''Lulu'' (also released in the UK as ''No Orchids for Lulu'') is a 1962 Austrian crime drama film written and directed by Rolf Thiele. The film is an adaptation of
Frank Wedekind
Benjamin Franklin Wedekind (July 24, 1864 – March 9, 1918) was a German playwright. His work, which often criticizes bourgeois attitudes (particularly towards sex), is considered to anticipate expressionism and was influential in the de ...
's Lulu plays—'' Earth Spirit'' (''Erdgeist'', 1895) and ''
Pandora's Box
Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology connected with the myth of Pandora in Hesiod's c. 700 B.C. poem ''Works and Days''. Hesiod reported that curiosity led her to open a container left in the care of her husband, thus releasing physi ...
Hildegard Knef
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (; 28 December 19251 February 2002) was a German actress, voice actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.
Early years
Hildegard Knef was born ...
.
Sadoul's ''Dictionary of Films'' describes Thiele's work as " heavy-handed, almost absurd version" of Wedekind's plays. But
Robert von Dassanowsky
Robert von Dassanowsky FRHistS, FRSA (born January 28, 1965) is an Austrian-American academic, writer, film and cultural historian, and producer. He is usually known as Robert Dassanowsky.
Education, career and publications
Dassanowsky was born ...
credits ''Lulu'' as one of the "few notable ustriandramas during the early 1960s".
Plot
The story of a sexually enticing young dancer who rises up in society through her relationships with wealthy men, but later falls into poverty and prostitution, culminating in an encounter with Jack 'the Ripper'.
Hildegard Knef
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (; 28 December 19251 February 2002) was a German actress, voice actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.
Early years
Hildegard Knef was born ...
: Gräfin Geschwitz
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Mario Adorf
Mario Adorf (; born 8 September 1930) is a German actor, considered to be one of the great veteran character actors of European cinema. Since 1954, he has played both leading and supporting roles in over 200 film and television productions, am ...
Rudolf Forster
Rudolf Forster (30 October 1884 – 25 October 1968) was an Austrian film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1914 and 1968. His autobiography ''Das Spiel, mein Leben'' was published by Propyläen Verlag in 1967. He was born in Grà ...
: Schigolch
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Leon Askin
Leon Askin (; born Leon Aschkenasy, 18 September 1907 – 3 June 2005) was an Austrian Jewish actor best known in North America for portraying the character General Burkhalter on the TV situation comedy ''Hogan's Heroes''.
Life and career
...