Nosferatu
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Movie Reviews of Nosferatu
Movie Review: You must buy this one!
Summary: 5 Stars
The new edition of the restored NOSFERATU is even more improved than the former version. The new transfer is far more crisper, sharper, allows us to explore the visual sensibilities of Murnau's beautifully worked out compositions, the subtle nuances lights and shadows. The intertitles' design is more elaborated and enhance the film's gothic, haunting, yet inteligent and authentic feeling; taking form of a historical record of "the great death of Wisborg in 1843". The Timothy Howard organ score seemed to me perfect for the film, but the new modern score by the Silent Orchestra is also very interesting in exloring another dimention of Murnau's vison of "a symphony of horror". While the organ score enhance the classic horror aspect of fear, the new score freely explores the psychological dimentions of the story, of sex, desire, and frustratrions. Both tracks are on this DVD. The new special features includes series of comparions of the film's scenes and photos of the locations as they look today, guided by Lokke Haas, who also provides an insightful audio commentary (which was already on the former edition). With the new transfer, ofcourse one would see that most of this "German Expressionist" classic was actually, mostly shot on location... Well, now we can compare it with how the actual places look like. No need to say, NOSFERATU is the first film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel DRACULA, and today still remains the best, and probably even the most modern cinematic vision to this apocalyptic tale. Frankly, the dashing gentleman-vampyre as portrayed by Bela Lugosi et all is not scary at all to contemporary eyes, while Max Schreck's incredible performance as the blood-sucking count, weak at the first sight, victim of his own desire, touches something underneath our mind, the subcontious nerve of fear within us. It may be the dark-side portrayal of our sexy human desire...Movie Review: Setting the Record Straight...
Summary: 5 Stars
I've seen this film a number of times on the big screen but not on VHS or DVD, so can't comment on the quality of any of these "at-home" releases, although I'm familiar with the very fine work done by Kino in restoring and releasing classsic films, and so will purchase theirs when I finally do buy (a class act all the way, they and Criterion are the way to go if you can spend more on your collection). This is a great film, and there's little I can add to the other reviews posted.
However, I should point out to some previous reviewers--as well as for the benefit of future viewers/purchasers--that the tinting of certain scenes is NOT a gimmick devised by contemporary video producers.
To the best of my knowledge, this film was, if not initially then very soon afterward, released with specific scenes tinted in order to lend atmosphere (I not only remember reading this, but have yet to view an untinted print). Tinting of negatives, while not the rule of thumb, was not an uncommon practice during the early days of motion pictures; Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera is a case in point (although some of its color segments were early Technicolor), and I believe Griffith's Broken Blossoms also has tinted scenes. As a matter of fact, Turner Classic Movies occasionally runs a lovely montage of the first 100 years of film that opens and closes with hand-tinted silent footage. So rest assured that if the Nosferatu you purchase is tinted, you're seeing what Murnau intended you to see, although I can't guarantee that the tints you'll see are the "correct" ones (depending on whose release you purchase). Regardless, I can't imagine anyone's not enjoying this film--it's a must-see!
Incidentally and for what it's worth, I also love Herzog's remake--comparing the two represents a delightful use of viewing time.
Movie Review: 2001 edition from Image the best yet
Summary: 5 Stars
The 2001 edition of this DVD from Image offers a vastly improved picture quality over the 1998 edition (which was made from a 1991 source). To me the difference is so great it is day and night. Where the picture was soft and contrasty in the '98 edition, it is now clear, sharp, and detailed in the 2001 edition. One good example is in the scene where the hero first discovers a bite mark on his neck; the mark (just a black dot) could barely be seen on the 1998 edition, but it shows up clearly on the improved picture of the 2001 edition. The 2001 edition is easily the best-looking version of the 1922 German silent classic and I doubt it could look any better. I envy those who haven't seen the film and will see it on this DVD for the first time.A new, more modern-sounding music score is included along with the more gothic organ score from the '98 edition. Tinting has been modified in some shots; a scene on the beach is tinted in dull green instead of brown in the '98 edition. Many intertitle cards have been re-written -- they are now generally more verbose. Title cards representing reading material have also been re-designed with a more archaic-looking font, which might be harder to read for some.
The audio commentary is still here. The still-frame gallery section is expanded, and the stills, badly scanned in the '98 edition, were re-scanned in much better quality for the '01 edition, some of them in color. A new still-frame section, named "A Tour of Nosferatu", gives a "then-and-now" comparison of the many locations seen in the film. This is a clip of the "phantom carriage" scene shown in reverse black-and-white, showing that the carriage was actually cloaked in white when filmed.
Movie Review: A ROOM WITH A VIEW
Summary: 5 Stars
Lost, found, forgotten, remade and now the subject of a new feature film with a novel plot twist (which is... what if Max Schreck really was a vampire?) NOSFERATU is, put simply, one of the best. Release in 1921, a full ten years before Lugosi and UNIVERSAL released what the world would come to know as the modern vampire, F.W. Murnau gave Europe the original. Most have never seen this movie - and still more have seen parts of this film... from music videos (UNDER PRESSURE by QUEEN and David Bowie), to commericals, to politcal satire (check out BOO! on the UNIVERSAL FRANKENSTIEN DVD), to film references (in case you missed it, in BATMAN RETURNS - Batman battles not only Catwoman and Penguin - but Max Schreck, played by Christopher Walken). Now it gets it own DVD and it's a fine package all around. An excellent transfer/restoration of the film - as well as two musical scores. The first is by the SILENT ORCHESTRA which updates and adds some real emotion to go along with the visuals (in 5.0 Dolby Digital no less - beautiful). The second, and organ track by Timothy Howard that caputres the original movie house feel. Also included - a tour of locations used in the film both then and now. A map of Germany from 1921, as well a text information on effects and cast. Also included, and perhaps the highlight of all the features is an audio essay (and yes, it's an essay - scripted and timed with the film - it remains screen specific and never wanders), by Lokke Heiss - which is very informative, offers excellent background and insight on the making, the people and what you see on the screen. Be not afraid... NOSFERATU is must for collectors and an easy buy for the casual viewer as well. I can not recommend it enough.Movie Review: The Ultimate Silent Horror Film
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1922 Nosferatu was the first feature length vampire film to be released and to this day it is still one of the best. The story was essentially a rip-off of Dracula which almost got all the film prints destroyed due to copyright infringement. Thankfully prints outside of Germany survived and the film lives on. The names and locations here were changed from the original story but can still easily be seen as a Dracula film.
Max Shreck plays the menacing Count Orlok and with his rat-like features and superb makeup job is still one of the creepiest horror figures to this day. The cinematography and use of shadows in here are great and give the whole film an eerie gothic feel. Nosferatu is a German Expressionistic film along with other movies such as "The Cabinet of Dr.Caligarri", "The Golem", and "Metropolis". Nosferatu is arguably the best of this style of film with Dr. Caligarri being a close second.
There are many different DVD versions of this film including many cheap low quality editions due to the fact that this film can be found in the public domain. I purchased the Image Entertainment DVD which is sufficient with a good quality transfer and original tinting. It also includes two soundtrack options that both give the film added atmosphere. The Kino video edition is also a worthy edition. Kino later released the "Nosferatu (The Ultimate Two-Disc Edition)" which runs 94 minutes and I would imagine to be the best edition of the film on DVD so far. The special features on the 2-disc version are The original film score, a 52 minute documentary, newly translated English intertitles, a 3-minute short documentary on the digital restoration, and lengthy excerpts of other films by director F.W. Murnau.