The Berlin premier of F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu occurred on this day in 1922. The film’s full title was Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. By today’s standards it isn’t overly scary, but it is beautifully haunting. The sense of foreboding and doom is established cinematically. The story advanced with the minimum of intertitles. The editing was very much symphonic in pace and rhythm. The premier had a full orchestra to accompany the moving images on the screen. It must have been a magical event.
To watch the film now you are able to see a vampire movie before it became kitsch, before layers of clichés established the genre. Before your eyes you get to see not only the invention of the vampire film, but also the invention of cinematic technique. It is a tour de force of motion picture style. If you love film, this should be on your list of movies to watch.
