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Faust
Wakes Nosferatu
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Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens,
produced by Prana-Film and directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
was the first Dracula film ever made, and remains the best
(yes, even better than Interview with a Vampire).
We are very fortunate that the film still exists since the
Bram Stoker estate, angered by the use of themes, plot and
characters from his 1887 novel without any request of permission
nor financial compensation, sued Prana upon its release and
ordered all copies to be destroyed. The film was handed over
to Florence Stoker (Bram's widow) for destruction in 1925
and the case was closed.
However, like the prince of darkness himself,
Nosferatu mysteriously emerged from the shadows at
a UK Film Society festival later that year. Asked to endorse
the screening of the film she had tried so hard to nullify,
Stoker was outraged and insisted, initially without success,
that the Film Society's copy be handed over to her as well.
In the meantime, Universal Pictures had acquired the rights
to the book (and any adaptations of it) and eventually bowed
to pressure from Stoker and destroyed what was thought to
be the final copy. The inextinguishable film occasionally
rose from the dead over the next few years, and again was
destroyed wherever possible, until Florence Stoker died in
1937. Since then, the film has been edited, remade, rescreened,
hailed as a horror classic, bastardised, restored, and even
had a soundtrack recorded for it by our fine friends Faust.
Now you can even watch it on DVD or over the Internet (I'll
tell you how later).
The film follows Stoker's story very closely,
originally using different character names, changed to unsuccessfully
avoid copyright problems. The versions available on the Internet
use a later edition of the film in which the characters' names
have reverted to Stoker's originals. Nosferatu, or Count Dracula
was renamed by Murnau as Orlock, Renfield became Knock, Harker
became Hutter and Nina became Ellen.
Even those familiar with the story of Dracula
could be forgiven for losing sight of the details of the plot
at some point - it is so easy to get sucked in by the rich
imagery and Faust's soundtrack that it is possible to overlook
the significance of certain scenes on first viewing. For your
convenience, here is a summary of the plot (using Stoker's
original charcter names, as is the case with most commonly
available versions of the film):
Nosferatu (derived from the Greek for
'plague carrier') is the story of a vampire's travels from
Transyvania to Bremen. Jonathan Harker, a young estate agent
is sent by his boss Renfield to Transylvania to secure the
details of a purchase that Count Dracula is planning on making
in Bremen. Renfield warns Harker that many people are superstitions
about the place he is going to and that he should ignore their
tales about this 'land of phantoms'. Leaving his wife with
their friends Westenra and Lucy, Harker sets off on his travels.
Laughing at any concern for his safety, Harker meets many
individuals who try to warn him about what he may be getting
into. On nearing his destination, his driver refuses to take
him any further through the land of phantoms and drops him
in the middle of nowhere, only for a ghostly coach to arrive
to carry him the rest of the way. Harker arrives and meets
Dracula just before midnight. While cutting bread, Harker
cuts his thumb and is alarmed by Dracula's sinister interest
in the blood flowing from his wound. They talk all night until
just before dawn when Harker falls asleep and Dracula finally
slips off to bed.
On waking, Harker discovers two small bite
marks on his neck, and explores the castle while Dracula sleeps
through the day. He writes to Nina, telling her of the strange
dreams he has had while he slept and of his slight unease
at his surroundings. Eventually the evening draws in, Dracula
re-emerges and sees a cameo of Nina and admires her 'lovely
throat'. Dracula immediately decides the deal is done and
signs the papers to buy the mansion, situated almost next
door to Harker and Nina's home. Later that night, as Harker
learns more of what is occurring from reading a book about
vampires, he is terrified when Dracula comes to him. Nina
sleepwalks, alarmed by her dreams of what is happening to
her husband as Dracula drinks his blood. Westenra and Lucy
fear for Nina's health.
On awakening in the morning, Harker, terrified
and now fully aware of what is happening, discovers Dracula
asleep in his coffin. He finds himself locked in the building
and unable to escape, helplessly watching Dracula load huge
boxes of earth onto a cart, climb into one of the coffins
and be driven away. We later learn that vampires have to sleep
'in the same unhallowed ground in which they were buried,'
hence the boxes of earth. Harker, now alone, makes his escape
by climbing out of his window. He falls and is rescued by
some peasants who look after him. The boxes, complete with
Dracula, are loaded onto a ship bound for the Count's new
home of Bremen.
Meanwhile, we are treated to a lecture by
Dr Van Helsing about 'vampires' in nature - spiders, a polyp
and certain species of plants that suck the life out of their
victims. Renfield, sensing his master is coming close goes
literally insane with anticipation and is locked up. Nina
gazes over the ocean waiting for Harker to return as he gathers
his strength and begins his journey back home to try to stop
Dracula's deadly mission.
One by one the crew on Dracula's ship are
struck down by the plague and die until only the captain and
first mate are left. The first mate wants to investigate the
cargo and goes below, smashing open the boxes with an axe
as rats scuttle out. Dracula rises from his coffin, terrifying
the first mate who leaps overboard, leaving only the captain
to singlehandedly sail the ship as Dracula emerges menacingly
from the hold.
Back in Bremen, the residents are getting
excited - Renfield about Dracula's impending arrival and Nina
about being reunited with her husband. As Dracula's ship arrives
in port, seemingly deserted apart from the dead captain at
the wheel, Renfield escapes his cell and Harker arrives back
home. Dracula, coffin tucked under his arm, dashes through
the streets to find sanctuary from the daylight as Nina and
Harker are reunited.
Investigations get underway into the mysterious
deaths of the ship's crew and it is announced to the town
folk that the plague has arrived in Bremen. People lock themselves
away in their homes out of fear. The following day, Nina watches
from her window as the coffins of the dead are carried past
her home, and she reads Harker's vampire book (against his
wishes and without his knowledge) and also begins to understand
the curse that the town is now under. Reading that only 'a
woman pure in heart' can break Nosfearatu's spell by keeping
him 'by her side until after the cock has crowed', she understands
what she needs to do to save the town. She sends Harker to
get the doctor and answers Dracula's call to her. Dracula
creeps up the stairs and his shadow caresses Nina's body as
she surrenders herself to him. The cock crows, startling Dracula
who realises with horror that he has stayed too long and the
day has dawned. Screaming in the sunlight Dracula vanishes
into a puff of smoke. Harker, returning with the doctor arrives
just too late to save Nina, but the plague has ended, the
sick are well and the town is now safe.
So arrestive, original and memorable was Murnau's
imagery that Nosferatu is commonly hailed as the 'first
horror classic' and I would happily argue is the greatest
horror film ever made. The besetting imagery is so striking
that even those with a cursory interest in film or vampires,
who have never seen Nosferatu, will undoubtedly recognise
the chilling image of Max Schrek in his lead role as Dracula.
It has even lead to a dramatisation about the making of the
film, directed by E. Merhige. Released at the end of 2000,
Shadow Of The Vampire stars John Malkovitch as director
Murnau and Willem Dafoe as actor Max Schrek, and tells the
story of how Murnau, valuing realism above all else in his
film, employs a real vampire to play the lead role
in his film. This is not quite as far-fetched as you may initially
think, one sight of Nosferatu's / Schrek's curled finger nails,
hunched back, demonic face, scuttling walk and razor fangs
and you could believe he was the real thing. His performance
and make up in the original, with expert use of lighting,
photography and direction increasing his authenticity, can
only lead you to believe that the forces of evil have to be
behind it all somewhere.
To complete the package, we also have Faust's
1997 soundtrack, Faust Wakes Nosferatu to accompany
the images. I've been trying to decide all day whether to
stick my neck out here and confirm that Faust Wakes Nosferatu
is one of my very favourite Faust albums, but I still
can't decide whether to do so or not. Such a claim seems ridiculous
but may well be true. It is certainly one of their most beautiful,
atmospheric and perfectly restrained recordings, one which
brings forth its own images of lightness and darkness, fear
and absolution, menace and sanctuary.
Faust have skilfully identified the winning
elements of the film and translated those same elements to
their music. The contrasting passages of silence, shrill grating
strings, amp hum, mechanical movements from the Underworld,
gloriously subdued rhythms, and gentle organ tones interrupted
by gargantuan washes of neatly controlled feedback constantly
shift the mood of the audience from edgy discomposure to relief
to the feeling of impending climax / doom.
Having missed Faust's recent performances
in front of screenings of Nosferatu, I recently had my own
mini-screening of Nosferatu at home. A fellow Faust admirer
and I sat in one evening watching Nosferatu streamed via broadband
over the Internet, accompanied, naturally, by Faust's soundtrack.
While the music we were listening to wasn't
necessarily running in correct synch with film, we were certainly
none the wiser. The steady creep of the portent of doom in
both the pictures and music were a perfect match. Peculiar
instances of synchronicity / serendipity occurred, such as
when we are watching a spider suck the juices out of a trapped
fly, Faust were making pleasing skuttling, 8 legged noises.
The emergence of Dracula from his coffin on the ship was accompanied
by as much of a jolt as early cinema goers must have had when
first confronted with this scene. The closer Dracula gets
to Bremen, the interchanges of silence, chugging rhythms and
tropospheric rampage continually increase the tension and
draw the listener / viewer further into the spectacle.
You too can hold your own home screening -
you can stream 28k and 56k versions of Nosferatu for
free using RealPlayer from thesync.com
or 56k and 300k versions from www.moviehead.com.
DVDs of Nosferatu can be bought at Amazon, as can CDs
of Faust Wakes Nosferatu.
Garlic flavoured popcorn is optional.
[Endnote:
I feel the need to point out that my comment about the mind-numbingly
stupid Interview With A Vampire in the first line was
sarcasm, just in case there is any doubt. Thankyou.]
Faust
Special
