available in an all new video edition from arrow entertainment ( $ 29 . 95 ) , with an introduction by david carradine , written & produced by wayne j .
keeley f .
w .
murnau 's career ended sadly and prematurely .
the german director of such classics as " sunrise " and " the last laugh " died in a car accident shortly after signing a deal to make american pictures at paramount .
murnau was reportedly a giant man , well over six feet , a towering figure probably incapable of anything but a grand entrance . which brings us to " nosferatu : a symphony of horror " : surely he felt a kinship with his title character , the looming vampire embodied by intimidating max schreck ; in one of the most indelible images in film history , silent or otherwise , schreck rises from his grave , gnarled hands outstretched , and he 's so big that part of his head is cropped by the top of the frame .
the plot of " nosferatu . . .
" is lifted -- unauthorized -- from bram stoker 's " dracula " .
the british hutter is an eager real estate man assigned to visit and discuss future living arrangements with count orlock of transylvania .
he leaves behind girlfriend emily , only to discover orlock 's secret -- he 's a bloodsucker -- and struggle to return to england before the nosferatu reaches his lady love .
in addition to schreck 's performance , the cinematography and effects are outstanding .
arrow video 's digitally remastered version of the classic is something of a mixed - coffin .
the cover art features a red - tinted , hairy , goateed vampire staring straight at you , his fanged mouth agape , while the bodies of two sexy , writhing women entice you below .
trouble is , murnau 's monster is pale - faced , bald , pointy - eared , and non - goateed , and there is n't a single sexy , writhing woman to be found in his movie .
this sort of misleading packaging makes little sense when one recalls the countless number of ghouslish scenes in the film from which cool cover art could have been extracted .
additionally , notifying the viewer that this is in fact murnau 's film seems like afterthought since his name and the genuine title are written in small print below our goateed vampire .
that said , a good mastering job has been performed on the film itself .
the original elements are not in the best condition -- non - studio silents were unlucky in their preservation-- so we 're still dealing with a slightly washed out , scratched , jittering image .
but at least the day and night scenes are tinted sepia and blue , respectively , especially helpful to an audience who may question nosferatu 's waltzing around during what seems like sunlight ( it took a lot of light to expose stock in the twenties ) .
the title cards have been redone , and they are legible , accurate , and digitally altered to flicker -- a very nice touch .
( even the opening copyright warning flickers ! )
the score has been replaced by music from type o negative , a hard - rock group , arguably gothic , and their songs underscore the film nicely--
certainly the coolest video a band can ask for .
when our hero , hutter , first steps onto the doomed carriage to count orlock 's castle
, we hear a well - timed " now you 're dead ! " from lead singer peter steele .
david carradine makes an appropriately vampiric host ; he fiddles with a blade and cane while introducing the film .
after the feature , which runs about 63 minutes , is included a new music video from type o negative , the black - and - white fang - fest " black no . 1
" .
of course , " nosferatu : a symphony of horror " is the main attraction , and while my latest viewing raised questions ( why is the woman called emily in the title cards but
" mina " --as bram stoker called her -- in hutter 's letters ? , for instance ) , it made me realize how much this movie has inspired and been stolen from .
coppola 's 1992 " bram stoker 's dracula " owes a great stylistic debt to murnau 's masterpiece , but the one thing it could n't thieve was the original 's abstract charms .
this latest incarnation from arrow will probably-
-like the rescored " metropolis " a few years back -- turn a silent film into more palpable entertainment for the latest generation of film freaks .
Output: P