NOSFERATU (1922) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Director: F.W. Murnau Writers: Henrik Galeen (based on the novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker) Starring: Max Shreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder, Ruth Landshoff, John Gottowt, Alexander Granach
F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu" was the first adaptation of Bram Stoker's "Dracula," and that's probably to its advantage. Hollywood destroyed Stoker's atmospheric novel, turning the Count into a suave lady's man, and the entire franchise into a joke. By the time Mel Brook's finally got around to parodying it, he discovered that all the jokes that could have been used were already stale.
It's almost ironic that this was also the same film that was almost destroyed completely by Stoker's widow, who ordered the film to be changed because its was an unauthorized adaptation of the novel, because this film is probably the one that is the most faithful, not so much in story, but in the way the film is presented. Count Dracula (renamed to Count Orlok) is not cool like Bela Lugosi or Frank Langella, and not just plain weirdly suave like Gary Oldman, but is instead a hideous creature, with large ears, ginormous claws, and a rat face.
Played by Max Shreck, Orlok is a creature of the night, lurking in shadows, scaring people just by looking at them, and slowly decomposing. There's a scene where he slowly attacks a woman, and we only see what he's doing by the shadows across the victim's face. Compare this with any of the attack scenes and any other of the Dracula films and you see why "Nosferatu" is just the best.
The film, as I said, is based on the Stoker novel, but because of Stoker's widow, a couple things have been changed, primarily the names. But the basic story is still there. In it, young real estate agent Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) is instructed by his boss, Knock (Alexander Granach), to go see a man named Orlok who is interested in buying a home near him. Hutter goes, leaving behind his fiance, Ellen (Greta Schröder), and after meeting with Orlok and spending the night, he awakens with some bite marks on his neck.
Soon, Hutter pieces everything together, and once Orlok has taken off over the seas with a bunch of coffins filled with earth, he tries to race him back home via a carriage. Meanwhile, Ellen is having some weird connections with Orlok, and we discover that she is the means to either give Orlok new life or to destroy him. The film is not so much concerned with their romance, as the Coppola version was, because there is no necessity in showing Orlok trying to seduce Ellen. It's more like a gritty version of the famous tale, concerned more with atmosphere than story.
There are several sequences which stick out in the mind, most notably the frightening sequence of Orlok on the ship, which is something which is usually overlooked in the Dracula films. Here, we have a long bout where sailors are dying by the numbers, and we have a scene where one brave member goes down, opens the coffins, finds a bunch of rats, and Orlok rises from the coffin, completely stiff, and scares the hell out of the man. It's a bit that was used in the Coppola version as well, only this is more scarier, probably because Orlok is a whole lot freakier looking than the Gary Oldman version, even if Oldman had that stupid wig on.
The other scene is where Orlok stalks Ellen, which takes place towards the end of the film, which is one of the most atmospheric sequences I have ever seen. The entire film is not so much scary as it is chilling to watch. The visuals are incredible, the special effects are suprisingly competent for 1922 (there's a great scene where Orlok dissolves which is flawless, even by today's standards), and the lighting is incredible. I remember saying that the lighting for Robert Wiene's "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" was atmospheric because of the lack of technology when it was made. The same goes for here, but they also use some great use of shadows in several sequences. I already talked about the scene where Orlok attempts to attack a victim and we only see his shadow, but there's another scene where Orlok is coming up the stairs and the lighting on it is absolutely perfect.
"Nosferatu" has recently been re-released to mass audiences by Arrow Video Inc. in a package called "Nosferatu: The First Vampire." The film contains the film, but has been digitally remastered, and redone just like Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" was back in the 80s when Girgio Moroder added extra scene, tinted the film, and tossed on a soundtrack of such people as Pat Benatar and Adam Ant. That was packaged to appeal to the 80s crowds; this has been packaged to appeal to the Goth crowd.
On the tape is a trite introduction by David Carradine (the Carradine from "Kung Fu" - I know, there's so many of them), some tinting (half of it is, and half of it is just in standard black and white), and a soundtrack by alternative group Type-O Negative. I never saw the Moroder "Metropolis," but I imagine this is what it is like. All the extra stuff is trying to enhance the experiene and open it up to modern day audiences, but all it does is stand seperate from the film itself.
In fact, I discovered that this isn't even the entire film. In 1995, there was a re-release of the film which added roughly another 30 minutes to the film, which I imagine filled in some of the gaps left in by the original cut, which I think this is. I bet there are such things as: more explanation of Knock, who suddenly becomes the equivalent of Remfield, the crazed servant of Dracula who is confined to a mental institution; some explanation of Ellen's connection to Orlok; and more with Professor Bolwer, the equivalent of Professor Van Helsing, who is shown in one scene discussing vampires with some students, is talked about later, and then forgotten.
In fact, most of the additions don't really do anything for the film. The introduction by David Carradine gives us a couple bits of trivia then praises the movie. That's it. I would have liked to have learned more about it, maybe a short documentary on it. And the score by Type-O Negative doesn't give it much mood that isn't already there, and in some of the lyrics, spells out exactly what is going on annoyingly. And just to pander to the Goth crowd a little bit more, the title cards are written in a Goth-like font, although most old title cards are incredibly incompetent in being legible or understandable, so you have to at least give them credit for retyping them so nicely.
Yet I have to really recommend this re-issue, primarily because it seems to be the only way anyone can access this film, which is one of the most haunting, atmospheric films I've ever seen. It takes its topic seriously, and doesn't submit itself to any campy trends, which would lower the film's quality. Like Carradine says in the beginning, it HAS stood the test of time, and for that reason, "Nosferatu" is worth seeing at any cost. So what I recommend you do is buy or rent this, watch the introduction, then mute your television, turn the color down so it's all in black and white, and just sit there and watch the entire thing. You'll thank me later.
MY RATING (out of 4): ****
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