Nosferatu (1922)

IMDB: 8.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (critics) 88%(audience)
Roger Ebert: 4/4 stars

Stars: Max Schreck, Greta Schröder, Ruth Landshoff
Written By: Henrik Galeen(Screenplay), Bram Stoker(Novel).
Directed By: F.W. Murau

Release Date: 4 March 1922
Described by IMDB as: "Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife. Silent classic based on the story 'Dracula'."

It’s amazing how much of a difference two years can make in the film industry, and that is clear in the differences between The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu. Obviously the director’s choices would also affect the differences, but the films look like they are from two different decades. The filming locations make a huge difference to the storyline of the film. It’s so much easier to follow the story when you are actually able to understand where it is taking place and see the differences. I thought the cinematography was much better as well, and the words were much easier to read, so I felt like I was getting the entire story.

The film plot follows Hutter on his trip to Transylvania after his employer, Knock, sends him to meet a new client named Count Orlok. He leaves his wife in the safety of his friends an sets out on his long journey. When he gets close to his destination he stops at an inn for a meal and speaks loudly of his upcoming visit with Count Orlok. The townspeople become frightened and try to convince him not to visit the castle, at night and warn him of the werewolf. He takes their advice and stays at the inn for the night and sets out the next morning with a hired coach to bring him to the mountain pass. When they reach the bridge the coachman refuses to bring him any further because nightfall is approaching. After finally arriving at the castle, with help of a mysterious coachman, he is invited to join Orlok for dinner, and while eating, cuts his thumb. Count Orlok tries to suck the blood out, but Hutter is pulls his hand away. Hutter wakes up to a deserted castle in the morning and notices punctures on his neck which he assumes were mosquito bites. That night Orlok purchases the home across from Hutter’s that he was sent there to sell him. After reading a book about vampires, Hutter begins to suspect Orlok is Nosferatu. That night Orlok’s true nature is revealed when the door opens by itself  at midnight and Orlok enters and Hutter falls unconscious. The next day Hutter explores the castle to find a coffin in which Orlock is resting, and runs back to hide in his room. Later, he sees Orlok leaving with  a coach full of coffins, and Hutter escapes only to be knocked out from the fall and finds himself in a hospital. Once he has recovered his makes his way home, thinking that he has beaten Nosferatu, not realizing that he has already made it to his new home after traveling by ship and killing off the sailors one by one. There are many deaths in town but they have all be attributed to the plague. One night Hutter’s wife finds his book on vampires and reads that the only 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 convinces Hutter to leave and invites Orlok to come to her room. He becomes so distracted with drinking her blood that he forgets about the coming day, and is killed by the sunlight.

 Nosferatu has an interesting history, it is the first time that Dracula was brought to the big screen, but the director didn’t have the rights and tried to change enough of the names and plot that he could get away with it, unfortunately he did not and Prana Films went bankrupt when Stoker’s estate, acting for his widow Florence Stoker, sued for copyright infringement, and won. The court ordered all copies of the film to be burned but amazingly one copy had already been distributed around the world, and with the help of a cult following it has been copied and distributed every since. Nosferatu is one of the first examples of a cult film.

I enjoyed this one much better then The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, so I'll give it a 7.5/10. You may not enjoy this if you don't like old films, but if you're trying to get into silent films, this is a good one, since most people already know the general story of Dracula, so its easy to follow.