Screamer Films

Salem’s Lot (1979)

There is no doubt that Friedrich Willhelm Murnau's Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grauens (Symphony of Horror) is a landmark piece of cinema, both the expressionist film and the unique treatment of the vampire as plague. Few people saw this monumental film before 1960. Although scheduled for destruction by the widow of Bram Stoker, the film managed to survive, appear in the strangest places.

Nosferatu debuted at the Marble Hall of the Berlin Zoological Gardens in 1922. The first and last film was the product of a small art collective called Prana Films – the brainchild of artist Albin Grau (later Nosferatu's production designer). One month Florence Stoker later caught wind, and they started the legal machine rolling. Her only income at this point is the book her deceased husband's Dracula, and she would not let some German production company steal her meal ticket. During the 1920s, intellectual property rights were a bit dodgy, so Florence paid a pound to the British Association Incorporated Authors of pool to help defend their property. Never forget that the society would also pick up the tab for the potentially huge legal bills.

Florence seemed unaware that half vampire film, this is called Drakula, was produced by a Hungarian company in 1921. Although the title harkens back to the novel by Bram Stoker, The similarity ends there. This film, now lost save for some pictures, was more concerned with eye kerving straight from vampirism. Nosferatu to the other side has much of its plot of Stoker's Dracula, only the names change.

The film continued to be exhibited in Germany and Budapest up to 1925, although Prana was attacked and harassed by creditors by Florence Stoker. They tried to settle with society, with a cut of the film to take them to the Dracula title used in England and America. Florence would not stop.

She did not want to Prana exhibition of the film to stop, she wanted the fire – all prints and negatives of the film destroyed. And she got her way. In Florence in 1925 won her case and order the destruction continued. Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grauens disappeared in the air as Count Orlock, the vampire in the film is exposed to the rays of the morning.

Nosferatu not stay dead. Like any good horror movie, the villain himself and revived on board the battle. A print of the movie in 1929, playing for audiences in New York and Detroit. But Dracula eminent scholar, David J. Skal, writes that the film "taken seriously" and that most of the audience loved it "a boring picture." The print was bought by Universal to see what was already done in terms of a vampire movie. The film was studied by all key creative personnel leads to the Universal production of Dracula in 1931.

The undead film continued to rise from the grave over the years. An abridged version was broadcast on television in the 1960s as part of Silents Start, and then released Entertainment by films under the title Terror of Dracula, and then again by Blackhawk Films under the name Dracula. Blackhawk brought the original version of the collector market entitled Nosferatu the Vampire. A full copy of the film survived Florence Stoker's death warrant and was restored and displayed in Berlin's Film Festival in 1984.

Despite its influence on the making of the 1931 Dracula, Nosferatu film has few offspring. The theme of the vampire as a whipping plague is taken seriously by two films: the 1979 remake of Werner Herzog, Nosferatu: The Vampyre, and the 1979 miniseries of Salem's Lot, directed by Tobe Hooper. Maybe if the original Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grauens had received regular release, it would not. It remains to be seen Nosferatu will disappear again when the daylight, or if this rare movie will rise in a new form.

For more information about the making of the original Dracula, Check out David Skal's book Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from novel to stage to screen. To see how the vampire films have changed from Dracula to Underworld, pick up a copy of my book title = "The Changing Vampire of Film and Television"> Changing Vampire of Film and Television. Also Visit href = "http://www.timkanebooks.com" target = "_blank"> www.timkanebooks.com vampire for more articles and fiction.

About the Author:

Tim Kane grew up watching monster movies—vampires, werewolves, and the giant creatures from Toho. He has always been attracted to the dread they inspire, all the way back to the boogeyman hiding in his closet or under the bed. This fascination endured into adulthood in the form of avid movie consumption.

His writing credits include the book, The Changing Vampire of Film and Television, published through McFarland Press. This is a critical study of vampires on screen from the 30s to present day. He has published articles and stories for Verbatim, Far Sector SFHH, and Amazon Shorts. Additionally, he won the 2007 Graversen Award, from the Garden State Horror Writers, and third place in the 2007 Bards and Sages Annual Writing Contest.
Visit www.timkanebooks.com for more vampire and horror fiction.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Nosferatu: the Film That Wouldn’t Die, a History of the Vampire Film From Its Birth to the Present Day

Salem’s Lot (1979) Part 1

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