Vampire Movies before 1935 (part 1)
Recently, and by recently I actually mean within the last five years, movies about vampires have become pretty popular. I’ve seen the Vampire Diaries and the Twilights
I mainly wanted to share three films (well two in particular) that started the genre.
First up is Nosferatu : A Symphony of Terror a movie made in 1922 by German director F. W. Murnau. This is the first vampire movie made, and essentially an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracular. However, many things about the movie were a lot different than what Bram Stoker wrote. The Vampire is Count Orlok Instead of England the Movie takes place in a fake city of Wisborg in Germany, also instead of taking place at the end of the 19th century it was in the year 1838. Many other things were changed until what remained was essentially an original production.
The movie premired in Berlin and was given positive reviews. The commercial success was hindered however because of Bram Stoker’s widow. She sued the studio for Plagiarism and Copyright infringement. The courts decided in her favour and al prints of Nosferatu were orderd to be destroyed. We as a culture almost lost this brilliant film, but thankfully it was the olden days and a copy was stashed away for safe keeping.
Max Shriek Schreck’s preformance as Orlok is Creepy, he isn’t an attractive or particularly charming, rather relying on the supernatural to get the job done. The movie has a great use of shadow, and the music is terrific. You can find the entire movie on Youtube for free, check it out!
Stay tuned for Part II…
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