I have seen NOSFERATU a number of times from truly bad public domain copies in the 1980s to several authorised video editions from the turn of the century. However it wasn’t until I recently saw a showing of this Kino Deluxe Remastered Edition which has been speed corrected, broken down into five acts as if it were a play and not a movie, properly tinted, and with the original music score that it hit me (thanks to my wife who first pointed it out). NOSFERATU is not a horror film at all but rather a brooding tale of German dark romanticism which E.T.A. Hoffmann or Goethe would have recognized.
The vampire Count Orlok grabs our attention but the movie is really a love story between Hutter and his wife and the triumph of good over evil. The setting is 1838 and the period is faithfully recreated from the buildings used (primarily in Lubeck and Wismar some of which were later destroyed in Allied bombing raids during WW II) to the Bidermeier style costumes and furnishings. Adding to the authenticity are the Slovakian location shots including the High Tatras mountains, the costumed peasant extras, and a genuine centuries old castle (Castle Orava which is still there today).
When projected at the right speed and accompanied by Hans Erdman’s original score, the performances are highly effective with only a trace of so called “silent film overacting”. Most of that is done by Alexander Granach’s real estate agent who is supposed to be crazy anyway. Gustav von Wangenheim and Greta Schroeder as the young couple Thomas & Ellen Hutter are touching and believable in their love for each other which makes Ellen’s later sacrifice so poignant. Max Schreck’s vampire with his rodent like features and piercing stare is the embodiment of physical evil.
It is well known that director F.W. Murnau and his associates did not obtain copyright permission from the Bram Stoker estate to use DRACULA and as a result they lost a lawsuit and all copies of the film were ordered destroyed. Fortunately that did not happen but it has taken until just recently to be able to see copies of the film as Murnau intended. This Kino Deluxe Remastered Edition comes with both English and German versions, an hour documentary on the making of the film, and excerpts from several of Murnau’s other German movies. There are still numerous versions of NOSFERATU out there but this one is definitive.
The Capsule Critic 