Nosferatu (1922)

[Susan Foreman]

A Hollywood legends thoughts on modern vampire films

Date unknown

[gag]

Don't know if this has been posted before but here a interesting insight into the film Nosferatu

?Nosferatu? Couldn?t Get The Rights To ?Dracula,? So They Just Changed The Names And Made The Movie Anyway (And Got Sued)

F.W. Murnau?s 1922 silent movie Nosferatu is one of the most influential horror movies ever made and a pioneer of German Expressionism, but it was almost destroyed before its legacy began. Producer Albin Grau wanted to make a movie based on Bram Stoker?s 1897 novel Dracula, but the author?s widow refused him the rights to the story. He decided to do it anyway, changing names and locations, most notably replacing Count Dracula with Count Orlok. Played by Max Schrek, the Count is a hideous monster. Fangs jut from the front of his mouth like rodent teeth, his nails are gnarled and bestial, and his bare skull, which seems abnormally large, is emphasized with pointed ears and a chalk-white cast. Names and physical characteristics aside, the movie adheres closely to Stoker?s novel. Grau?s production company admitted as much in its program for the movie?s German premiere, saying it was ?freely adapted? from Dracula. This revelation did not go down well with Stoker?s widow and nearly cost the movie its continued existence.
Florence Stoker had inherited the rights to Dracula upon her husband?s death and was living almost solely off its profits. When she discovered the story had been blatantly (and admittedly) plagiarized, she brought a lawsuit against Grau. After years of legal fights, she won the rights to the film and $5,000 in damages, but was stymied by appeals and burgeoning legal fees. She finally gave up on the financial incentive and requested instead that every last copy of the film be burned. The judge hearing the case seemed to think this was a reasonable compromise, and the systematic destruction of a cinematic masterpiece began. Luckily for future filmmakers and audiences, a few copies survived. Florence Stoker eventually got the money she was hoping for by selling the rights to Universal Pictures, but although Bela Lugosi?s seductive Count Dracula became the basis for future cinematic vampires, Schreck?s brutish Count Orlok endures. According to one critic writing nearly a century after the film?s release, ?There is scarcely a horror film that exists that doesn?t seem impacted by Nosferatu in some way.? It may have been the result of a brazen breach of copyright law, but the movie has more than made up for its illicit origins.