In the role that made her a legend in Europe, and belatedly in America, Louise Brooks plays Lulu, the beautiful, amoral vamp who destroys all those who come under her spell but who, as a Soho prostitute, falls victim to Jack the Ripper. Under G. W. Pabst's direction, the film is a masterpiece of atmosphere, camera movement and editing. It is also one of the most sexually charged films ever made, due to Brooks' incendiary performance and the peculiar vision of Pabst, “the urbane analyst, bemused by the desires depicted in his films, occasionally even enchanted by them, but never hypocritical about his own complicity in the spectacle....” (Andrew Sarris).