The classic silent horror film Nosferatu uses the 1897 Bram Stoker book "Dracula" and centuries-old vampire legends to create a frightening fairy tale.
Director F.W. Murnau’s purpose in making the 1922 black-and-white silent horror film Nosferatu was to take the story of “Dracula” and retell it in a German expressionist style by condensing some of the characters, eliminating extra details, and presenting the story from a single point of view. Like any good fairy tale, the film pits good against evil: the good character of Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) struggles against the evil vampire Nosferatu (Max Schreck). The film also features natural (Hutter’s lifestyle) versus supernatural (Nosferatu’s death style).
Good Hutter Meets Evil Nosferatu
Clearly, Hutter is good; he is a struggling young clerk who wants to provide financially for his lovely wife, Ellen. Although he may have been reluctant initially to take the assignment of working with Count Orlock a.k.a. Nosferatu, he accepts because his boss promises lots of money from the transaction. Healthy signs of life in Hutter’s home (blissful marital love, flowered wallpaper, kitten in the flower box, vase painted with flowers, foliage and flowers surrounding the home’s exterior) reveal the natural versus supernatural subplot in the story. However, Orlock’s home is a dark, drab castle, which like its owner, is devoid of natural life. Orlock is ghostlike in substance – able to project his gruesome image elsewhere, open doors without touching them – and animal-like in form, with the face of a rodent and the claws of a vulture.
The dialogue, provided through intertitles, is necessarily sparse and conveys only information not obvious in the film’s images. Another form of “dialogue” is delivered through close-ups of book pages (Hutter’s book on vampires and witches) and letters (Hutter’s letter to Ellen, Orlock’s satanic script). The unrealistic lack of dialogue moves the film one step further away from reality and one step closer to a dreamlike fantasy.
Nosferatu Shot on Location
Because Murnau shot on location, he included outdoor nature scenes whenever possible (forests, streams, mountains, animals, etc.). Quick cuts from Nosferatu’s tomb-like castle to the wide open spaces outside make good contrasts between the death associated with his castle (supernatural) and the life outdoors (natural). The way that Orlock fills the door frames and his coffin present a claustrophobic feeling like he’s dominating the space, whereas the location scenes present life, freedom, heath, and nature.
Contrasting the dark, contrived scenes shot on a set, which include only essential details (such as a skeleton clock at Orlock’s castle and miscellaneous filth in the cell at the insane asylum), the location scenes seem light, natural, and serendipitous. The Hutter’s home is light, airy, and filled with flowers, thus calculated to remind the viewer of the location scenes. If good cannot conquer evil, then Hutter will lose all that is natural (his home, wife, great outdoors) and become supernatural like Nosferatu.
Man-Eating Plants
In addition to clocks in the background (impending doom, contrast to day and night), the most common motif throughout the movie is plants. Besides Hutter’s home containing flowers and greenery, we also hear a lecture on man-eating plants lurking among the beautiful flowers, a threat in an otherwise safe environment (just like Nosferatu).
Schreck’s unnerving performance as the rodent-faced, bloodsucker caused rumors to circulate that the actor was indeed a vampire. This blurring of reality, film, dreams, and illusion features prominently in the 2000 horror movie, Shadow of the Vampire, in which Willem Dafoe portrays Max Schreck (as an actual vampire) portraying Nosferatu. Murnau created the original, chilling supernatural celluloid dream that refuses to die; Nosferatu has been reborn in countless other terrifying films over the years.
To learn more about the supernatural, read Stephen King's 1408 Now on DVD and Production Highlights From The Eye.
