Nosferatu (1988 Enno Patalas / ZDF restoration, Hans Erdmann score conducted by Berndt Heller)

F. W. Murnau: Nosferatu. Eine Symphonie des Grauens (DE 1922). Original poster art by Albin Grau.

011586 / 12 / DE / 1922 / Murnau, F. W. / / horror

Nosferatu. Eine Symphonie des Grauens / Nosferatu (video, TV). PC: Prana-Film. D: F. W. Murnau. SC: Henrik Galeen [based, unauthorized, on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker]. DP: Fritz Arno Wagner. AD+CO: Albin Grau. CAST: Max Schreck (Count Orlok, aka Nosferatu = Dracula), Gustav von Wangenheim (Hutter = Jonathan Harker), Greta Schröder (Ellen Hutter = Mina), Alexander Granach (Knock = Renfield), John Gottowt (Bulwer = Van Helsing). Silent b&w toned, cinema M by Hans Erdmann arranged by Berndt Heller conducting Symphonie-Orchester Graunke. 1967 m /18 fps/ 95’. 1988 restoration by Enno Patalas / Munich Film Museum. Image and music edited by ZDF. Finnish TV premiere Yleisradio TV2. Finnish subtitles by Marja Hannula. Viewed in Helsinki, Sunday 4 January 1998. **** Still haunting. This restored version is incomparably better than the one that was available before the 1980s. Maybe they could correct the instability of light definition. This is maybe the fifth different score I hear to Nosferatu. This music is no worse than the others, but I was grateful for the opportunity to turn it off. The film becomes more compelling in total silence. It has a strong structure, rhythm and harmony of its own. Perhaps a master composer could succeed with a soundtrack. Tod Browning’s Dracula had little music except the theme from Tshaikovski’s Swan Lake. Carl Th. Dreyer’s Vampyr, which has almost no dialogue at all, has an overwhelming score by Wolfgang Zeller. It’s either way. No compromise works.