Nosferatu the Vampyre
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| Nosferatu the Vampyre | |
|---|---|
 A promotional film poster for Nosferatu The Vampyre |
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| Directed by | Werner Herzog |
| Produced by | Michael Gruskoff Werner Herzog Walter Saxer Daniel Toscan du Plantier |
| Written by | Werner Herzog Bram Stoker (novel) |
| Starring | Klaus Kinski Isabelle Adjani Bruno Ganz |
| Music by | Popol Vuh |
| Cinematography | Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein |
| Editing by | Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | October 5, 1979 |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Country |  West Germany France |
| Language | German English |
| Budget | 2.5 million DEM |
| Followed by | Nosferatu in Venice |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Nosferatu the Vampyre (German: Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, English translation: Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night) is a 1979 West German horror film, set primarily in 19th Century Wismar, Germany and Transylvania, Romania. Written and directed by Werner Herzog, Nosferatu the Vampyre stars Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula, Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker and Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker. The film also features French artist-writer Roland Topor as Renfield. Although the production is technically an adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, the film was actually conceived as a stylistic remake of the 1922 German Dracula adaptation, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens.
Herzog's production of Nosferatu the Vampyre was warmly received by critics and filmgoers alike, enjoying a comfortable degree of commercial success.[1] The film also marks the second of five legendary collaborations between director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski,[2] immediately followed by 1979's Woyzeck.
An almost completely unrelated sequel, Nosferatu in Venice, was released in 1988 by director Augusto Caminito, with only Klaus Kinski returning to reprise his loosely connected role.
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[edit] Plot
Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) is an estate agent in Wismar, Germany. His boss, Renfield (Roland Topor), informs him that a nobleman named Count Dracula wishes to buy a property in Wismar, and assigns Harker to visit the count and complete the lucrative deal. Leaving his young wife, Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) behind in Wismar, Harker travels for four weeks to Transylvania, Romania, to the castle of Count Dracula. He brings with him the deeds and documents needed to sell the house to the Count.
On his journey, Jonathan stops a village, where locals warn him of the castle's 'evil', pleading for him to stay clear of the accursed castle, providing him with details of vampirism. But Harker ignores the villagers' pleas as wild superstition, and continues his journey unassisted. Harker arrives at Dracula's castle, where he meets the Count (Klaus Kinski). The mysterious nobleman is a strange, ancient, almost rodent-like man, with large ears, pale skin, sharp teeth and long fingernails. However, Dracula is very accommodating, and offers Jonathan his full hospitality.
The lonely Count is enchanted by a small portrait of Jonathan's wife, Lucy, and immediately agrees to purchase the Wismar property, especially with the knowledge that he and Lucy would become neighbours. As Jonathan's visit progresses, he is haunted at night by a number of dream-like encounters with the vampiric Count. Simultaneously, in Wismar, Lucy is tormented by night terrors, plagued by images of impending doom. Additionally, Renfield is committed to an asylum after biting a cow, apparently having lapsed into a psychosis.
To Harker's horror, he finds the Count asleep in a coffin, confirming for him that Dracula is indeed a vampire. At night, Dracula leaves for Wismar, taking with him a number of coffins, filled with the cursed earth that he needs for his vampiric rest. Harker finds that he is locked in the castle, and attempts to escape from the through a window with a makeshift rope. The rope, fashioned from bedsheets, is not long enough, and Jonathan falls, severely injuring himself. He awakes in a hosptial, raving about 'black coffins' to doctors, who then assume that the sickness is affecting his mind.
Meanwhile, Dracula and his coffins travel to Wismar by boat. The crew systematically die or disappear at the hand of the vampire, but with the belief that they are afflicted with plague. The ghost ship arrives at Wismar with its mysterious cargo, where doctors - including Van Helsing (Walter Ladengast) - investigate the strange fate of the ship. They discover a log that mentions their perceived affliction with plague. In turn, Wismar is flooded with rats from the ship. Dracula arrives in Wismar with his coffins, and death spreads rapidly throughout the town.
When Jonathan is finally transported home, he is desperately ill, and does not appear to recognise his wife, Lucy. Lucy later has an encounter with the lonely Count Dracula. Weary and unable to die, he demands some of the love that she gave so freely to Jonathan. Much to Dracula's dismay, she refuses, and he leaves her room with disgust.
Now aware that something other than plague is responsible for the death that has beset her once-peaceful town, Lucy desparately tries to convince the town people, but they are skeptical and uninterested. She finds that she can vanquish Dracula's evil by distracting him at dawn, but at the expense of her own life. She lures the Count to her bedroom, where he proceeds to drink her blood.
In accordance with the mythology, Lucy's beauty and purity distract Dracula from the call of the cockrel, and he is killed by the first light of the day. Van Helsing arrives to discover Lucy, dead but victorious. He then finishes the Count off with a stake through the heart. In a final, chilling twist, Jonathan Harker awakes from his sickness, a vampire. He is last seen travelling away on horseback, enigmatically stating that he has much to do.
[edit] Deviations from the novel
This list is not exhaustive, but intended to convey a sense of the differences between the film and the novel:
- The setting is shifted to circa 1838 Wismar.
- Mina Harker becomes Lucy Harker.
- The characters of Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris are omitted.
- Renfield is Harker's employer.
- Dracula brings with him the plague and ravages the city.
- Dracula makes Jonathan Harker a vampire.
- Dracula does not shapeshift.
- Much is made of a kind of psychic connection between Lucy and Harker/Dracula.
- Dracula must sleep by day.
- Dracula is killed by Lucy; she lures him to feed upon her until sunrise, which is fatal to him.
- Van Helsing is arrested at the end, for having driven a stake through (the already deceased) Dracula's heart.
[edit] Background/Production
[edit] Remake
While Nosferatu the Vampyre's basic story is derived from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, director Werner Herzog made the 1979 film primarily as an homage remake of F. W. Murnau's seminal 1922 silent film, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, which differs somewhat from Stoker's original work. The makers of the 1922 film could not obtain the rights for a film adaptation of Dracula, so they changed a number of minor details and character names in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid copyright infringement on the intellectual property owned (at the time) by Stoker's widow. A lawsuit was filed, resulting in an order for the destruction of all prints of the film. Fortunately, some prints survived, and were restored after Florence Stoker had died and the copyright had expired.[3]
Herzog considers Murnau's Nosferatu to be the greatest film ever to come out of Germany,[4] and was keen to make his own version of the film, with the versatile Klaus Kinski in the leading role. In 1979, at a time when the copyright for Dracula had entered the public domain, Herzog proceeded with his updated version of the classic German film, which could now include the original character names. Strangely, however, Jonathan Harker's wife was named 'Lucy Harker', even though her name was Mina in the original novel, and a woman named 'Lucy' was a friend of Mina's. In Herzog's production, the reverse is true.
[edit] Production
Nosferatu the Vampyre was co-produced by Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, Gaumont and ZDF. As was common for German films during the 1970s, Nosferatu the Vampyre was filmed on a minimal budget, and with a crew of just 16 people. Herzog could not film in Bremen, where the original Murnau film was shot, so he relocated production to Delft, the Netherlands.[1] Parts of the film were shot in nearby Schiedam, after Delft authorities refused to allow Herzog to release 11,000 rats for a scene in the film.[4] Dracula's home is represented by locations in the Czech Republic.
At the request of distributor 20th Century Fox, Herzog produced two versions of the movie simultaneously, to appeal to western audiences. Scenes with dialogue were filmed twice, in German and in English, meaning that the actor's own voices (as opposed to dubbed dialogue by voice actors) could be included in the English version of the film. However, many consider the performances in the German language version to be superior,[5] as Kinski and Ganz could act more confidently in their native language.
Music for the film was performed by the German group Popol Vuh, who have collaborated with Herzog on numerous projects.
[edit] Cast
- Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula
- Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker
- Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker
- Roland Topor as Renfield
- Walter Ladengast as Dr. Van Helsing
- Dan van Husen as Warden
- Jan Groth as Harbormaster
- Carsten Bodinus as Schrader
- Martje Grohmann as Mina
- Rijk de Gooyer as Town official
- Clemens Scheitz as Clerk
- Lo van Hensbergen
- John Leddy as Coachman
- Margiet van Hartingsveld
- Tim Beekman as Coffinbearer
[edit] Reception
The film was released as Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht in the German language edition and Nosferatu the Vampyre in English language edition. It was a critical success, receiving a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 100%. It is considered by many to be a faithful homage to Murnau's original film, signficantly updating the original material, and avoiding the danger of being overly derivative.[6]
Herzog's production maintained an element of horror, with numerous deaths and a grim outlook, but it features a more expanded plot than many Dracula productions, with a greater emphasis on emotion and the vampire's tragic loneliness.[7] Graf Orlok (now reverted to Count Dracula) is still a ghastly figure, but he was given a greater sense of pathos; weary, unloved, and doomed to immortality.
Klaus Kinski's Dracula makeup, with black costume, bald head, rat-like teeth and long fingernails, is a suitable imitation of Max Schreck's makeup in the 1922 original. A number of shots in the film are faithful recreations of iconic shots from Murnau's original film, some almost perfectly identical to their black and white counterparts, but this was done as homage rather than imitation.[8]
[edit] Trivia
- The mummies at the beginning of the movie are genuine, and can be found at the Guanajuato Mummy Museum in Mexico.
- Just five days after the completion of Nosferatu, Herzog and Kinski began work on Woyzeck with the same production crew.
- A different recording of "Zinzkaro", the Georgian folk song performed on the film's soundtrack by the Vocal Ensemble Gordela, was used by Kate Bush in the song "Hello Earth" on her 1985 album Hounds of Love.
- A number of white rats were painted grey for inclusion in the film.
- During the shipment to Delft, the rat population of 11,000 exploded to 30,000. After the rat scene was filmed, the mayor of Delft announced to the citizens that any rats brought in would garner the rat-catcher a reward of 5 gulden (2 euros). For three weeks, the children of Delft skipped school to hunt down the valuable rats.
- At the end of the SpongeBob Squarepants episode "Graveyard Shift", SpongeBob and Squidward discover that Nosferatu has been the one turning the lights on and off.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b An Adaptation With Fangs by Garrett Chaffin-Quiray. Kinoeye. Retrieved on January 30, 2007.
- ^ Frames 'n' friends by Amulya Nagaraj. The Hindu. Retrieved on January 30, 2007.
- ^ Nosferatu. Silent Movie Monsters. Retrieved on January 30, 2007.
- ^ a b Fruits of Anger - Werner Herzog on Nosferatu. hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved on January 30, 2007.
- ^ Nosferatu. horrordvds.com. Retrieved on January 30, 2007.
- ^ Nosferatu the Vampyre by John J. Puccio. dvdtown.com. Retrieved on January 30, 2007.
- ^ Nosferatu The Vampyre by David Keyes. cinemaphile.org. Retrieved on January 30, 2007.
- ^ Nosferatu: Phantom Der Nacht by Walter Chaw. filmfreakcentral.com. Retrieved on January 30, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht at the Internet Movie Database
- New York Review essay on Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
- Nosferatu the Vampyre at Rotten Tomatoes
| Films directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski |
|---|
| Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) • Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) • Woyzeck (1979) • Fitzcarraldo (1982) • Cobra Verde (1987) Retrospective: My Best Fiend (1999) |
Herakles (1962) Game in The Sand (1964) • Last Words (1967) • The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz (1967) • Signs of Life (1968) • The Flying Doctors of East Africa (1969) • Precautions Against Fanatics (1969) • Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970) • Handicapped Future (1971) • Land of Silence and Darkness (1971) • Fata Morgana (1971) • Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) • The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974) • The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) • Heart of Glass (1976) • No One Will Play with Me (1976) • How much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (1976) • Stroszek (1977) • La Soufrière (1977) • Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) • Woyzeck (1979) • Huie's Sermon (1980) • God's Angry Man (1980) • Glaube und Währung (1980) • Fitzcarraldo (1982) • Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984) • The Dark Glow of the Mountains (1984) • Where the Green Ants Dream (1984) • Cobra Verde (1987) • The French as seen by... (1988) • Wodaabe - Herdsmen of the Sun (1989) • Film Lesson 1-4 (1990) • Echoes From a Somber Empire (1990) • Jag Mandir (1991) • Scream of Stone (1991) • Lessons of Darkness (1992) • Bells from the Deep (1993) • The Transformation of the World Into Music (1994) • Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices (1995) • Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997) • The Lord and the Laden (1999) • My Best Fiend (1999) • Wings of Hope (2000) • Invincible (2001) • Pilgrimage (2001) • Ten Minutes Older (2002) • Wheel of Time (2003) • The White Diamond (2004) • Grizzly Man (2005) • The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) • Rescue Dawn (2006)
