Adam travels back in time to Weimar era Berlin, when the American actor Louise Brooks danced through the experimental cinema scene with her sexual chaos in films like Pandora’s Box. Film writer Pamela Hutchinson explains why Brooks was so unique, and why her power endures even though her films were censored and lost. As Louise blew through Berlin, Magnus Hirschfeld was giving controversial lectures about sex and sexuality.

With the help of historian Jana Funke and sound expert Aleks Kolkowski, Adam learns more about what this setting might mean for the film conjured up by the rediscovered sound recordings. How are our decisions driven by the sex we want? Could a film in 1930 have been ready to explore that?

Credits
Written, produced and edited by Adam Zmith
With story by So Mayer and Adam Zmith
Starring Anton Blake Horowitz
Featuring voice work by Michael Golab
Music by Courtney Pine
Assistant Producers - Tash Walker and Shivani Dave
Researcher - So Mayer
Audio consultant - David Pye
Artwork by Danny Crossley
Production Mentors - Caroline Steel and Andy King
Executive Producers - Khaliq Meer and Leanne Alie
Commissioned for BBC Sounds Audio Lab by Khaliq Meer

This episode contains audio from:
Clip from Pandora’s Box courtesy of Praesens Film
Sound effects from BBC

And quotes from
Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks, University of Minnesota Press, 1982

Thanks to
Aleks Kolkowski
Pamela Hutchinson
Andrew Woodyatt and everyone at the Rio Cinema
Peninsula Press
The BFI and the BFI National Archive
Axel Kacoutié
Nikki Meadows
Freya Anderton Show less