiscuous and alluring - to both genders - young woman, Lulu, who over a span of a few years marries a doctor, arouses his intense jealousy, shoots him (accidentally? it's not so clear) to death after a quarrel, is tried and convicted but escapes in the post-verdict mayhem, runs off with her son-in-law (also in love with her, as is the father-like wizened figure who also pimps her), escapes by train, is blackmailed by a scoundrel who recognizes her from news photos, hides out on an offshore gambling ship, escapes arrest there heads off with son-in-law and pimp by rowboat for London, where they live in a garret, she works as a prostitute, and is killed by a client - Jack the Ripper. Quite the melodrama! A few outstanding elements: first of all the great Louise Brooks in the title role is completely glowing and lively; Pabst obviously wanted an American actress who brings her particular verve to this Germanic production; second, the acting across the board - possibly the best and most naturally acted silent of them all, with none of the stagey, eye-popping posing that characterizes the genre; 3rd, beautiful cinematography, especially some of the soft-focus shots of Brooks and the final foggy sequences in London darkness, 4th, the minimalism, the whole story told in images, with very few intertitles over the 2+ hours; 5th incredibly imaginative and well-crafted scenes, complex even by contemporary standards, such as the backstage during the variety show, the crowded train corridor with a lot going on shot in very tight quarters, the Salvation Army scene in London, spooky and haunted: the Salvation Army girl to Jack the Ripper: Can I help you, brother? Not a film for all, but a great example showing how far silents could go toward true cinematic interior drama.