F.W. Murnau (1889-1931)
F.W. Murnau is one of the most
influential and greatest of German film directors. His silent films are
the most accessible of the Germans of the Twenties largely because of
all the silent directors Murnau realised the image was the most
important thing in cinema. His travelling shots are extraordinary and
revealed what the camera was capable of. Sadly Murnau's career was
fairly short and he was tragically cut off in his prime but he made
three great films and one very good and influential one.
Murnau began his film career in 1919 but it is Nosferatu (1922) which is the first of his films to have a high critical reputation. It is a fine movie if slightly slow paced but a contemporary critic was right when he suggested that a cold wind had been blown through the celluloid. Max Schreck makes Bela Lugosi look like a common English gentleman, a sense of genuine foreboding is defintely here.
With The Last Laugh (1924) Murnau attempted to make a purely silent movie without the use of titles, there are very few in the film. It works very well but what sets the film apart is his travelling camera right from the opening sequence with camera panning down into the hotel. It is no wonder American studios were impressed. In some ways Faust (1926) is even better, one of the first films in which you feel you are getting transferred to another time and place.
Murnau's first American film Sunrise (1927) is his masterpiece though it lacks some of the depth of characterisation in The Last Laugh (1924) and Faust (1926) it takes the travelling camera to its extremes in that it almost seems to enter the minds of the characters through the backgrounds they wonder into. Sadly the film was probably too sophisticated for the American audiences of the time and Murnau only made a handful more films. His death from a car accident in 1931 robbed world cinema of one of its greatest artists.
Filmography
1919 THE BLUE BOY/ DER KNABE IN BLAU director
1919 SATANAS director
1920 THE HUNCHBACK AND THE DANCER/ DER BUCKLIGE UND DIE TANZERIN director
1920 THE JANUS HEAD/ DER JANUSKOPF director
1920 JOURNEY INTO THE NIGHT/ DER GANG IN DIE NACHT director
1920 LONGING/ SEHNSUCHT director
1921 THE HAUNTED CASTLE/ SCHLOSS VOGELOD director
1921 MARIZZA, CALLED THE SMUGGLERS' MADONNA/ MARIZZA, GENNANT DIE SCHMUGGLERMADONNA director
1922 BURNING SOIL/ DER BRENNENDE ACKER director
1922 NOSFERATU/ NOSFERATU—EINE SYMPHONIE DES GRAUENS/NOSFERATU THE VAMPIRE director
1922 PHANTOM director
1923 THE EXPULSION/ DIE AUSTREIBUNG—DIE MACHT DER ZWEITEN FRAU director
1923 THE GRAND DUKE'S FINANCES/ DIE FINANZEN DES GROSSHERZOGS director
1924 THE LAST LAUGH/ DER LETZTE MANN director
1925 TARTUFFE/ TARTUFF director
1926 FAUST director
1927 SUNRISE director
1928 FOUR DEVILS director
1930 CITY GIRL director, producer
1931 TABU director, story
Murnau began his film career in 1919 but it is Nosferatu (1922) which is the first of his films to have a high critical reputation. It is a fine movie if slightly slow paced but a contemporary critic was right when he suggested that a cold wind had been blown through the celluloid. Max Schreck makes Bela Lugosi look like a common English gentleman, a sense of genuine foreboding is defintely here.
With The Last Laugh (1924) Murnau attempted to make a purely silent movie without the use of titles, there are very few in the film. It works very well but what sets the film apart is his travelling camera right from the opening sequence with camera panning down into the hotel. It is no wonder American studios were impressed. In some ways Faust (1926) is even better, one of the first films in which you feel you are getting transferred to another time and place.
Murnau's first American film Sunrise (1927) is his masterpiece though it lacks some of the depth of characterisation in The Last Laugh (1924) and Faust (1926) it takes the travelling camera to its extremes in that it almost seems to enter the minds of the characters through the backgrounds they wonder into. Sadly the film was probably too sophisticated for the American audiences of the time and Murnau only made a handful more films. His death from a car accident in 1931 robbed world cinema of one of its greatest artists.
Filmography
1919 THE BLUE BOY/ DER KNABE IN BLAU director
1919 SATANAS director
1920 THE HUNCHBACK AND THE DANCER/ DER BUCKLIGE UND DIE TANZERIN director
1920 THE JANUS HEAD/ DER JANUSKOPF director
1920 JOURNEY INTO THE NIGHT/ DER GANG IN DIE NACHT director
1920 LONGING/ SEHNSUCHT director
1921 THE HAUNTED CASTLE/ SCHLOSS VOGELOD director
1921 MARIZZA, CALLED THE SMUGGLERS' MADONNA/ MARIZZA, GENNANT DIE SCHMUGGLERMADONNA director
1922 BURNING SOIL/ DER BRENNENDE ACKER director
1922 NOSFERATU/ NOSFERATU—EINE SYMPHONIE DES GRAUENS/NOSFERATU THE VAMPIRE director
1922 PHANTOM director
1923 THE EXPULSION/ DIE AUSTREIBUNG—DIE MACHT DER ZWEITEN FRAU director
1923 THE GRAND DUKE'S FINANCES/ DIE FINANZEN DES GROSSHERZOGS director
1924 THE LAST LAUGH/ DER LETZTE MANN director
1925 TARTUFFE/ TARTUFF director
1926 FAUST director
1927 SUNRISE director
1928 FOUR DEVILS director
1930 CITY GIRL director, producer
1931 TABU director, story
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Written content of the Golden Age of Hollywood Website (except where indicated) copyright Derek McLellan, 2007.