Phantom
Tags: insanity, romantic, murder, flashback

Plot synopsis:
The movie begins with a car chase in Chicago, which leads to a scuffle between a man ostensibly named Jude Rosario (Saif Ali Khan) and an American male known as Matthew Broody. The scuffle ends with Broody falling into the icy waters of Chicago River, and his body missing. This results in Rosario being arrested and convicted for murder.
A flashback of six months ago shows the office of the Indian RAW chief Roy (Sabyasachi Chakrabarty), where he and his trusted men (Rajesh Tailang, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) plan a daring covert operation. The man known as Jude Rosario in the opening sequence is shown to be Captain Daniyal Khan, a dead-end ex-soldier with a completely deadened sense of life and death is pulled out of oblivion and pressed into service by the spy agency to wreak vengeance on the men who planned the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. He agrees on the assurance that he will be reinstated in the Indian army to the same rank from which he was court-martialled, which meant regaining the respect of his estranged father. His only team member, Nawaz Mistry (Katrina Kaif) helps him find his first target Sajid Mir (Mir Sarwar) at a cricket match. On reaffirming his identity after breaking into his apartment Daniyal rigs up an explosion killing Sajid Mir, which makes the headlines causing an investigation by the Pakistani ISI.
Coming back to the present, Daniyal aka Jude has landed in the same jail as David Headley (J.Brandon Hill). He contacts Nawaz, in order to acquire money to buy a battery, as a replacement of another one which holds a certain poison. The poison is untraceable as it could kill a person whose tongue even comes in contact with it with a heart attack. After killing David Headley, Matthew Broody who supposedly died upon falling in the river is found alive and Daniyal is released as his earlier sentence is rendered null and void. Meanwhile, ISI agents gather information about Daniyal Khan.
Daniyal and Nawaz, through Syria, go to Pakistan to take down the last two perpetrators, Sahabuddin Umvi and Haaris Saeed (Shahnawaaz Pradhan). In Pakistan, they make plans of killing Saeed with the help of local restaurant owner Khalid (Midat Sahab) by an explosive planted in the mic used during his public speech. However, their plan fails leading Daniyal to pursue Saeed in a car and shoot him dead, also causing an explosion. Umvi is killed with the help of a nurse Amina Bi (Sohaila Kapur) who replaces his regular syringe with a poisoned one.
With the Pakistani army and ISI pursuing them, Daniyal and Nawaz make their way to the coast to escape through the Arabian sea. Their accomplices get caught and interrogated for information or killed. While they are escaping on a boat, the Pakistani military finds about it and sends patrol boats to apprehend them. While hiding in the waters, Daniyal gets shot by the military and dies. Nawaz later gets rescued by the Indian Navy. Later, she goes to the Taj Hotel and has two cups of tea fulfilling a promise earlier made to Daniyal.

Review: Silent German film about a meek, mild man who seems to have no life or goals.
But there is redemption.This silent film was long believed to be lost.
The acting is a little over the top but that's to be expected in silent movies.
My only complaint is that this film is shown in flashback which somewhat dilutes the drama (that's why I'm only giving it a 9).
Still, this is a great silent film.
In Germany, the honest city clerk and aspirant poet Lorenz Lubota (Alfred Abel) lives a poor but decent life with his mother (Frieda Richard), his ambitious sister Melanie (Aud Egede Nissen) and his younger brother Hugo Lubota (H.H. v.
Lorenz shows his poems to the father of his sweetheart Marie Starke (Lil Dagover), who is the local bookbinder, and the man wrongly believes that Lorenz is a promising poet.
Meanwhile Melanie leaves her home to become a prostitute in a cabaret.When the distracted Lorenz is going to work, a woman named Veronika Harlan (Lya de Putti) that is driving a horse-drawn chariot runs over him and he follows Veronika and immediately has a crush on her.
Lorenz pays a visit to his wealthy and wary aunt and pawnbroker Schwabe (Grete Berger) to borrow some money to buy an appropriate suit since he believes that he will become a successful writer and make lots of money with the royalties of his poems.
However he is followed by a swindler (Anton Edthofer) that dates Schwabe and they spend the borrowed money in a cabaret where Lorenz meets Melanie.
The swindler stays with Melanie and convinces Lorenz to borrow a large amount from Schwabe.
The naive Lorenz gives part of the money to the swindler and uses the rest to buy clothes to Veronika to seduce her.
When Schwabe discovers that Lorenz is a liar and his poems will not be published, she gives a three days schedule for him to pay his debts; otherwise she will call the police.
But the swindler suggests a scheme to Lorenz."Phantom" is a moralist tale of corruption of human character and redemption by F.W. Murnau.
The story is divided in six acts and has flaws and lack of explanation for many situations, but since the film was reconstructed and restored in 2003 by the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv of Berlin, parts of the original work might be missing.
The dramatic plot has many parallel stories entwined through the lead character Lorenz.I saw this film in a Brazilian DVD with a nice soundtrack and in accordance with the Wikipedia, the first screening of "Phantom" in Brazil was on 30 October 2008, on the 120th anniversary of F.W. Murnau.
I've seen several of Murnau's flicks, and while I am the generally a big fan of his work, this one is actually one of my favorites.
In a dreamlike manner it tells a story of main character's obsession with a manipulative and cruel woman.
His love and desire makes him lose his senses - to a point where object of his passion becomes like a haunting spectre, a phantom.
In some way Phantom is a forecast of another german picture, the famous Blaue Engel.
Maybe my expectations were too high for this film, but after catching it on tape from TCM's Silent Sunday feature, I felt let down.
I expected the same genius from Murnau as Nosferatu and Sunrise.
The story revolves around a man obsessed with an unattainable woman, and his attempts to substitute for his unfulfilled desires.
My biggest issue with the film was with Alfred Abel as Lorenz in the lead.
He was great in Metropolis in a totally different role, but here he looked too old for the part and out of place, not quite finding the firm ground to build the character.
Other players were good especially Aud Egede Nissen as Lorenz's sister Melanie.
Worth a look for Murnau's style, but a let down overall..
One of Murnau's best visually told films.
I just saw Phantom (F.W. Murnau: 1922) for the first time.
I was a bit disappointed that the inter titles are in English and tinted green but other than that, I have no complaints.The film was good.
I had how ever problems with the story (I just could not believe that an honest man like that would loose his head so easily).
I also thought that Alfred Abel was to old for the part, even though he was good in the role.This is not one of Murnau's best films but it is one of his best visually told films.
An errie drama, but not the best of Murnau's films.
The story of a man Lorenz Lubota (played by Alfred Abel) who chases a woman Pfandleiherin Schwabe (Grete Berger) who keeps escaping him and is, virtually, like a phantom.
This drama is not as potent as Murnau's other attempts at heart wrenching dramatic cinema (such as TABU and SUNRISE).
Much like SUNRISE this film suffers from a running time that could, easily, be cut in half.
But still it is worth a look for any of Murnau's dedicated fans.
It includes Murnau's usually study of human suffering and torment, and his supernatural imagery (a ghostly horse carriage, and a leaning city- much like Weine's CAL.
Hot off his formidable achievement with "Nosferatu", F.W. Murnau made another expressionistic film, "Phantom".
This one depicts Lorenz (Alfred Abel), a clerk who becomes obsessed with a woman (Lya De Putti) who accidentally struck him with a carriage.
A short documentary about the production makes note of how Murnau accomplished these interesting tricks.One might call "Phantom" a precursor to "The Blue Angel" and "Lolita", but I wouldn't call that totally accurate.
But no matter how you interpret "Phantom", you can't deny that it is a very good representation of inter-war German cinema.
The movie is a little slow at times, but definitely worth seeing..
Town clerk Lorenz Lubota is a retiring bookish fellow about to settle into a contented hum drum existence when he is bowled over by a carriage on his way to work .
Exploited by a slick grifter he betrays a benefactress and when his clumsy attempt to win the hand of his obsession falters he is exploited by a mother-daughter team and the spiral picks up speed.Made the same year as Nosferatu director FW Murnau taps down the phantasmagoria considerably in this slow go that reveals much of its outcome early, making it more of a cautionary tale than an intense suspense.
Incurable romantic Lorenz moves through the film trance like most of the way and such unabated gullibility wears Phantom down.Their are a handful of lush tinted classic Murnau compositions that inform and a touch of misogyny that allows his female characters some lurid depth but for this cinema giant it is a sub par effort..
PHANTOM is a very heavy-handed morality tale of a simple man who inexplicably becomes infatuated with a woman after seeing her only briefly.
Despite being a seemingly nice guy, he throws his life away and the film revels in this spiral as well as the parallel story of his sister who becomes a prostitute.While the film on technical merits isn't bad (it did have some inventive camera work), it was a major letdown since it was directed by the legendary director F.
Had it been done by some studio hack, then I could understand why this film was so hokey and unbelievable--but from Murnau, his fans have come to expect so much more.Unlike some reviews on IMDb, mine is a bit unusual in that I have now seen just about every known Murnau film in existence today (PHANTOM was the last) and so I can compare it to the body of his work.
Clearly, it is the worst of his films and lacks the magic and genius that Murnau is known for having.
You might be surprised to hear that although his most famous film is NOSFERATU, it may not be his best film--mostly because NOSFERATU, like PHANTOM, seems a tad old-fashioned and stilted--even for 1922.
This can be forgiven in NOSFERATU because despite these lulls, the rest of the film is so transcendent and amazing--making it one of the greatest silent films of all time.
There is nothing about PHANTOM that can make you overlook the very dated plot--it's just heavy-handed and not particularly memorable.As I said, Murnau made some truly amazing films.
I love and recommend you see FAUST because the camera work and artistry is just amazing--making Goethe's story a freshness and style that just have to be seen to believed.
I also liked it because I (unfortunately) have read the very long book "Faust" and found the film actually made me like the story!
THE LAST LAUGH and TARTUFF are also simply wonderful films that any serious student of German cinema must see.So, my advice is to watch PHANTOM if you like, but if you aren't acquainted with F.
W. Murnau's films, try any of the others first--otherwise you might not be able to detect his genius and deftness..
He gets run over and fall in love with the woman who hit him.
The film is nicely crafted and works fine, but I just couldn't get over the rashness of the guy..
Minor Murnau, but pretty good.
Alfred Abel (of Metropolis) stars as a man who lives along with his sister (Aud Egede Nissen) with their mother (Frida Richard).
Abel falls for beautiful rich girl Lya De Putti, and then later with a gold digger who looks exactly like her (also played by De Putti).
A bookstore owner convinces Abel that he is a great poet, and he borrows a bunch of money from his rich aunt, who thinks he'll soon be rich, to impress De Putti and help out his sister's criminal boyfriend.
That F.W. Murnau's long gone "Phantom" was "reconstructed and restored in 2003" from a print held in Berlin's Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv is a cause for celebration - this, along with the more recent announcement of 75 "lost" films turning up in a New Zealand archive, suggests "lost" works will continue to trickle out of archives and attics for the foreseeable future.
The reconstructed "Phantom" is very well done; it's obvious they were working from a very satisfying print of the film, as there is little of the deterioration you expect in these old films.
They've avoided temptation to enhance the coloring, and tinted the nicely preserved original film in original hues, inserted new intertitles, and added an appropriate Robert Israel score.Our story begins in then "present" day Germany, with protagonist Alfred Abel (as Lorenz Lubota) and Lil Dagover (as Marie Starke) living in a "happily ever after" home (which dampens much of the coming tension).
Wife Dagover lovingly urges Mr. Abel to write the story of his former life.
Then, we have the flashback and, the problems begin Some time ago, Abel is a respected, but lowly city clerk.
He lives with haggish old mother Frida Richard, whorish sister Aud Egede Nissen (as Melanie), and dour brother Hans Heinrich von Twardowski (as Hugo).The introduction of the "little brother" points out another of the film's structural flaws.
You expect, since we have a big, obvious "flashback" that the younger man is the younger "Lorenz" - but, this revealed not to be the case when Abel is called to the breakfast table, looking older than he did before the flashback.
Or, they could have dispensed with the opening and have Abel play "Lorenz" as a middle-aged, angst-ridden character.
Which, he may be As it turns out, Abel gets hit by a coach pulled by pretty white horses.
Suffering little physical harm, he becomes infatuated with the inhabitant of the carriage, lovely Lya de Putti (as Veronika Harlan).
Alas, Abel's poems turn out to be worthless, and he ends up in jail (as revealed in the opening sequence).
This is my fifth Murnau film, and the first one I rate less than "9" on the IMDb scale.
Still, it's an excellent piece, and worth the running time.******* Phantom (11/13/22) F.W. Murnau ~ Alfred Abel, Lil Dagover, Frida Richard, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski.
Enjoyed this silent film from 1922 with great German directors and plenty of talented people.
Lorenz Lubota, (Alfred Abel) is one of the brothers who loves to read books and is also a poet and works as a clerk for the city.
One day Lorenz was walking in the street and a blonde girl is driving a chariot and runs him down, the girl checks to see that he is okay but Lorenz immediately falls in love with this girl.
After this event in Lorenz's life he completely goes crazy and his life changes for the worst and he gets involved with money that does not belong to him.
Grete Berger gives a great supporting role as a pawnbroker, Schwabe.
If I remember correctly, it was Peter Greenaway who wrote a few years ago that in the near future one will be able to make films about how somebody thinks and not only about what somebody does.
When this time will be here, one should remember F.W. Murnau's "Phantom" (1922) which does exactly what Greenaways was speaking about.
Lorenz Lubota is a little scribe, likes books and would like to be a poet.
One day, on his way to work, he is hit by a carriage.
In this moment, he sees Veronika, the daughter of a rich merchant, and chases from now on her picture like a phantom.
I cannot remember whether anyone else in the "silent" time has made more appropriate use of tinting in order to show the inside of a person than Murnau did.
By chance, Lorenz meets Melitta who looks like a twin of Veronika.
So, one night, Lorenz and one of his new colleagues break into the house of the aunt.
Besides the unrealistic and rather fairy-tale-like end, this movie shows many motives that Murnau would use in the subsequent year when he shot "Nosferatu".
One could say that in "Phantom", he filmed the imaginary world, whereas in "Nosferatu", he projected this imaginary world as a substrate of abyss-less gore into the outside world.
However, one could also say that Lorenz, at the end, is rightfully awarded by a loving wife because he belonged to the very few people who really believed in a phantom and even gave up his whole existence for it.
What movies could we have had to look back on if F.W. Murnau had lived into the 1940's and experimented with noir as Fritz Lang did?
Lorenz Lubota (Alfred Abel) is a city clerk doing a boring menial job.
His bout with fate begins when he is run down in the street by a team of horses pulling a carriage driven by the beautiful and wealthy Veronika Harlan.
Lorenz is unharmed, but he returns to consciousness with Veronika holding his head in her hands, and he is instantly infatuated.His lust is awakened by looking into the face of the most beautiful girl he has ever seen, and his pride is awakened when he is told by Marie's father that his poetry is genius according to a visiting publisher (the publisher turns out to be wrong).
When Lorenz realizes he has no chance with the actual Veronika he settles for a look-alike gold digger that he meets in a tavern.
Apparently doing a low paying menial civil service job in 1922 Germany required the dullest of home lives.Lorenz soon learns that his poetry is worthless, although this scene is missing from the movie.
Lorenz has committed fraud, robbery, and been an accomplice to murder, but apparently spends only a short time in prison because he is still young looking when he gets out.
If he had the kind of money to buy such a home why was his entire family living in a crowded run down apartment before he went to jail?
Lorenz calls Marie his "beloved wife" at the beginning of the film - this entire story is told in flashback - so Marie, knowing that Lorenz is really a weak wimpy guy who is capable of giving in to the worst criminal impulses when influenced by a stronger personality, married him also knowing she wasn't his first OR second choice?
What happens the next time he has a random encounter with a beautiful woman?
Before we even get to Lorenz writing down this story in a book and thus the flashback tale, there is an image first of an Albert Einstein look-alike walking in the country alone, then a Thomas Edison look-alike also walking in the country alone.
Maybe Murnau was trying to say "geniuses often walk alone, but that doesn't mean that someone who walks alone (Lorenz) is necessarily a genius"??I'll tell you one thing of which this film convinced me - Alfred Abel was a great actor.
I was completely convinced he was a tower of jello in this film, and in 1927's Metropolis I was completely convinced he was cold deliberate industrialist capable of sentencing his right hand man to the closest thing there was to hell on earth.
Catch this silent film if you can, even if you are not a big fan of the silents I think you'll find it fascinating..
"Phantom" is a German 2-hour film from almost 95 years ago directed by European silent film legend Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau/Plumpe.
The genre is certainly something else compared to Murnau's films usually being about horror or mystery, so this is maybe the only reason that makes this film worth a watch.
Sadly, the material is far from sufficient for a film that runs for 120 minutes.Apart from that, it is the usual: black-and-white, silent and could have needed a lot more intertitles.
Sadly, all these big names did not result in a great or even good film.
Only worth checking out for the most hardcore silent film fans.