Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens
Encyclopedia
is a classic 1922 German Expressionist
horror film
, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Max Schreck
as the vampire
Count Orlok
. The film, shot in 1921 and released in 1922, was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker
's Dracula
, with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel (for instance, "vampire" became "Nosferatu
" and "Count Dracula
" became "Count Orlok
").
in Stoker's novel) lives in the fictitious German city of Wisborg. His employer, Knock (Stoker's Renfield
), sends Hutter to Transylvania
to visit a new client named Count Orlok
(Stoker's Count Dracula
). Hutter entrusts his loving wife Ellen (Stoker's Mina Harker
) to his good friend Harding (Stoker's Arthur Holmwood
) and Harding's sister Annie (Stoker's Lucy Westenra
), before embarking on his long journey.
Nearing his destination in the Carpathian mountains
, Hutter stops at an inn for dinner. The locals become frightened by the mere mention of Orlok's name and discourage him from traveling to his castle at night, warning of a werewolf
on the prowl.
The next morning, Hutter takes a coach to a high mountain pass, but the coachmen decline to take him any further than the bridge as nightfall is approaching. A sinister black-swathed coach of an archaic design suddenly appears after Hutter crosses the bridge and the coachman gestures for him to climb aboard. Past midnight, Hutter is welcomed at the castle by Count Orlok himself. When Hutter is eating dinner and accidentally cuts his thumb, Orlok tries to suck the blood out of the wound, but his repulsed guest pulls his hand away.
The next morning, Hutter wakes up to a castle with nobody in it and notices fresh punctures on his neck, which he attributes to mosquitoes. That night, Orlok signs the documents to purchase the house across from Hutter's own home. Hutter writes a letter to his wife and gets a coachman to send it away. Examining a book about vampires that he took from the local inn, Hutter starts to suspect that Orlok is Nosferatu, the "Bird of Death." He cowers in his room as midnight approaches, but there is no way to bar the door. The door opens by itself and Orlok enters, his true nature finally revealed, and Hutter falls unconscious.
The next day, Hutter explores the castle. In its crypt
, he finds the coffin in which Orlok is resting dormant. Horrified, he dashes back to his room. From the window, he sees Orlok piling up coffins on a coach and climbing into the last one before the coach departs. Hutter escapes the castle through the window, but is knocked unconscious by the fall. He awakes in a hospital and when he is sufficiently recovered, he hurries home.
Meanwhile, the coffins are shipped down river on a raft. They are transferred to a schooner, but not before one is opened by the crew. The sailors on the ship get sick one by one; soon all but the captain and first mate are dead. Suspecting the truth, the first mate goes below to destroy the coffins. However, Orlok awakens and the horrified sailor jumps into the sea. Unaware of his danger, the captain becomes Orlok's latest victim when he ties himself to the wheel.
When the ship arrives in Wisborg, Orlok leaves unobserved, carrying one of his coffins, and moves into the house he purchased. The next morning, when the ship is inspected, the captain is found dead. After examining the logbook, the doctors assume they are dealing with the plague. The town is stricken with panic, and people are warned to stay inside. There are many deaths in the town and the fearful residents chase Knock, who had been committed to a psychiatric ward but escaped after murdering the warden. He eludes them by climbing a roof, then using a scarecrow
.
Meanwhile, Orlok stares from his window at the sleeping Ellen. Against her husband's wishes, Ellen had read the book he found. The book claims that the way to defeat a vampire is for a woman who is pure in heart to distract the vampire with her beauty all through the night. She opens her window to invite him in, but faints. When Hutter revives her, she sends him to fetch Professor Bulwer (Stoker's Abraham Van Helsing
). After he leaves, Orlok comes in. He becomes so engrossed drinking her blood that he forgets about the coming day. A rooster crows and Orlok senses danger. Knock, meanwhile, has been bound in his cell and tries to warn the 'Master'. Orlok tries to leave the room, but vanishes in a puff of smoke as he tries to flee. Ellen lives just long enough to be embraced by her grief-stricken husband.
Nosferatu was the first and only production of Prana Film
, founded in 1921 by Enrico Dieckmann and Albin Grau
. Grau had the idea to shoot a vampire film; the inspiration arose from Grau's war experience: in the winter of 1916, a Serbian farmer told him that his father was a vampire and one of the Undead
.
Diekmann and Grau gave Henrik Galeen the task to write a screenplay inspired from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, despite Prana Film not having obtained the film rights
. Galeen was an experienced specialist in Dark romanticism
; he had already worked on Der Student von Prag (The Student of Prague
) in 1913, and the screenplay for Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (The Golem: How He Came into the World
) (1920). Galeen set the story in a fictional north German harbour town named Wisborg and changed the character names. He added the idea of the vampire bringing the plague to Wisborg via rats on the ship. He left out the Van Helsing vampire hunter character. Galeen's Expressionist style
screenplay was poetically rhythmic, without being so dismembered as other books influenced by literary Expressionism
, such as those by Carl Mayer
. Lotte Eisner described Galeen's screenplay as "" ("full of poetry, full of rhythm").
Filming began in July 1921, with exterior shots in Wismar
. A take
from Marienkirche's tower over Wismar marketplace with the Wasserkunst Wismar served as the establishing shot
for the Wisborg scene. Other locations were the Wassertor, the Heiligen-Geist-Kirche yard and the harbour. In Lübeck
, the abandoned Salzspeicher
served as Nosferatu's new Wisborg house, the one of the churchyard from Aegidienkirche served as Hutters and down the Depenau coffin bearers beared coffin
s. Many walks of Lübeck took place in the hunt of Knock who ordered Hutter in the Yard of Füchting to meet the earl. Further exterior shots followed in Lauenburg
, Rostock
and on Sylt
. The film team travelled to the Carpathian Mountains
, where Orava Castle
served as backdrop for Orlok's half-ruined castle. Nearby locations also served: Hutter's stay at Dolný Kubín
; the river journey with the coffins filmed on the Váh
River; and the panoramas of the High Tatras
mountain range. The team filmed interior shots at the JOFA studio in Berlin
's Johannisthal
locality. and further exteriors in the Tegel
forest. Parts of the film set in Transylvania
were also shot in Slovakia
.
For cost reasons, cameraman Fritz Arno Wagner
only had one camera available, and therefore there was only one original negative. The director followed Galeen's screenplay carefully, following handwritten instructions on camera positioning, lighting, and related matters. Nevertheless Murnau completely rewrote 12 pages of the script, as Galeen's text was missing from the director's working script. This concerned the last scene of the film, in which Ellen sacrifices herself and the vampire dies in the first rays of the Sun. Murnau prepared carefully; there were sketches that were to correspond exactly to each filmed scene, and he used a metronome
to control the pace of the acting.
Shortly before the premiere, an advertisement campaign was placed in issue 21 of the magazine , with a summary, scene and work photographs, production reports and essays including a treatment on vampirism by Albin Grau. Nosferatu's preview premiered on 4 March 1922 in the Marmorsaal of the Berlin Zoological Garden. This was planned as a large society evening entitled (Festival of Nosferatu), and guests were asked to arrive dressed in Biedermeier
costume. The cinema premiere itself took place on 15 March 1922 at Berlin's .
and Quincey
, and changes all of the characters' names (although in some recent releases of this film, which is now in the public domain in the United States but not in most European states, the written dialog screens have been changed to use the Dracula versions of the names). The setting has been transferred from Britain in the 1890s to Germany in 1838.
In contrast to Dracula, Orlok does not create other vampires, but kills his victims, causing the townfolk to blame the plague, which ravages the city. Also, Orlok must sleep by day, as sunlight would kill him, while the original Dracula is only weakened by sunlight. The ending is also substantially different from that of Dracula. The count is ultimately destroyed at sunrise when the "Mina" character sacrifices herself to him. The town called "Wisborg" in the film is in fact a mix of Wismar
and Lübeck
.
and Frankenstein
series, has written a score for a reissue of Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror.
In 2006, the French composer Alexis Savelief finished the composition of his score for Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror. His soundtrack is intended to be performed during the film by a cello octet, three synthesizers and two percussionists. Despite the constraints imposed by the cine-concert format, the score is perfectly synchronized throughout the whole film, by means of a variable click-track. Performed in first audition by the Cello Octet of Beauvais and the 2e2m ensemble directed by Pierre Roullier, the following year Alexis Savelief has arranged his score for eight strings, three synthesizers and two percussionists. This version has been presented in first audition under the direction of conductor Jean-Louis Forestier.
On Halloween
of 2009, the American film scoring ensemble The Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra
premiered its new score for Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror as part of Vanderbilt University
's International Lens film series. The score is synchronized with the film, and is written for Wurlitzer electric piano
, theremin
, vibraphone, electric guitar, two violins, viola, trombone, trumpet and one percussionist.
, sued for copyright infringement
and won. The court ordered all existing prints of Nosferatu burned, but one purported copy of the film had already been distributed around the world. These prints were duplicated over the years.
The movie has received not only a strong cult following, but also has received overwhelmingly positive reviews. On Rottentomatoes.com it received a "Certified Fresh" label and holds a 98% "fresh" rating based on 46 reviews. It was ranked twenty-first in Empire
magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010.
's 1922 ballet Grohg (unpublished and unpremiered until 1992) used Nosferatu as the physical model for the lead character and roughly follows the storyline.
Hugh Cornwell
of the Stranglers
and Robert Williams
recorded an album Nosferatu as a "soundtrack" to the film, dedicated to the memory of Max Schreck
; it was released in 1979. The front cover was a still from the film.
Werner Herzog
's 1979 homage to Nosferatu, Nosferatu the Vampyre starred Klaus Kinski
as Count Dracula, not Orlok. A sequel to Herzog's film called Vampire in Venice starred Kinski, this time as Nosferatu, and Christopher Plummer
as Paris Catalano. The 1979 television movie Salem's Lot
modeled the appearance of Mr. Barlow on that of Count Orlok. In 1998, Wayne Keeley
wrote and directed Nosferatu: The First Vampire
, in which the original film was remastered to a soundtrack by Type O Negative
and hosted by David Carradine
. The 2000 Hollywood movie Shadow of the Vampire
told a secret history
of the making of Nosferatu, imagining that actor Max Schreck
(played by Willem Dafoe
) was actually a genuine vampire and that director F. W. Murnau (John Malkovich
) was complicit in hiring the creature for the purpose of realism.
Viper Comics
's 2010 graphic novel
Nosferatu by Christopher Howard Wolf
retold the original 1922 film's storyline with a modern setting and cast.
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Max Schreck
Max Schreck
Friedrich Gustav Max Schreck was a German actor. He is most often remembered today for his lead role in the film Nosferatu .-Early life:Max Schreck was born in Berlin-Friedenau, on 6 September 1879....
as the vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
Count Orlok
Count Orlok
Count Orlok is a fictional character portrayed by Max Schreck in the silent movie Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens...
. The film, shot in 1921 and released in 1922, was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
's Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
, with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel (for instance, "vampire" became "Nosferatu
Nosferatu (word)
The name Nosferatu has been presented as a Romanian word, synonymous with "vampire". However, it seems to be largely a literary creation and its basis in Romanian folklore is uncertain.- Origins of the name :...
" and "Count Dracula
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
" became "Count Orlok
Count Orlok
Count Orlok is a fictional character portrayed by Max Schreck in the silent movie Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens...
").
Plot
Thomas Hutter (Jonathan HarkerJonathan Harker
Jonathan Harker is one of the main protagonists in the 1897 horror novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. His journey to Transylvania and encounter with Count Dracula and the Brides of Dracula at Castle Dracula constitutes the dramatic opening scenes in the novel and most of the film adaptations.-In the...
in Stoker's novel) lives in the fictitious German city of Wisborg. His employer, Knock (Stoker's Renfield
Renfield
R. M. Renfield is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.-In the novel:A description of Renfield from the novel:R. M. Renfield, aetat 59. Sanguine temperament, great physical strength, morbidly excitable,...
), sends Hutter to Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
to visit a new client named Count Orlok
Count Orlok
Count Orlok is a fictional character portrayed by Max Schreck in the silent movie Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens...
(Stoker's Count Dracula
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
). Hutter entrusts his loving wife Ellen (Stoker's Mina Harker
Mina Harker
Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel Dracula.- In the novel :She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young school mistress who is engaged to Jonathan Harker, and best friends with Lucy Westenra...
) to his good friend Harding (Stoker's Arthur Holmwood
Arthur Holmwood
Arthur Holmwood is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is engaged to Lucy Westenra, and is best friends with the other two men who proposed to her on the very same day — Quincey Morris and Doctor John Seward...
) and Harding's sister Annie (Stoker's Lucy Westenra
Lucy Westenra
Lucy Westenra is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. She is the 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy family. Her father is not mentioned in the novel and her elderly mother is simply stated as being Mrs. Westenra. Lucy is introduced as Mina Murray's best friend. In the 1931...
), before embarking on his long journey.
Nearing his destination in the Carpathian mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
, Hutter stops at an inn for dinner. The locals become frightened by the mere mention of Orlok's name and discourage him from traveling to his castle at night, warning of a werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
on the prowl.
The next morning, Hutter takes a coach to a high mountain pass, but the coachmen decline to take him any further than the bridge as nightfall is approaching. A sinister black-swathed coach of an archaic design suddenly appears after Hutter crosses the bridge and the coachman gestures for him to climb aboard. Past midnight, Hutter is welcomed at the castle by Count Orlok himself. When Hutter is eating dinner and accidentally cuts his thumb, Orlok tries to suck the blood out of the wound, but his repulsed guest pulls his hand away.
The next morning, Hutter wakes up to a castle with nobody in it and notices fresh punctures on his neck, which he attributes to mosquitoes. That night, Orlok signs the documents to purchase the house across from Hutter's own home. Hutter writes a letter to his wife and gets a coachman to send it away. Examining a book about vampires that he took from the local inn, Hutter starts to suspect that Orlok is Nosferatu, the "Bird of Death." He cowers in his room as midnight approaches, but there is no way to bar the door. The door opens by itself and Orlok enters, his true nature finally revealed, and Hutter falls unconscious.
The next day, Hutter explores the castle. In its crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
, he finds the coffin in which Orlok is resting dormant. Horrified, he dashes back to his room. From the window, he sees Orlok piling up coffins on a coach and climbing into the last one before the coach departs. Hutter escapes the castle through the window, but is knocked unconscious by the fall. He awakes in a hospital and when he is sufficiently recovered, he hurries home.
When the ship arrives in Wisborg, Orlok leaves unobserved, carrying one of his coffins, and moves into the house he purchased. The next morning, when the ship is inspected, the captain is found dead. After examining the logbook, the doctors assume they are dealing with the plague. The town is stricken with panic, and people are warned to stay inside. There are many deaths in the town and the fearful residents chase Knock, who had been committed to a psychiatric ward but escaped after murdering the warden. He eludes them by climbing a roof, then using a scarecrow
Scarecrow
A scarecrow is, essentially, a decoy, though traditionally, a human figure dressed in old clothes and placed in fields by farmers to discourage birds such as crows or sparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.-History:In Kojiki, the oldest surviving book in Japan...
.
Meanwhile, Orlok stares from his window at the sleeping Ellen. Against her husband's wishes, Ellen had read the book he found. The book claims that the way to defeat a vampire is for a woman who is pure in heart to distract the vampire with her beauty all through the night. She opens her window to invite him in, but faints. When Hutter revives her, she sends him to fetch Professor Bulwer (Stoker's Abraham Van Helsing
Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
). After he leaves, Orlok comes in. He becomes so engrossed drinking her blood that he forgets about the coming day. A rooster crows and Orlok senses danger. Knock, meanwhile, has been bound in his cell and tries to warn the 'Master'. Orlok tries to leave the room, but vanishes in a puff of smoke as he tries to flee. Ellen lives just long enough to be embraced by her grief-stricken husband.
Cast
- Max SchreckMax SchreckFriedrich Gustav Max Schreck was a German actor. He is most often remembered today for his lead role in the film Nosferatu .-Early life:Max Schreck was born in Berlin-Friedenau, on 6 September 1879....
as Count OrlokCount OrlokCount Orlok is a fictional character portrayed by Max Schreck in the silent movie Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens... - Gustav von WangenheimGustav von WangenheimGustav von Wangenheim was a German actor, screenwriter and director.- Life :Wangenheim was born Ingo Clemens Gustav Adolf Freiherr von Wangenheim in Wiesbaden, Hesse, to parents Eduard Clemens Freiherr von Wangenheim and Minna Mengers...
as Thomas HutterJonathan HarkerJonathan Harker is one of the main protagonists in the 1897 horror novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. His journey to Transylvania and encounter with Count Dracula and the Brides of Dracula at Castle Dracula constitutes the dramatic opening scenes in the novel and most of the film adaptations.-In the... - Greta SchröderGreta SchröderGreta Schröder was a German actress. She is best known for the role of Thomas Hutter's wife and victim to Count Orlok in the 1922 silent film Nosferatu. In the fictionalized 2000 film, Shadow of the Vampire, she is portrayed as having been a famous actress during the making of Nosferatu, but in...
as Ellen HutterMina HarkerWilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel Dracula.- In the novel :She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young school mistress who is engaged to Jonathan Harker, and best friends with Lucy Westenra... - Alexander GranachAlexander GranachAlexander Granach was a popular German actor in the 1920s and 1930s.- Biography :Granach was born Jessaja Granach in Werbowitz to Jewish parents and rose to theatrical prominence at the Volksbühne in Berlin...
as KnockRenfieldR. M. Renfield is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.-In the novel:A description of Renfield from the novel:R. M. Renfield, aetat 59. Sanguine temperament, great physical strength, morbidly excitable,... - Georg H. SchnellGeorg H. SchnellGeorg H. Schnell was a German actor best known for his role as Harding in Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens . Georg appeared in over one hundred films.He was born in Yantai, China. He died in Berlin, Germany....
as HardingArthur HolmwoodArthur Holmwood is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is engaged to Lucy Westenra, and is best friends with the other two men who proposed to her on the very same day — Quincey Morris and Doctor John Seward... - Ruth Landshoff as AnnieLucy WestenraLucy Westenra is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. She is the 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy family. Her father is not mentioned in the novel and her elderly mother is simply stated as being Mrs. Westenra. Lucy is introduced as Mina Murray's best friend. In the 1931...
- John GottowtJohn GottowtJohn Gottowt was a German actor, stage director and film director for theatres and silent movies.He was born as Isidor Gesang in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary. After his education in Vienna, he joined the Deutsches Theater in Berlin in 1905, working for Max Reinhardt as an actor and director...
as Professor BulwerAbraham Van HelsingProfessor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a... - Gustav Botz as Professor SieversJohn SewardJohn Seward, M.D. is a fictional character appearing in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.-In the novel:Seward is the administrator of an insane asylum not far from Count Dracula's first English home, Carfax. Throughout the novel, Seward conducts ambitious interviews with one of his patients,...
- Max NemetzMax NemetzMax Nemetz was a German film and stage actor. He is best known for the role of the Captain in the 1922 silent film Nosferatu.-Filmography:as actor:*1921: Der Friedhof der Lebenden...
as The Captain of The Empusa - Wolfgang Heinz as First Mate of The Empusa
- Heinrich Witte as guard in asylum
- Guido Herzfeld as innkeeper
- Karl EtlingerKarl EtlingerKarl Etlinger was a German film actor. He appeared in 117 films between 1914 and 1946.-Selected filmography:* Nosferatu * Phantom * Gräfin Donelli * One Does Not Play with Love...
as student with Bulwer - Hardy von Francois as hospital doctor
- Fanny Schreck as hospital nurse
Screenplay and pre-production
Prana Film
Prana Film was a short-lived silent-era German film studio. Its intent was to produce occult and supernatural themed films. Its only film, 1922's Nosferatu, was its end: it declared bankruptcy in order to dodge copyright infringement suits from Bram Stoker's widow. The company is named for the...
, founded in 1921 by Enrico Dieckmann and Albin Grau
Albin Grau
Albin Grau was an artist, architect and occultist, and the producer and production designer for F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu...
. Grau had the idea to shoot a vampire film; the inspiration arose from Grau's war experience: in the winter of 1916, a Serbian farmer told him that his father was a vampire and one of the Undead
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
.
Diekmann and Grau gave Henrik Galeen the task to write a screenplay inspired from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, despite Prana Film not having obtained the film rights
Film rights
Film rights are the rights under copyright law to make a derivative work—in this case, a film—derived from an item of intellectual property. Under U.S...
. Galeen was an experienced specialist in Dark romanticism
Dark romanticism
Dark Romanticism is a literary subgenre. It has been suggested that Dark Romantics present individuals as prone to sin and self-destruction, not as inherently possessing divinity and wisdom. G. R...
; he had already worked on Der Student von Prag (The Student of Prague
The Student of Prague (1913 film)
The Student of Prague is a 1913 German silent horror film. The film was remade in 1926, 1935, and 2004 under the same title The Student of Prague.-Plot:...
) in 1913, and the screenplay for Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (The Golem: How He Came into the World
The Golem: How He Came Into the World
The Golem: How He Came Into the World is a 1920 silent horror film by Paul Wegener. It was directed by Carl Boese and Wegener, written by Wegener and Henrik Galeen, and starred Wegener as the golem. The script was adapted from the 1915 novel The Golem by Gustav Meyrink...
) (1920). Galeen set the story in a fictional north German harbour town named Wisborg and changed the character names. He added the idea of the vampire bringing the plague to Wisborg via rats on the ship. He left out the Van Helsing vampire hunter character. Galeen's Expressionist style
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
screenplay was poetically rhythmic, without being so dismembered as other books influenced by literary Expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
, such as those by Carl Mayer
Carl Mayer
Carl Mayer was an Austrian screenplay writer who wrote or co-wrote the screenplays to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , The Haunted Castle , Der Letzte Mann , Tartuffe , Sunrise and 4 Devils , the last five being films directed by F. W...
. Lotte Eisner described Galeen's screenplay as "" ("full of poetry, full of rhythm").
Production
Wismar
Wismar , is a small port and Hanseatic League town in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,about 45 km due east of Lübeck, and 30 km due north of Schwerin. Its natural harbour, located in the Bay of Wismar is well-protected by a promontory. The...
. A take
Take
A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production.-Film:In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup"...
from Marienkirche's tower over Wismar marketplace with the Wasserkunst Wismar served as the establishing shot
Establishing shot
An establishing shot in filmmaking and television production sets up, or establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects...
for the Wisborg scene. Other locations were the Wassertor, the Heiligen-Geist-Kirche yard and the harbour. In Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
, the abandoned Salzspeicher
Salzspeicher
The Salzspeicher of Lübeck, Germany, are six historic brick buildings on the Upper Trave River next to the Holstentor ....
served as Nosferatu's new Wisborg house, the one of the churchyard from Aegidienkirche served as Hutters and down the Depenau coffin bearers beared coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
s. Many walks of Lübeck took place in the hunt of Knock who ordered Hutter in the Yard of Füchting to meet the earl. Further exterior shots followed in Lauenburg
Lauenburg/Elbe
Lauenburg/Elbe is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated at the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein. Lauenburg belongs to the Kreis of Herzogtum Lauenburg and had a population of 11,900 as of 2002...
, Rostock
Rostock
Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...
and on Sylt
Sylt
Sylt is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Frisia...
. The film team travelled to the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
, where Orava Castle
Orava (castle)
Orava Castle is situated on a high rock above Orava river. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful castles in Slovakia. The castle was built in the thirteenth century...
served as backdrop for Orlok's half-ruined castle. Nearby locations also served: Hutter's stay at Dolný Kubín
Dolný Kubín
Dolný Kubín is a town in northern Slovakia in the Žilina Region. It is the historical capital of the Orava region.-Geography:Dolný Kubín lies at an altitude of above sea level and covers an area of ....
; the river journey with the coffins filmed on the Váh
Váh
The Váh is the longest river in entire Slovakia. A left tributary of the Danube river, the Váh is 406 km long, including its Čierny Váh branch...
River; and the panoramas of the High Tatras
High Tatras
High Tatras or High Tatra are a mountain range on the borders between Slovakia and Poland. They are a part of the Tatra Mountains...
mountain range. The team filmed interior shots at the JOFA studio in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
's Johannisthal
Johannisthal (Berlin)
Johannisthal is a German locality within the Berlin borough of Treptow-Köpenick. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Treptow.-History:The first mention of the locality was on November 16, 1753...
locality. and further exteriors in the Tegel
Tegel
Tegel is a locality in the Berlin borough of Reinickendorf on the shore of Lake Tegel. The Tegel locality, the second largest in area of the 95 Berlin districts, also includes the neighbourhood of Saatwinkel.-History:...
forest. Parts of the film set in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
were also shot in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
.
For cost reasons, cameraman Fritz Arno Wagner
Fritz Arno Wagner
Fritz Arno Wagner is considered one of the most acclaimed German cinematographers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He played a key role in the Expressionist film movement during the Weimar period and is perhaps best known for excelling in "in the portrayal of horror" according to noted film critic...
only had one camera available, and therefore there was only one original negative. The director followed Galeen's screenplay carefully, following handwritten instructions on camera positioning, lighting, and related matters. Nevertheless Murnau completely rewrote 12 pages of the script, as Galeen's text was missing from the director's working script. This concerned the last scene of the film, in which Ellen sacrifices herself and the vampire dies in the first rays of the Sun. Murnau prepared carefully; there were sketches that were to correspond exactly to each filmed scene, and he used a metronome
Metronome
A metronome is any device that produces regular, metrical ticks — settable in beats per minute. These ticks represent a fixed, regular aural pulse; some metronomes also include synchronized visual motion...
to control the pace of the acting.
Premiere and theatre distribution
Biedermeier
In Central Europe, the Biedermeier era refers to the middle-class sensibilities of the historical period between 1815, the year of the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the European revolutions...
costume. The cinema premiere itself took place on 15 March 1922 at Berlin's .
Contemporary critique
The premiere reviewers generally praised the film, with some occasionally complaining that the technically perfect and brightly-lit images detracted from the unworldly horror theme. Der Film, a Berlin film magazine, praised the technical quality and the believability of Schreck's portrayal of the vampire, but also felt that his form would have had a greater effect had it been shown more in silhouette.Deviations from the novel
The story of Nosferatu is similar to that of Dracula and retains the core characters—Jonathan and Mina Harker, the Count, etc.—but omits many of the secondary players, such as ArthurArthur Holmwood
Arthur Holmwood is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is engaged to Lucy Westenra, and is best friends with the other two men who proposed to her on the very same day — Quincey Morris and Doctor John Seward...
and Quincey
Quincey Morris
Quincey P. Morris is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's horror novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is a rich young American from Texas, and one of the three suitors for the hand of Lucy Westenra. Quincey is friends with the two other suitors, Arthur Holmwood and Dr. John Seward, as well as Jonathan...
, and changes all of the characters' names (although in some recent releases of this film, which is now in the public domain in the United States but not in most European states, the written dialog screens have been changed to use the Dracula versions of the names). The setting has been transferred from Britain in the 1890s to Germany in 1838.
In contrast to Dracula, Orlok does not create other vampires, but kills his victims, causing the townfolk to blame the plague, which ravages the city. Also, Orlok must sleep by day, as sunlight would kill him, while the original Dracula is only weakened by sunlight. The ending is also substantially different from that of Dracula. The count is ultimately destroyed at sunrise when the "Mina" character sacrifices herself to him. The town called "Wisborg" in the film is in fact a mix of Wismar
Wismar
Wismar , is a small port and Hanseatic League town in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,about 45 km due east of Lübeck, and 30 km due north of Schwerin. Its natural harbour, located in the Bay of Wismar is well-protected by a promontory. The...
and Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
.
The music
The original score was composed by Hans Erdmann to be performed by an orchestra during the projection. However, most of the score has been lost, and what we can hear nowadays is only a reconstitution of the score as it was played in 1922. This is why so many composers and musicians have written or improvised their own soundtrack to accompany the film. For example, James Bernard, composer of the soundtracks of many Hammer horror films in the late 50s and all the 60s decade, including the DraculaDracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
and Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
series, has written a score for a reissue of Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror.
In 2006, the French composer Alexis Savelief finished the composition of his score for Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror. His soundtrack is intended to be performed during the film by a cello octet, three synthesizers and two percussionists. Despite the constraints imposed by the cine-concert format, the score is perfectly synchronized throughout the whole film, by means of a variable click-track. Performed in first audition by the Cello Octet of Beauvais and the 2e2m ensemble directed by Pierre Roullier, the following year Alexis Savelief has arranged his score for eight strings, three synthesizers and two percussionists. This version has been presented in first audition under the direction of conductor Jean-Louis Forestier.
On Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
of 2009, the American film scoring ensemble The Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra
The Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra
The Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra is an ensemble of composers and musicians based in St. Louis, Missouri. The ensemble composes and performs original scores to accompany films of the Silent Era, and composes and records soundtrack music for contemporary films.- Origins and History:The...
premiered its new score for Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror as part of Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
's International Lens film series. The score is synchronized with the film, and is written for Wurlitzer electric piano
Wurlitzer electric piano
Wurlitzer 200A|250px|thumbThe Wurlitzer electric piano was one of a series of electromechanical stringless pianos manufactured and marketed by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, Corinth, Mississippi, U.S. and Tonawanda, New York...
, theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
, vibraphone, electric guitar, two violins, viola, trombone, trumpet and one percussionist.
Influences
This was the first and last Prana Film; the company declared bankruptcy after Bram Stoker's estate, acting for his widow, Florence StokerFlorence Balcombe
Florence Balcombe was the wife of Bram Stoker, whom she married in Dublin in 1878. She was the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel James Balcombe of 1 Marino Crescent, Clontarf, and wife Phillippa Anne Marshall, and was a celebrated beauty whose former suitor was Oscar Wilde...
, sued for copyright infringement
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
and won. The court ordered all existing prints of Nosferatu burned, but one purported copy of the film had already been distributed around the world. These prints were duplicated over the years.
The movie has received not only a strong cult following, but also has received overwhelmingly positive reviews. On Rottentomatoes.com it received a "Certified Fresh" label and holds a 98% "fresh" rating based on 46 reviews. It was ranked twenty-first in Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010.
Derivative works
Aaron CoplandAaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
's 1922 ballet Grohg (unpublished and unpremiered until 1992) used Nosferatu as the physical model for the lead character and roughly follows the storyline.
Hugh Cornwell
Hugh Cornwell
Hugh Alan Cornwell is an English musician and songwriter, best known for being the vocalist and guitarist for the punk/new wave group, The Stranglers, from 1974 to 1990.-Career:...
of the Stranglers
The Stranglers
The Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
and Robert Williams
Robert Williams (drummer)
Robert Williams is a drummer and solo artist who has worked with Captain Beefheart, Hugh Cornwell, John Lydon and Zoogz Rift as well as recording solo.His albums include:*Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band:...
recorded an album Nosferatu as a "soundtrack" to the film, dedicated to the memory of Max Schreck
Max Schreck
Friedrich Gustav Max Schreck was a German actor. He is most often remembered today for his lead role in the film Nosferatu .-Early life:Max Schreck was born in Berlin-Friedenau, on 6 September 1879....
; it was released in 1979. The front cover was a still from the film.
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
's 1979 homage to Nosferatu, Nosferatu the Vampyre starred Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
as Count Dracula, not Orlok. A sequel to Herzog's film called Vampire in Venice starred Kinski, this time as Nosferatu, and Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
as Paris Catalano. The 1979 television movie Salem's Lot
Salem's Lot (1979 TV mini-series)
Salem's Lot is a 1979 American television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Stephen King...
modeled the appearance of Mr. Barlow on that of Count Orlok. In 1998, Wayne Keeley
Wayne Keeley
Wayne J. Keeley is a practicing attorney, author, teacher, producer and director. He has produced, written and/or directed documentaries, commercials and educational programs.-Biography:...
wrote and directed Nosferatu: The First Vampire
Nosferatu: The First Vampire
Nosferatu: The First Vampire, released March 15, 1998, by Arrow Entertainment, is a remake of the classic horror picture Nosferatu. Writer and director Wayne Keeley used David Carradine as the host and incorporated music from the gothic/metal band Type O Negative.-Summary:F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu...
, in which the original film was remastered to a soundtrack by Type O Negative
Type O Negative
Type O Negative was a gothic metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four"...
and hosted by David Carradine
David Carradine
David Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...
. The 2000 Hollywood movie Shadow of the Vampire
Shadow of the Vampire
Shadow of the Vampire is a 2000 horror film directed by E. Elias Merhige and written by Steven Katz, and starring John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, and Udo Kier. The film is a fictionalized account of the making of the classic vampire film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, directed by F. W....
told a secret history
Secret history
A secret history is a revisionist interpretation of either fictional or real history which is claimed to have been deliberately suppressed, forgotten, or ignored by established scholars.-Secret histories of the real world:...
of the making of Nosferatu, imagining that actor Max Schreck
Max Schreck
Friedrich Gustav Max Schreck was a German actor. He is most often remembered today for his lead role in the film Nosferatu .-Early life:Max Schreck was born in Berlin-Friedenau, on 6 September 1879....
(played by Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...
) was actually a genuine vampire and that director F. W. Murnau (John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
) was complicit in hiring the creature for the purpose of realism.
Viper Comics
Viper Comics
Viper Comics, based in Dallas, Texas, has been an independent publisher of comic books and graphic novel trade paperbacks since 2003. Viper comic books are distributed by Diamond Comic Distributors and their graphic novels are distributed through Diamond, Ingram Books, Baker & Taylor, Inc., and...
's 2010 graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
Nosferatu by Christopher Howard Wolf
Christopher Howard Wolf
Christopher Howard Wolf is an independent game developer and writer. He is the founder of independent game company WRONG Games, for which he works as a game designer. He is known for work on the games DragonSpires, I'm O.K - A Murder Simulator, Hell Rising, and Scroll Wars...
retold the original 1922 film's storyline with a modern setting and cast.
Film Rating
The film is rated M in New Zealand contains violence and it is rated PGR for New Zealand television.See also
- List of films in the public domain in the United States
- List of German films 1919–1933