A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Nosferatu (1922)

Date of original theatrical release: 1922

Details:

Max Schreck (Orlok)

Gustav von Wangenheim (Hutter)

Greta Schröder (Ellen)

Alexander Granach (Knock)

Director: F.W. Murnau

Screenplay: Henrik Galeen

Cinematography: Fritz Arno Wagner

Score: 1/2

The Review: "Does not this word sound like the call of the death bird at midnight?"

Subtitled "A chronicle of the Great Death in Wisborg, 1838", this is Murnau's retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula, in the mode of the German expressionists of the 1920's. B&W and originally silent, it has been augmented in a recent DVD release with two selectable scores -- the one I preferred was the 2000 scoring by the Silent Orchestra: although the alternate organ scoring is suitably creepy, the orchestrated version carries the drama better with more varied sound effects and a greater dynamic range.

Screenwriter Galeen has rewritten the London- and Transylvania-based novel into the German Baltic port of Wisborg and Slovakia, where the Castle Orava is located. The site selection and cinematography is quite good, not just for the period but also in general -- spooky, atmospheric, true to the mood. The plot has been complicated somewhat by the insertion of the Black Death, a nuance that seems to come from a combination of the vampyre preferring the goddamned soil of its burial, and the soil of the burials associated with the plague (infested with bubonic-bearing rats). No one said it has to make sense, but this might be one way that the "chronicler of Wisborg" tries to make scientific sense of a vampire's visit.

Is this the progenitor of the classic horror movie? Likely -- but in retrospect and watched in broad daylight, it's not especially scary. The imagery is bold but decidedly odd, and the character actors selected for the roles of Count Orlok and the estate agent Knock are physiognomically superb for their parts. While it doesn't scare or shock, it is intriguing, and worth the time. Its B&W tonality would not work quite so well were it filmed in color, and the cinematographer has a superb monochrome "eye."

The recent DVD version has an excellent special feature which takes you on a photographic and historic tour of the sites used by cinematographer Wagner to film the movie: spread across towns in Germany (Wismar and Lubeck) and into the Carpathians and rivers of Slovakia. For all that the town of Wismar was damaged in WW-II bombing, only one scene is totally unrecognizable. Some of the castles and ruins are amazing! This idea is one I wish other purveyors of the classics would take up in their supplemental material.

(3-Sep-06)

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