NOSFERATU. EINE SYMPHONIE DES GRAUENS

The film was shot between July and October of 1921. The sea shots were done in the North Sea near the Danish border. The outside shots of cities were done in Rostock, Lubeck and Wismar. The inn in the Carpathian mountains was located in DoIny Kubin, Czechoslovakia, near the castle of Oravsky Z`mok, one of the best preserved of the region. The scenery was constructed by Albin Grau in the Jofa studios in Berlin. A part of the port of Galatz was reconstructed in the outside lots of Jofa. As soon as the shooting was finished in October, Prana Studio started a publicity hype that created a strong feeling of expectation among the public. Prana even got to the point of inviting the press to a presentation of the film, but only photographs of scenes were shown instead of the film itself in projection. The film premiered in the Berlin Zoo on March 4, 1922 at a gala night, where Richard Oswald and Ernst Lubitsch were among the audience. In addition to the projection of the film accompanied by the music of Hans Erdmann, there was the recitation of a prologue inspired from Goethe's Faust and a ballet of the national opera company. The party ended late night with the participation of a group of dressed up as Chinese. Béla Bal`zs was among the first to reveal the authentic originality of the film in an article published in when the film was released in Austria: "This film is entitled a 'symphony of horror'. In this case, the two terms, 'horror' and 'symphony' are use rightly… After Caligari, Nosferatu is the first film that does not try to strike terror thanks to ridiculously concocted torture instruments and deaths. It is the first film where we are not afraid of the dangerous possibilities of technology but of the unknown mysteries of nature... Effectively, the specifically filmic nature of this work lies in the fact that it does not act through the ideas contained in the story but through the atmosphere it creates through the images".

Director: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau.
Plot: dal romanzo di Bram Stoker.
Screenplay: Henrik Galeen.
Director of photography: Fritz Arno Wagner.
Scenografia e costumi: Albin Grau.
Music: Hans Herdmann.
Cast: Max Schreck (Conte Orlok), Alexander Granach (Knock), Gustav von Wangenheim (Hutter), Greta SchroederMatray (Ellen), Georg H. Schnell (Harding), Ruth Landshoff (Ruth), John Gottowt (professor Bulwer), Gustav Botz (professor Sievers), Max Nemetz (il capitano).
Production company: Prana Film GmbH.

CONSERVAZIONE E RESTAURO / CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION

Copia conservata presso la Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek di Berlino. Il lavoro di restauro è stato realizzato da Enno Patalas e da Gerhard Ulmann del Münchner Filmmuseum confrontando cinque copie provenienti dalla Spagna, dalla Francia, dalla Svezia e dalle due Germanie. Analogamente alla prassi dell'epoca di virare la copia in bianco e nero per rendere comprensibile lo svolgersi della trama (le scene notturne, gli interni, ecc.) la Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek ha realizzato una copia del film a colori.