Video Review: The Case Against Nosferatu

Sorry for the long delay. Many things have happened to this humble silent film fan, but that's all in the past and I'm looking forward to bringing new content in the future!

Trailer for the new video review!

Metropolis

Metropolis, the great grandfather of Science Fiction films. This film is responsible for inspiring many directors generations after the movie's release in 1927.

From George Lucas to the many dystopian pictures that littered the genre, they all can trace some sort of influence to the Fritz Lang production. Speaking of Mr. Lang, well what's there to be said about the man? Plenty! Born Friedrich Christian Anton Lang in Vienna, Austria on December 5th, 1890, "Fritz" as he became known by, was a director, producer, and actor.

Fritz Lang along with his wife Thea Von Harbou.

Fritz started his work as a director at UFA Studios with the film "Halbblut" during the Weimar era. What was the Weimar era? The Weimar era was a time where the arts pretty much exploded into creative forces of imagination and exploration. Named after the Weimar Republic, which was the name of the Democratic Parliament that set up shop after the Imperial Government was disbanded.  Set in the years following Germany's defeat in World War I in 1918 and up till Hitler became Germany's leader in 1933. With Hitler's ascension, many of the artist, filmmakers, and what have you, fled Germany, either to the Untied States of America or other parts of Europe, namely the Untied Kingdom. Thus killing the golden age of the Weimar Era.

Coat of Arms of the Weimar Republic.

This leads us back to Fritz Lang who also left Germany during the Weimar decline. But not before making one of the greatest movies: "Metropolis." Show any still scene to anybody and no doubt they'll be familiar with the scene, saying something along the lines of, "oh yeah I know that picture. It's from that old sci-fi movie."
They may not know the movie's name or plot by heart but its images are burned into their sub conscience. Now on to the movie. It covers a broad range of subjects from class warfare, rebellion, peaceful resistance, technology, and compassion or mercy. It starts with a spectacular opening title screen that even rivals (perhaps surpass) movies of today. Amazing skyscrapers fill the skyline but soon that feeling of wonder is replaced with depressed misary, showing low level workers performing grueling tasks. We are then introduced to Freder, Played by Gustov Frohlich. He is in a beautiful garden surrounded by beautiful woman who all strive for his affection. During a strange encounter, he sees a woman named Maria, played by Brigette Helm. She brings along children from the lower part of the city to the garden, Freder is taken by her. However, she is given the bum's rush by the higher class citizens. Freder follows her into the inner workings of the city. He is horrified on what he sees, as a mechanical monster eats people alive. Freder tells his father about the incident and he's (the father) is lessed than amused. Freder starts to ponder that the workers could rebel against the higher class. Freder's fears are realized by a forman who tells the father about such plans against them. These series of events lead to Freder to change places with a city worker and that leads him to a secret meeting held by Maria. There she preaches love, patience, and tells of a coming mediator. The crowd grows tiresome and vow to only wait a while longer. Freder soon takes the place of the mediator. But Freder's father, along with a mad scientist kidnaps Maria and clone her into a machine/robot in an attempt to corrupt the workers into violence. This sudden surge leads to a full blown revolt, which ends up being a horrible mistake as the underground starts to flood. But to be sure there is a wonderful ending with respect and understanding, and more importantly compassion. Of course I left plenty out of this review but I would not be able to do the film justice just writing about it. It has to be seen to get the full effect. And plus, I didn't want to spoil everything that goes on the film. This film is certainly worth checking out. You'll be a better person for it.

Note: All images used belong to their respected copyright holders. Images used here are part of  Fair Use and for educational purposes.

Felix The Cat

Time to do something different. Today's review is based on the animated figure, Felix The Cat. This character was a staple throughout the silent era and one of the few (including the Disney characters) icons to not only survive but thrive in age of the sound.

A typical cartoon consists of Felix (whose very name mean's he's lucky) being involved in some sort of adventure by helping some one like he did in the cartoon: Felix Dopes it out (never mind the drug innuendo) where he helps a clown try to get rid of a gin blossom. In doing so, Felix travels to a tropical island where he has to evade the natives that are trying to eat him. He escapes and gets back to the clown where he just tells him to drink more (you couldn't get away with that today). The cartoon was standard when it came to animation and other things. Even though it is considered a silent film, it does contain sound effects such as people yawning and things flying through the air and laughs are substituted with "Ha's" written on the screen.

The creation of Felix The Cat has a history of its own. The cartoon started life as Master Tom in the 1919 Paramount short "Feline Follies' where it displays  his daily life in the town of Pussyville (don't laugh....well maybe you can laugh a little). In the cartoon he neglects his duties as a house cat and spends his time trying to win the heart of some girl cat. In the end he gets kicked out of his house and found out he fathered a large amount of children. So what does he do? He kills himself...of course. People's humor back in 1919 was way different than today.

Now there's seems to be some controversy on who actually created Felix. Pat Sullivan, who had his own animation company, said he created the character while others point to his head animator, Otto Messmer. Regardless on who created the character, Felix The Cat has stood the test time and remains popular to this day.

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Nosferatu 1922

They are many ways to create a horror movie. One way is to make a blood bath and try to make your audience throw up in every scene. Or another way is to go for the "in your face" approach where they try to shock the viewer. Many movies employ these tactics with a great deal of success. However, there's another way to give the audience chills, and that is to create a surreal nightmarish environment that envelops any one watching. And what better director to do this than F.W. Murnau. The movie is Nosferatu from 1922. This movie is the very first adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Even though it was the first adaptation, the film production company, Prana Film, did not receive permission from Stoker's widow to make the film and had to alter the story, mainly by changing the names to the characters, most notably Count Dracula to Count Orlok. But the main story was basically the same from the novel, so much so that Stoker's widow actually sued Prana Film. This lead to all the prints being destroyed. Or so we thought. Like any good vampire, this film came back to life many years later.

As stated before this film doesn't use traditional tactics usually associated with horror movies. People wont jump out of their seats but the film doesn't intend to do that. Instead it makes it a mission to put audiences in a terrible dream and give the constant feel of dread and despair through out the whole film. This film is terrifying because of the atmosphere, the performance of the actors, and the camera angles. For me, it is the only movie to give me nightmares. Nothing  else has even come close. And that's the main goal of any horror movie, to stay with you once the ending credits roll and you turn off the lights. Not knowing what's lurking in the shadows. And that's what's most terrifying. Any article about Nosferatu can not mention Max Shreck, the actor who brought to life an evil and horrifying character. The way he moves, the way he doesn't blink through out the whole picture as his own shadow creeps around the scenery. It was a performance for the ages. When people bring up great vampire roles they often mention Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee. Only recently people have been bringing up Shreck's name as an all time great. I think that's understandable because Nosferatu was considered to be a lost film not to long ago so his name is barley picking up steam. Since it's suppossed destruction this film has made a mighty come back and is now in the public domain with many different versions out on sale. There's many to chose from, so if you have the time and the nerves check it out.

Also this film is important because today's generation of the vampire has dramatically shifted to something less threatening and more sympathetic. So this film makes a good contrast to see where the vampire came from, mostly an evil thing and spreader of disease.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

If any film could be described as a piece of art it would be F.W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans from 1927. It won several Oscars in the Academy's first year of existence in 1929.  Among being counted as one of the greatest movies ever made it holds a special place among silent film fans for being able to portray human emotion so clear and vibrant without much text or title cards. The film's director: F.W. Murnau is probably more famous for his horror films like Nosferatu and Faust but I believe Sunrise is slightly better and when that is said you know you have a brilliant director.

The story of Sunrise is basically about a love triangle but not in a way that's cliche or over the top. It starts when a woman from the city goes on vacation to the country side and starts to see a married man. At seeing the man for the first time the actor gives glimpses of regret and you can tell that he feels guilty about it but the temptation is just too much for him to overcome. The man leaves to meet the woman as his wife comes in the room with the dinner made. At seeing the empty room the wife just sits at the table. This is the perfect example of words not being necessary to describe a scene. Her saddened face and lifeless body just sits there waiting for her husband to return. But deep down she knows what he is doing and that pain transcends the screen and touches the viewers. We then get a little flash back when the two were happy. It's a great piece of contrast that adds to the layer of pain. The man starts to sell his things like his oxen probably to buy things for the other woman. The two meet up and the woman then tells the man to sell his farm and to move with her back to the city. The man is a little surprised. He asks of his wife and the woman has a simple solution. Just drown her. The man is taken back but the woman says it'll look like an accident if he over turns the boat. At first he refuses but yields to the woman's demands. The next day the man takes his wife on the boat trip and he tries to throw her off but he could not bring himself to do it. When they get back to the shore the wife runs for her life and the man chases after her. They end up in a trolley that takes them to the city where they end up in a church where the man begs for her forgiveness. And she does. And since they're in the city the two spend the rest of the day just having a great time, getting a picture, dancing and a dazzling set of fire works cap the end of the night. They go back home and decide to go on the boat again. Everything then takes a turn for the worse when the couple gets caught in a storm and this time the wife falls out. The husband gets a group together to look for her but they cannot find her and she is presumed dead. The other woman comes back thinking that the husband went through with her plan the two meet up and she notices that the man is an emotional wreck and he decides to kill her but then his wife was found alive and he races back to his home and sees his wife sleeping in her bed alive and well.

Films can be described in many ways. Ranging from cool to interesting to exciting but not too many films can be called beautiful and that's what this movie is......Beautiful.

The Scarecrow

Back to the vault of Keaton with the short film: "The Scarecrow" from 1920. As mentioned before, I believe Keaton had no equal. Of course that's my own opinion and there can be arguments til the end of time. But to me Keaton had a simple approach to things that made people awe in wonder and when he has full reign to do what he wants, he can be the most ingenious director out of all them. It's no secret that Buster loved gadgets and he loved to tinker. Almost all his films that he had control over had plenty of gadgets and plenty of tricks to match. Today almost everything with few exceptions is done with CGI. The "how did they do that" feeling that made movies special is missing from the modern acts of cinema. However, back then all they had was a camera and props and it took a creative team to make it work on a short budget. This is no different in the "Scarecrow," which makes it all the more special.

The film starts off with two friends: Buster Keaton and Joe Roberts having breakfast together in a small no bedroom house. What comes next is down right brilliant. Gadgets Galore! It's hard to describe and I don't want to spoil it, but a few things that come into play is that everything is attached to a string and I mean everything! Also they found a way to stick it to the man. The Gas man that is. Now with that masterpiece behind us we discover that they're in love with the same girl played by the beautiful Sybil Seely. But they don't care. As Busters puts it: "How don't care how she votes." They do all they can to impress her but their boss gets annoyed that no work is getting done and forces them back to work and the boss tells the girl who is his daugther to go back home. Later on it seems that Roberts has gained the upper hand as Buster's heart is broken as he sees him and the girl dancing. He walks off and comes across a dog named Luke (who in real life belong to Buster's friend and mentor Roscoe Arbuckle) which leads to a mad dog chase sequence.  At the end the two become allies as his clothes had been ruined which makes him have to wear clothes from a scarecrow. At the end the girl's father (Who's played by Buster's very own father: Joe Keaton) and Roberts team up against Buster as he takes the girl with him on the chase. At the end Buster accidentally asks the girl to marry him and she says yes and they come across a pastor in a way that only Buster can. This film has a certain feel to it. Like a small county fair that's in between seasons of summer and fall. I like that and hope you feel the same way.

Watching this film makes me think that there's nothing wrong with being old fashioned.