[This review originally appeared in 1979. It is included here as counterpoint to Thomas Billings's review. -Moderator]
NOSFERATU, PHANTOM DER NACHT
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1989 Mark R. Leeper
To paraphrase JACOBOVSKY AND THE COLONEL, Werner Herzog's new film, NOSFERATU, is one of the truly great films of the silent era. While the film is a color film--just barely--and a sound film--just barely--it comes off as if Herzog had contritely decided to subject himself to the limitations and constraints of the pre-sound classics. The entire film is shot through a heavy blue filter, leaving the photography with a bloodless, lifeless feel. It also makes minimal use of dialogue, seemingly so as not to take unfair advantage over the original silent NOSFERATU. It does, however, repeat many of the same scenes with camera angle and acting style intact.
The dialogue--and there is not much more of it than one would find in a silent film--is mostly delivered in a monotone and often seems inappropriately pseudo-metaphysical. A prematurely bloodless Lucy is prone to spontaneously give forth lines like, "Dr. Van Helsing, is it possible we are all insane and one day we will awake in strait-jackets?" or, "I fear an inner, nameless, deadly dear." Dracula, too, has his share of quotable bon mots such as, "Time is an abyss, profound as a thousand nights." The photography is much in the style of the silent film, with fifteen-second shots of characters devoid of motion or emotion. These shots do provide considerable time to contemplate Klaus Kinski's vampire make-up, which looks like something between the original Schreck vampire and Milton Berle. The only acting that involves the audience in any way but cerebrally is that of the constantly chuckling Renfield and that of a reluctant city official official who has a curious scene toward the end of the film reminiscent of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL.
Even though this film is indirectly based on DRACULA and has some excellent photography, combining some of the style of German Expressionism and some of THE SEVENTH SEAL, I cannot see the film having a wide general appeal in the United States. It will go down well with the art film crowd and the rest of the viewing public will probably avoid it.
Mark R. Leeper
att!mtgzz!leeper
leeper@mtgzz.att.com
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