Nosferatu (1922) is actually an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula, and the film offers the most physically striking and most complex vampire ever produced on film. Count Orlock (instead of being called Count Dracula) offers a German approach to the mythical vampire lore and one that Hollywood had not yet got their hands on and tainted.
For some, the imagery of the movie and the Count Orlock character is haunting, barren, disturbing, and yet for me I see something that is not human in looking at Nosferatu. I see a house pet, an alcoholic, a cheetah running across the Savanna plains after prey. The character Count Orlock can’t help what he does and is burdened with a curse that saddens him, and torments his every being century after century. Which is so out of line when compared with the iconoclastic portrayal of Dracula by Hollywood as this sexy clean cut playboy. American filmmakers saw the power and intensity of Nosferatu and thought what they could do if they traded all that for sexiness to win the hearts of Americans everywhere. The introspective and depressing nature of a vampire that Murnau shows is still missing from our silver screens, as it doesn’t sell. There will never be another one as long as there are young schoolgirls (at heart) to hang on to the notion that everything is glamourous. The nature and occult mystic of the vampire was still so strong at the time of Nosferatu’s showing in 1922 that supposedly (as rumor goes) at the time of Murnau’s death in 1931, sailors refused to tend and transport Murnau’s casket in their ship because they had seen his film, believing him to be cursed as well and being better off not to risk it. That’s power money or Hollywood can’t possibly imagine having if the story is true. Everything about the film, exudes mystery, a sense of immortality, and awe. Stoker’s widow sued the then freshly established Prauna Film studio into bankruptcy. It was their first ever film produced. And since Stoker’s widow could not attain rights to the film, and turn it into a “Dracula” showpiece, she ordered every negative produced of the film destroyed before it could hit theaters. And guess what, it miraculously survived against all odds. It still survives today, even though it actually completed! What we have of the film is essentially the leftovers, with several lost reels still unfound. So readers, go dim the lights and view the spectacle yourself free at YouTube: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB8QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DrcyzubFvBsA&ei=QWWKVIa0GYKfNpHNg6AJ&usg=AFQjCNGfHEoGW5eO9qFha1NzLACCxG61xg
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