NOSFERATU (1922)
Article #106 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 6-30-2001
Posting date: 11-13-2001

A city is invaded by a vampire called Count Orlok, who brings the plague and terrorizes the inhabitants.

This is my favorite silent horror film. Everyone here probably knows that it was a plagiarized version of “Dracula” and all copies were supposed to be destroyed; it’s quite amazing that any survived, considering how much of silent cinema is lost to us forever. I certainly prefer it to the Universal DRACULA: I’ve never fallen asleep to it, even though my VHS copy had no musical soundtrack at all (I recently picked it up on DVD, so I no longer have that problem). It’s a much more interesting movie, scene for scene. I don’t even miss Lugosi, as the mysterious Max Schreck has such a commanding, unforgettable presence. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the other movies of F. W. Murnau, though I’ve heard that much of his earlier material is quite disappointing.