3. Sexual Hate And Other Mysteries

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