May, 8, 2001

Alternate titles
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
Nosferatu the Vampire (1922)
Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (1922)
Nosferatu, a Symphony of Terror (1922)

Germany. Silent. Black-and-white. 75 min (USA). 94 min (Germany). VCR and DVD.

Crew
Director: F.W. Murnau
Cameraman: Gunther Krampf, Fritz Arno Wagner
Screenplay: Henrik Galeen
Art Direction: Albin Grau
Producer: Enrico Dieckmann, Albin Grau

Cast
Max Schreck (Count Orlock)
Gustav von Wangenheim (Thomas Hutter)
Greta Schroder (Ellen Hutter)
Max Nemetz (Captain of the boat)
Alexander Granach (Knock)
Gustav Botz (Dr. Sievers, Town Doctor)

The opening scene of Nosferatu starts with a happy couple (Thomas & Ellen Hutter) living in a small town called Wiesborg. Thomas and Ellen exchange smiles back and forth, and overall, look truly happy together. Then, Thomas receives a proposition from Knock, who is supposedly his boss-a seller of houses. He tells Thomas that he could makes some good money if he goes to Count Orlock's castle and sells him the "handsome deserted house" that is across the way from Thomas' own house. Thomas agrees to go on this trip to Count Orlock's castle, much to the dismay of Ellen who seems very disturbed by his departure. Thomas leaves her in the care of friends for a few months as he travels the countryside, destined for Orlock's castle. On the way there Thomas stops by a local tavern for a quick bite to eat, and mentions the fact that he is going to Count Orlock's castle. This disturbs everyone in the tavern, and he is warned not to go there. But, not believing the tavern gossip, Thomas quickly brushes away the talk and decides to leave the tavern. However, a wolf comes down from the mountains and scares all of Thomas' horses away, so he is forced to stay the night in the tavern. It is in the room that Thomas sleeps in that he finds The Book of Vampires. The passage that he reads is: Men do not always recognize the dangers that beasts can sense at certain times. This he laughs off, and soon is on his way to Orlock's castle. Thomas' horses have been chased away, so a man from town takes him to a bridge by wagon, and says he will go no farther.

Thomas leaves his escort and walks over the bridge. Quickly after Thomas crosses the bridge, a carriage moving eerily fast comes to meet him on the path. It is Orlock's own personal carriage, and Thomas gets in. He then arrives at the castle, where nobody is around, and walks in. The doors close behind him, and soon he meets Count Orlock himself, who stands waiting with his fingers curled. At dinner Thomas cuts his finger cutting bread, and Orlock licks the blood off, saying "Your precious blood" as he's doing so. This scares Thomas, and that night he spends his time apparently talking with Count Orlock by the fireside. After he falls asleep, Orlock presumably bites him; we find out through Thomas blaming mosquitoes for two small bite marks on his neck. The next day Thomas finishes the deal with Orlock, sells him the "handsome deserted house" across the way from his own, and accidentally lets Orlock see a picture of Ellen, which is followed by Orlock saying "What a beautiful neck" about Ellen.

Now, it seems that Orlok starts plaguing Ellen's dreams, she starts to sleep walk with her arms extended, and awakens to a dream of Orlock overpowering Thomas. The morning after this has happened, Thomas wakes up and finds Orlock's coffin, but does nothing, and instead he cowers from the coffin. That same evening, Orlock departs for Wiesborg by a carriage full of coffins. These coffins eventually get placed on a boat, and make their way towards Wiesborg. Thomas then escapes the castle by way of bed sheets used as a rope, and falls into the hands of the peasants, who believe he has fallen from a mountain. Immediately upon awakening, Thomas rushes to Wiesborg by horse, trying to make it there before Orlock. Meanwhile, on the boat, Orlock successfully kills off the entire crew, including captain and first mate. Everyone plunges into the depths of the ocean, either willingly or after they are already dead, except the captain. He ties himself to the steering wheel of the boat, and dies holding the course. Ellen, at this time, seems absolutely possessed in regards to the coming of Orlock. It seems he has her will in his hands.

Upon reaching land, Orlock carries his coffin all the way to the "handsome deserted house" and sets up his place of residence. At the same time, however, Thomas gets back to Wiesborg and embraces Ellen, who feels saved now that Thomas is safe, back with her. The townspeople believe the boat to have brought the plague upon their town, and people start dying overnight quite rapidly. Knock escapes from prison (he was there for being insane) by strangling his keeper, which gets the townspeople to chase him through Wiesborg. Meanwhile, Ellen and Thomas are in their bedroom, and Ellen complains of feeling sick. Like any good husband, Thomas goes to get Dr. Sievers, and while he's away, Orlock comes into Ellen's room. It seems that Orlock is about to get at Ellen's neck once and for all, but the rooster caws. Morning has come, and Ellen has kept Orlock at bay until after the sun has started to rise. This kills Orlock, for daylight is the worst enemy of a vampire. He vanishes into thin air. "At that very hour the Great Death ceased and the shadow of the vampire vanished as if overcame by the victorious rays of the living sun." Summaries of reviews

Hall, Mordaunt. "Vampires and Coffins" The New York Times June 4, 1929, 29.

Mordaunt Hall must have been on deadline when he wrote this review for Nosferatu. It seems that he was also sleeping through the good majority of the film, deciding on critiquing the "easy" things about the film (Count Nosferatu's? long fingers, the use of rats, and the like) rather than dealing with the film as a whole. Hall must have dozed off in the theatre and just thrown anything together in order to get this review in the paper. He gets Count Orlock's name wrong; he calls this film "an orgy of gooseflesh" while ripping it apart for not being scary. Either Hall's terrible display of sarcasm goes right over my head, or he just doesn't know anything about film; all in all, he didn't really watch the movie at all. He states that this "film (is) supposed to have been inspired by 'Dracula,' (and) is especially not stirring. It is the sort of thing that one could watch at midnight without it having much effect on one's slumbering hours." Then he goes on to tell of a man in the theatre "who was either terrified or was enjoying a forty or more winks." What? Which one is it? A stirring horror film that makes you look at the shadows for werewolves or not?

Ebert, Roger. "Nosferatu" The Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 13 March 2001 http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1999/01/feratu1118.html.

Usually, I cannot stand any garbage that spews out of Roger Ebert's mouth. However, his review of Nosferatu is elaborate, and he catches the sense of the film very thoroughly. From the usage of the name Nosferatu over the more cliche Dracula to the usage of the screen placement of Count Orlock to create tension, Ebert does a fine job covering this film. He makes a good point in the second paragraph of the review: "The vampire should come across not like a flamboyant actor but like a man suffering from a dread curse." Orlock appears "more like an animal than a human being." The following actors who played Dracula were very flamboyant, seeming more like playboys with white face-paint than an undead being. Ebert attributes this film to the "making of Stoker, because Nosferatu inspired dozens of other Dracula films" more so than even the book. Ebert relishes in the not-so-scary aspect of this film, which Hall rejected it for. "I admire it more for its artistry and ideas, its atmosphere and images, than for its ability to manipulate my emotions like a skillful modern horror film."

Wallis, Jason. "Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)" The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 13 March 2001 http://www.us.imdb.com/reviews/134/13400.

With Wallis rating it 4 out of 4 stars, a reader needs to look no further at this review to know how Wallis feels about this film. He told you everything that you need to know in that simple, condensed sentence. Wallis claims that Nosferatu is "one of the greatest films ever made" and states that this is "a thinking man's slasher flick" without ever truly going into exactly what he likes about the film. He oversimplifies the context of the film and does not quite understand exactly what he is talking about. Adding the Transylvanian Mountains into the film rather than the actual, Carpathian Mountains where the story took place shows that Wallis is just trying to get all of the Dracula movies to fit into this Nosferatu film. Towards the end of the review, Wallis says that he "like(s) watching movies the way they were originally intended to be seen," but soon after states that he likes to turn the color off of his television set, play some Mozart or Bach, and enjoy the film. This statement contradicts his prior statement that he likes to view movies as they were originally intended. Murnau did not intend to have Mozart or Bach do the soundtrack for Nosferatu, so these contradictory statements only prove to make Wallis look like the fifth grader that he says can make the whole Friday the 13th series.

There is a mistake in the final scene. As Orlock cringes from the sunlight, which will destroy him, his reflection clearly appears in the mirror behind him. However, lack of reflection was never presented as part of this film's interpretation of vampire lore.

Originally, this film had the word "Dracula" in the title, but Bram Stoker's estate sued, consequently all known prints and negatives were destroyed under the terms of the settlement by Stoker's widow. However, the film would subsequently surface in other countries, specifically Germany, Sweden, and Australia.

This film was the first filmed version of the Dracula story.

F.W. Murnau studied art and literature history at the University of Heidelberg.

During World War I, F.W. Murnau was a combat pilot.

First, Murnau was an assistant to Max Reinhardt, who was another German director. He directed Insel der Seligan, Die (1913) as well as a silent version of Richard III (1919). He was a German expressionist, to say the least.

Murnau began making movies in 1919. He went to the USA in 1926.

Murnau died in 1931, and his death is surrounded with legends. The story, commonly told, goes like this: He had wanted to go visit his mother in Germany. As was his habit, he consulted a fortune-teller. She told him that he would arrive in Germany on April 5th, but in a different manner than the one he expected. She said that he would lose his life in a car journey. So, in an attempt to change his fate, Murnau ordered tickets on a boat via Panama. He is supposed to have said to Ulmer, "I must cheat fate by going by boat." However, in order to get to the port, San Diego, Murnau was forced to take that fatal car ride. This is where the story gets a bit "fuzzy." Murnau had a Filipino servant, named Stevenson, whom he knew for quite some time. Whether he was his friend, slave, or just an employee, it is unclear. However, it was clear that Murnau was a closet homosexual. The Filipino was in the car with Murnau, Murnau's chauffeur, Ned Marin (manager of the company that did the synchronization for Tabu, and Pal the German Sheepdog. Murnau's chauffeur apparently got out in order to gas up the Rolls Royce, and the Filipino jumped in the driver's seat. The young Filipino wanted to show Murnau what a good driver he was. So, Murnau told the chauffeur that Murnau himself would take the responsibility, so the chauffeur allowed the Filipino to drive the car. Apparently, the Filipino was driving at fast speeds, sometimes topping the car out. A lorry was coming down the road in the opposite direction. A crash was inevitable, and the Rolls Royce hurtled down the bank. Of all its' occupants, Murnau was the only one injured. He suffered a serious fracture of the skull, and was pronounced dead a few hours later at the hospital.

Murnau once had a very handsome Malay servant when he lived in Douglasstrasse, Berlin-Grunewalde. This servant had run amok and killed a chambermaid while his employer was absent. The police had to break down part of the outside wall of the house in order to apprehend the man.

When Murnau's coffin was first placed on the boat to ship overseas, the sailors of that ship refused to set sail with it on board. It was taken off twice before they would finally agree. The sailors were all suspicious of Murnau's body after viewing Nosferatu.

Only a handful of people showed up at F.W. Murnau's funeral. Among them were Carl Mayer, Herlth Rohrig, Emil Jannings, Erich Pommer, Carl Hoffman, Fritz Arno Wagner, Rochus Gliese, Fritz Lang, Ludwig Berger, and the film writer Hans Rameau. Fox had sent Winfield Sheehan to represent the studio.

Fritz Lang spoke at Murnau's funeral: "It is clear that the gods, so often jealous, wished it to be thus. They favoured him more than other men and caused him to rise astonishingly quickly, which was all the more surprising because he never aimed at success nor popularity nor wealth. Many centuries hence, everyone would know that a pioneer had left us in the midst of his career, a man to whom the cinema owes its fundamental character, artistically as well as technically. Murnau understood that the cinema, more than the theatre, was called to present life as a symbol: all his works were like animated ballads, and one day this idea would be triumphant....Let all sincere creators take the dead man as their example.... Aloha oe Murnau."

Emil Jannings had said nothing at the funeral. He was rarely so moved. At the funeral, he just passed his hand over the glass that covered Murnau's face in his coffin. Afterwards, he said: "Of all the great personalities of the cinema, Murnau was the most German. He was a Westphalian, reserved, severe on himself, severe on others, severe for the cause. He could show himself outwardly grim, but inside he was like a boy, profoundly kind. Of all the great directors, he was the one who had the strongest character, rejecting any form of compromise, incorruptible. He was a pioneer, an explorer, he fertilized everything he touched, and was always in advance. Never envious, always modest. And always alone. His successes and failures both arose from the same source. Each of his works was complete, authentic, direct, logical. If one ever seemed to be cold, it was still fundamentally lit by the fire of his artistic will, which always remained incorruptible. It was harsh and absolute, like Gothic art."

The newspapers reported that for lack of money Murnau's coffin remained in a cellar instead of being laid to rest in the Waldfriedhof, the cemetery of the forest of Stahnsdorf. And in the damp atmosphere the corpse, hastily and inefficiently embalmed, was decomposing..... An announcement in Film Kurier denied all this. They were waiting for the funeral chapel to be finished. The plot of land had been paid for. Today, Murnau lies at rest in the Stahnsdorf cemetery somewhere in what used to be Russia.

Nosferatu, though it has now become a classic, was for a long time unappreciated. As late as 1946, Theodore Huff wrote that it was rather crude and too "teutonic", that the acting was labored, and that since the film had been produced on a shoestring and not by American economic standards, the trick photography was ludicrous rather than impressive.

Ruth Landshoff, who played the ship owner's sister, was not an actress, but rather a girl that Murnau had noticed in Grunewald, on her way to school.

The castle in which Count Orlock lives in is not a model. It is Oravasky castle, named after Oravasky Zamok, and was built near the river Orava in Slovakia in the 13th century, high up on a curiously hallowed-out rock.

Murnau was one of the first film directors to use rapid montage. His use of rapid montage took place in the scene where the carriage comes to pick up Thomas Hutter soon after Hutter steps on his land.

The French version correctly corresponds with the script, as opposed to the German version, which is three reels longer than the French.

The German version contains two additional scenes: (1) young peasant girls roaring with laughter at a villager conjurer whose hen lays a constant stream of eggs, and (2) A long mass held for a victim of the plague, possibly the captain of the ship. There is nothing of any of these scenes in either Galeen's script or in Murnau's annotations.

Fritz Arno Wagner, cameraman of Nosferatu, wrote: "The original was not very long, so it is quite possible that certain parts were added afterwards. Plenty of material was shot. But, I don't know anything about the conjurer and the eggs. Nor did I ever shoot the mass for the dead; it must have been added ready-made. Moreover, I've never seen this lengthened and changed copy, and I can vouch for the fact that Murnau himself never knew this second version."

A scene that was shot and not used was the very ending of the movie, which dealt with the general restoration of peace after the disappearance of the monster. It has never appeared in any version of the film, so it is assumed to be lost.

Murnau's interpretation of a vampire is more true to "the curse of the vampire" than other versions.

F.W. Murnau created a masterpiece along with starting a genre of films that have been represented over and over again in time. That genre of film is actually a sub-genre of the horror film; it is the "vampire film." Murnau's 1922 silent film, Nosferatu, is the first ever vampire film. It is said to have been greatly influenced by Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula, and for legal reasons, was lost to the film industry for many years after its production.

Murnau's interpretation of the vampire is much better than any other such depiction in any other film. If one were to look at a good majority of the vampire films that have been made over time, that person would see the curse of the vampire as a good thing. For instance, Bela Lugosi's version of Dracula was that of an undead playboy; he would suck on pretty girls' necks just after he would state, "I vant to suck your blood." It was always a pretty girl, as is the case with most Hollywood films. In addition, he wore a finely crafted suit, a suit that many children wear the night of October 31st while they are going door-to-door. A more modern version of the vampire film is Interview with a Vampire; this film shows Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as two opposite kinds of vampires. Cruise is the evil one who lives with all of his minor-vampire friends in a small commune-like environment while Pitt is the outcasted one, because he is nice. Both, however, are dressed in the finest of clothes and make the vampire look "cool." The vampire-look is also cool in The Lost Boys, a film that shows the vampire underground for what it's worth. These vampires are more like gang members than vampires, wearing jean jackets, leather, and earrings. Keiffer Sutherland plays the lead role, and makes the vampire look so cool that one almost wants to be one.

Murnau doesn't play around with vampires though. His depiction of the main character, Count Orlock, is of a rat-like man with a curse; not a playboy-vampire type. Count Orlock, "nosferatu," stands very tall and is hunched over. At first glance, he looks like a tall version of Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame with the head of Uncle Fester from The Addams Family. Count Orlock wears a simple dark suit that looks like he has been wearing it for quite some time; no extravagant tuxedo for this vampire. His hands are big and his fingers look like claws, which he rubs together quite frequently, like a rat. Orlock's fangs are unlike any other fangs in a vampire film at all. Instead of being on the sides of the vampire's mouth, Murnau placed the fangs in the front of the mouth, once again reinforcing the rat-like depiction of the vampire. In fact, Murnau's vampire seems more rat-like than bat-like overall; there are several shots of rats in the film and none of bats.

In appearance, Murnau's vampire is a man with a curse; he looks evil, and that is his curse. This goes farther into his whole existence though. Another part of the curse is the fact that he must live alone for eternity, living with his curse. His ugliness makes him not be able to even find a mate; however, with him being a supposed monster he may not care. But, the opportunity is not even there if he does care. Count Orlock lives a lone existence; the only person who seems to like him lives in Wiesborg as a crazed real estate salesman, apparently. Every member of the village nearby Orlock's castle lives in fear of him; I don't blame them, for he feeds off of those people.

Throughout the duration of the film, Count Orlock is shown in shadows. The very first time that the viewer gets to see the vampire is also Thomas' first encounter with the Count; he is coming out of the shadows within the confines of his own castle. Stepping from darkness reveals the Count to be a rat-like man, nothing that was expected by Thomas. Orlock's appearance is enough to make Thomas start believing the villagers, but it is only until the Count licks Thomas' finger shortly after it is cut that Thomas' doubts what he originally thought of his situation. The most classic shot in the film, that of Count Orlock rising from his coffin in the hull of the boat, is eerily set. Taken from a low angle, the shot makes the character of the vampire look overpowering. The Count seems to be lifted up by a board behind him rather than getting out of his coffin by his own regard; he is so stiff, and this adds to the eeriness of the shot. Another classic shot is another low-angle shot of the Count on the boat, as he makes his way across the hull towards the captain, who he presumably kills off, for there are no crew members left when the boat reaches dock.

This depiction of the nosferatu, or vampire, is one that shows the creature as vermin rather than as a playboy hitting on his young victims and sucking on their necks. Count Orlock brings a plague with him to the town of Wiesborg; people start dying off the moment he sets foot on their soil. The references to rats throughout the film serve as an example of nosferatu's plague on everything that he comes in contact with. Rats are known to carry disease and live underground in sewers; Count Orlock lives in the darkest part of his castle possible which is underground, and brings death with him to Wiesborg. This version of the vampire's on-screen persona is much more effective in creating an atmosphere as well as a mood for the film, which is a prime example of German Expressionism at its' finest. With Nosferatu being the first vampire film in the history of film, the presentation of this man being a man with a dreadful curse rather than a playboy-type is beautiful in its' own odd and bizarre way.

Ebert, Roger. "Nosferatu" The Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 13 March 2001 http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1999/01/feratu1118.html.

Eisner, Lotte H. Murnau. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964/ 1973.

Mayne, Judith. "Dracula in the Twilight: Murnau's Nosferatu (1922)." German Film & Literature: Adaptations & Transformations. Ed. Eric Rentschler. New York: Metheun, 1986. 25-38.

Movie Classics. Chambers Encyclopedia Guides. New York: W & R Chambers. Ed. Allan Hunter.

Murray, Bruce A. Film and the German Left in the Weimar Republic. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press, 1990.

Wallis, Jason. "Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)" The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 13 March 2001 http://www.us.imdb.com/reviews/134/13400.

Faculty adviser: James Shokoff