The Umbrella release predates Criterion's by about three years, and was for a time the only commonly available DVD version. It's by no means the equal of the Criterion release, but, since it's often available at something like half the price of the Criterion, it's still an entirely serviceable edition.
It has a crisp and clean transfer, though with some compression artifacts, and overall a very nice balance in the black and white images. The music is by Peer Raben, known best for his work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder (some of which has been recycled by Wong Kar-Wai) and whose score is also included, with others, in the Criterion package. It isn't Raben's best work, but for the most part it fits the film well; in my opinion it may be the best among the choices on Criterion. It gets off on the wrong foot with an overly dramatic tone in the fairly light opening scenes, but improves from there, and overall is well-tailored to individual scenes.
Probably the biggest detriment to the Umbrella release is in the relative shabbiness of the English title card replacements. They're not very well matched to the style and age of the film, using the "Optima" font, which is out of place in a 1929 context, and decorative corner ornaments in an Art Nouveau style that's also inappropriate for 1929, and particularly for a film that has, in the fashions and decors of its most glamorous scenes, a strong sense of Art Deco. It doesn't help that, where there's more than one sentence on a title card, the last one isn't given a period But what's most annoying about the titles is that they seem to come up jerkily, and usually after a split-second glimpse of the German titles, which can be selected instead of English. The German title cards are a decent-looking set in an old-style serif font that's more dignified in style and more appropriate than Optima. If the viewer is able to understand German, choosing the German titles and skipping the English ones would certainly be the way to go. Either way, quibbling about the title cards, which take up so little space in the course of the film, is secondary to the quality of the film itself, which is exceptional here, there, or anywhere it can be seen.
By comparison with the Criterion edition, the Umbrella disc is short on extras, but it does include the documentary 'Looking for Lulu', which is excellent and also included with the Criterion version.
Pandora's Box is for all time one of the great landmarks of film, and it's presented by Umbrella in a good, if not entirely perfect, quality release. If your interest in silent film, or this film in particular, is at the margins, or if you're simply curious about this film that's held in such high regard by so many, the Umbrella Entertainment DVD should suit your needs at a budget price. (Of course, note that this is a PAL, not NTSC release -- if you're uncertain whether your DVD player can accomodate a European DVD, and most players in America and Canada CANNOT, do your due-diligence thing and make sure you can view this disc on your player BEFORE ordering a copy! Unless an Amazon seller has failed to indicate that a DVD is other than Region 1 (United States and Canada), it's unfair for the seller to get negative feedback because the buyer can't play the disc!)
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