#Galeen

[weirdlookindog]

Werner Krauss in Der Student von Prag (1926)

[celebratetheclassics]

The Student of Prague (Henrik Galeen, 1926)

[mia-golgotha]

Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht

Werner Herzog | 1979

[brigittehelm]

Brigitte Helm and friend in Uhu magazine, 1927/28, for Alraune (Henrik Galeen, 1928)

[thewarmestplacetohide]

Dread by the Decade: Der Student von Prag

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★★★

Plot: A university student makes a dark deal in exchange for wealth.

Review: Though interesting and more technically advanced than its predecessor, its characterization and love story pale in comparison.

Englist Title: The Student of Prague Remake of: Der Student von Prag (1913) Year: 1926 Genre: Supernatural Horror, Occult, Gothic Country: Germany Language: Silent Runtime: 1 hour 21 minutes

Director: Henrik Galeen Writers: Henrik Galeen, Hanns Heinz Ewers Cinematographer: Günther Krampf, Erich Nitzschmann Cast: Conrad Veidt, Werner Krauss, Agnes Esterhazy, Elizza La Porta

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Story: 2.5/5 - A classic morality tale that is rather lacking in heart.

Performances: 3.5/5 - Veidt does well as a man corrupted by temptation, but he lacks his predecessor's innocence and likability. Krauss is not as entertaining as Scapinelli.

Cinematography: 3.5/5 - Some creative framing. Mostly just competent.

Editing: 2.5/5 - Ranges from sufficient to messy, with some muddled shot orders and unnecessary cuts.

Music: 2.5/5

Effects: 4.5/5 - Like its predecessor, its doppelgänger effect is near seamless.

Sets: 3/5 - Largely solid, though some sets feel empty.

Costumes & Make-Up: 3/5

[fibula-rasa]

Favorite New-to-Me Films

April 2023

(in order of the image gallery above)

Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press / Dorian Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse (1984) [letterboxd | imdb]

The Heroic Trio / 東方三俠 (1993) [letterboxd | imdb]

Lokis, a Manuscript of Professor Wittembach / Lokis: Rękopis profesora Wittembacha (1970) [letterboxd | imdb]

California or Bust (1923) [letterboxd | imdb]

Crusher Joe / クラッシャージョウ (1983) [letterboxd | imdb]

Smith’s Baby (1926) [letterboxd | imdb]

Summer Night with Greek Profile, Almond Eyes and Scent of Basil / Notte d'estate con profilo greco, occhi a mandorla e odore di basilico (1986) [letterboxd | imdb]

A Daughter of Destiny / Alraune (1928) [letterboxd | imdb]

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Honorable Mention:

In the Mirror of Maya Deren / Im Spiegel der Maya Deren (2002) [letterboxd | imdb]

From Death to Life (1911) [letterboxd | imdb]

Kings and Desperate Men (1981) [letterboxd | imdb]

[movie-titlecards]

Nosferatu (1922)

My rating: 6/10

Best illegal adaptation of Dracula made in Germany I've ever seen.

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror

Apart from its seminal influence on horror film imagery, F.W. Munau’s NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF TERROR (1922, YouTube, Tubi) is a magnificent film in its own right. Many might not consider it frightening by modern standards — there are no jump scares, though that’s probably a good thing — but it is filled with an almost overwhelming sense of dread. And I would gladly argue the scenes aboard the ship carrying the vampire in his coffin are among the most terrifying in film history. Working from Henrik Galeen’s unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” Murnau creates a fascinating interplay of light and shadow, dominant culture and the other, that queers the very fabric of society.

Count Orlok (Max Schreck), the vampire who buys a home in Wisborg through real estate agent Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) so he can feed on the blood of its citizens while the rats accompanying him spread plague, is the ultimate other. He encompasses all that is outside mainstream society. Although there is evidence that Murnau was far from anti-Semitic (the love of his life was a Jewish poet killed in World War I), Schreck’s makeup echoes anti-Semitic stereotypes while the character’s association with disease and his attraction to wife, Ellen (Greta Schroder), reflect anti-Semitic tropes. Much of that is a holdover from Stoker’s novel, which is rife with bigotry aimed at both Jews and Romany. Orlok is otherized in additional ways. He’s clearly pansexual, as drawn to Hutter as he is to Ellen. And he’s an occultist. He and Hutter’s’s boss, Knock (Alexander Granach), correspond in Enochian, a 16th-century language developed by British alchemists. Yet he’s also linked with Hutter. Where the young man brings his wife flowers, which will eventually die (she complains that he killed them by picking them), Orlok brings death itself. That doubling of leading man and monster suggests that Orlok represents all the dominant culture represses: sexuality, a rebellion against human limitations and the rejection of the strictures of state-sanctioned Christianity. Whatever horrors Orlok brings to Wisborg are already there within it.

Formally, the film is a wonder. The cut versions circulated by early rights holders and later companies taking advantage of its public domain status rob it of a great deal of its power. Once Hutter is in Transylvania, Murnau cuts between his torment in Orlok’s castle and his wife’s waiting for him at home. As he and Orlok start their twin voyages to Wisborg, Murnau cuts among several plot strands — Orlok on the ship, Hutter escaping the castle and heading home, Ellen waiting and Knock revealing his connection to Orlock as he succumbs to madness (he becomes the Renfield character). That crosscutting continues to the end, with Knock’s escape from the asylum playing at the same time as the attempts to end Orlok’s reign of terror. Those plot threads give the film a novelistic richness. They’re almost musical in nature, rendering the film a true symphony of terror.

[celluloidchronicles]

Nosferatu

🇩🇪 | Mar 15, 1922

directed by F. W. Murnau

novel by Bram Stoker

screenplay by Henrik Galeen

produced by Prana-Film GmbH and Jofa-Atelier Berlin Johannisthal

starring Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder, Georg H. Schnell, Ruth Landshoff

1h35 | Horror

𐄂 not watched

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German Movies | director F. W. Murnau | writer Bram Stoker | writer Henrik Galeen | studio Prana-Film GmbH | studio Jofa-Atelier Berlin Johannisthal | actor Max Schreck | actor Gustav von Wangenheim | actress Greta Schröder | actor Georg H. Schnell | actress Ruth Landshoff | Books Based Movies

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Horror

Links

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[weirdlookindog]

Alraune (1928) - Swedish poster

AKA Daughter of Destiny

[celebratetheclassics]

The Student of Prague (Henrik Galeen, 1926)

[technicolorfamiliar]

Der Student von Prag (The Student of Prague) Dir. Henrik Galeen 1926

So I'm going back and rewatching a handful of the titles from the initial 50+ film journey into Conrad Veidt's filmography. Some I'm revisiting because they made such an indelible impression on me the first time, others because I want to give them a second chance. The Student of Prague was among the first films on what wound up being a year-long deep dive into Connie's work and history. I loved it then, but even more so now.

I want to live inside this movie. Galeen and his crew made a hell of a picture, made all the more special by Conrad Veidt doing the literal most.

There is a bewitching quality to The Student of Prague, from Conrad Veidt's dual performances as both Balduin and his Double to the atmospheric cinematography and special effects. It's a dreamy film that really sets itself apart as a dark and lovely supernatural period piece.

Despite some very minor issues, over all it's genuinely pretty perfect. It's one of those films that, even with its faults, sweeps me effortlessly into the gothically Romantic world of the story.

Maybe the film could have benefited from tighter editing, cutting some of the longer sequences and unnecessary shots. But an argument could also be made that these longer scenes aid the spell the film is casting over its audience, the way Sciapinelli weaves his spell on the hilltop to draw Balduin and Margrit together.

The cinematography by Günther Krampf and Erich Nitzschmann is really something special. Shadow was a big motif and standard tool filmmakers used back then, especially those working in the Expressionist style, but for 'Student, maybe because of the early 19th century setting and the proximity of the natural world (both real and fabricated), the use of shadow here makes the film feel more like a fairy tale illustrated by Arthur Rackham than the Uncanny Art Deco of classic German Expressionism. The digital restoration really highlights how successfully they worked with value and contrast to create such a visually rich film.

And it fucken WIMDY. The use of wind throughout the film is really effective -- Sciapinelli's coat billowing out behind him on the hilltop, the rustling foliage behind Balduin after the duel, dead leaves blown into the Countess's bedroom, and the gales that follow Balduin through the city in the film's final act. Whether used on a studio set or in location shots, wind here feels not only atmospheric but also supernatural; it's Sciapinelli's invisible presence when he's not even in the shot.

Even the relatively minimalist score works. It's mostly piano supplemented occasionally by one or two other instruments, a flute or an accordion, and there are only a handful of repeated themes. Apparently the music that's in the most recent restoration was composed only a few years ago by Stephen Horne, so it's really anyone's guess what the original soundtrack by Willy Schmidt-Gentner was like. Regardless, the new music definitely feels appropriate not only to the period the film was made but also the overall Vibes.

On my first watch about a year ago, I was struck by the special effects used in this film. For the time it was made, the effects had to be incredibly impressive. The transitions where the Double appears and disappears in a ghostly fashion are fun, but there's an especially cool shot where he appears to walk through an iron gate, and a really great close up dolly shot towards the end of the film where the Double appears to float toward the back of the room. And I don't know if this was something they touched up in post-production or if the lighting on set was chef's kiss perfect, but Connie's eyes literally glow. There are shots where his eyes, especially as the Double, are like two beacons set in the shadows.

The other performances… they're fine. I mean, everyone who wasn't playing Balduin has to have known it wasn't their movie. Except for Werner Krauss as Sciapinelli who looks like if Alfred Molina was sent back to the 1920s and did as much cocaine as he could find. He's so creature coded that I genuinely don't know what to make of his performance. Everyone else, including Connie, is kind of doing a riff on realism to varying degrees of exaggeration but still relatively tame for the era (compare the acting in 'Student to The Hands of Orlac just two years earlier). But I guess Werner Krauss didn't get the memo, or because Sciapinelli is a supernatural character it's ok for him to be a little out there. He does some really delightfully creepy and borderline upsetting stuff especially in the scene when he makes the deal with Balduin. It's all very weirdly sexual and I hate it. Otherwise, there's unfortunately very little of note in the other performances. Elizza La Porta as the flower girl does the pathetic-cute thing well, but Agnes Esterhazy's Margrit is sadly pretty forgettable.

But the Balduin of it all. This is truly a groundbreaking role for Conrad Veidt at this time in his career. I feel like this film alone slingshot him into his meatier and more interesting roles in the late 1920s. Sure, Connie was doing some interesting and versatile stuff around this time (Ingmarsarvet and Carlos & Elisabeth come to mind), but this just hits different. Everything kind of lines up perfectly for him as this character, and the story is that unique Poe-inspired blend of the uncanny and capital R Romance that really suits him. Because of the nature of the story itself, Connie's free to play big when it works for the character, but also works in these incredibly vulnerable and subtle moments as well. I don't know if this is thanks to the director being hands-on with Connie or just letting him do his thing. Whatever the case, it works.

It's maybe worth mentioning Connie was 33 when they shot this. I don’t know how old Balduin's supposed to be, but he's probably at least ten years younger than Connie was at the time. And I buy it, I buy that Balduin is a young man, foolish and naïve in the way only someone that young could be. His youthfulness isn't just suggested in the character's decisions but also in his physicality. When we first meet Balduin, Connie's doing this sulky, pouty, petulant thing that I love for him. In the first act, he's clearly beloved by his fellow-students and by the flower girl, and he easily slips out of his misery about his money problems into a more lighthearted mood. He's moody one moment and playful the next, joining in a low-stakes fencing match for fun when just moments before he was brooding alone full Morrissey style in the garden. This initial lightness about the character sets him up for his eventual inevitable hard fall into shame and helplessness.

I'm afraid to admit it took me a whole 24 hours after watching this a second time to realize that Balduin is kind of a dick. But Connie's performance is so good and so empathetic that I didn't notice right away. He himself is stunningly, Byronically beautiful in this film. He's like a painting of a tragic, Romantic hero come to life, I can’t even handle it. And, my god, the yearning! It's palpable. In the wrong hands, I would probably hate this character. I haven't seen Wegener's or Walbrook's versions, but I can't imagine they're as charismatic as Connie is in the role.

But what I love even more than Connie as Balduin is him as the Double. I am FASCINATED by this performance and this character. I have SO MANY QUESTIONS. The way he consolidates his movements so that he practically glides through the frame, the way he keeps this performance distinct by slowing everything down and keeping a lot of the Double's anguish internal… it's so good.

I think we only see the Double four times before the last act of the film: first when he steps out of the mirror; much later outside the Countess's party; in the graveyard; and after he kills the Baron in the woods. Initially, when the reflection steps out of the mirror after Balduin signs Sciapinelli's contract, the Double seems pretty soulless. His dead-eyed, mask-like expression as he stalks out of the room makes it seem like he's just going to be a mindless puppet Sciapinelli can use to torment Balduin. And certainly in their first two encounters, Balduin's mirror image slinks out of the shadows as a reminder of his Faustian bargain but also as something of a stand in for his conscience. The first two times we see the Double out in the world are when Balduin is at his happiest, in his most romantic moments with Margrit, who is not only completely out of Balduin's league but also promised to someone else (even if that some one else is her cousin...). Nothing about the Double's presence in these scenes suggests that he's anything more than a phantom, a specter to haunt the protagonist from a distance.

But then, something changes. The Double isn't just a ghost that only Balduin can see; he's just as real as his counterpart, and his actions have consequences. Balduin promises Margrit's father, the Count, to spare her cousin-fiancée in a duel the Baron knows he cannot win -- Balduin is, after all, the best swordsman in Prague. They even say the fight is supposed to be with heavy sabers, which sound like they could really mess you up. But when dueling day arrives, Balduin is delayed by the wheels inexplicably coming off his carriage. He races through the countryside on foot in order to make his appointment, but it's too late. He stops dead in his tracks, frozen in fear, as the Double appears, approaching him slowly from the tree line. When the Double reaches him, Balduin sees the bloody sword and immediately recoils, fearing the worst. But what's most interesting about this scene is that, when the Double finally looks up, his expression is not that of a mindless zombie. When he looks up, the Double looks horrified. Realization slowly rises in his face, and he turns to Balduin with this look of abject horror and helplessness while Balduin cowers in fright. And as the Double turns to walk out of the clearing, he hangs is head in pained resignation and I AM OBSESSED. There are no intertitles in this sequence, but the anguished look he gives Balduin says, "Do you see now? This, and worse than this, is going to keep happening." Connie's performance in this scene suggests the Double may not be able to control his actions but he certainly has feelings about them. So does this mean the Double is in fact Balduin's soul? His goodness? His innocence? I NEED TO KNOW MORE.

The Double is also consistently dressed in the student costume Balduin wears at the beginning of the film. After Sciapinelli gives Balduin the money, Balduin buys a whole new wardrobe (honestly, who wouldn't?). But the mirror version of Balduin doesn't change to reflect Balduin as he is in the present; the Double wears the clothes of a student -- the cap, the velveteen jacket -- because he represents who Balduin was. He's the boy, the youth uncorrupted by excessive wealth and privilege, now made to do horrible things because Balduin so easily handed him over to Sciapinelli when they made their deal. UGH.

The final time Balduin sees his Double, his mirror self hounds him with measured steps, pushing him away from the fragile security of wealth and opulence back to his abandoned student flat. And the expression on the Double's face now is grimly accusatory, it's deeply solemn disappointment, it's a final judgment before an inevitable end. There's sorrow and resentment in the Double's eyes, but kept restrained and subtle, gradually building in wordless intensity until Balduin must finally face himself, literally, in order to end his torment, finding a pistol and shooting his mirror image and therefore killing himself.

Maybe a lot of the descriptors I use for Connie are hyperbole, but his work in this film is remarkable. Anyone interested in getting to know him as an actor, hell, anyone interested in film history period, absolutely should watch The Student of Prague at least once.

Final thoughts: For real, though, it would suck to not have a reflection. I recently had a whole conversation with my (straight, cis male) family members about this; not a one of them owns or even sees the need for a full length mirror. And maybe the big mirror in Balduin's student room came with the place when he moved in, but you get used to having something like that. I know it would drive me crazy not being able to check my whole outfit to make sure I don't look like a doofus before leaving the house.

[blogthebooklover]

Shadow of the Vampire {2000} - Full Horror Film HD

Since the teaser trailer for the Nosferatu remake dropped this morning, here’s a 2000 movie, Shadow of the Vampire.  A fictional account of the making of Nosferatu featuring:

Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck/Count Orlok

He is an absolute blast in this role!  Tbh, I almost forgot he played Count Orlok in this.

John Malkovich as F.W. Murnau, director of Nosferatu

Equally just as great as Dafoe.

Eddie Izzard as Gustav von Wangenheim/Thomas Hutter/Jonathan Harker

She doesn’t have too much screentime, since the movie is focusing on Murnau and Schreck’s working relationship as director and actor; however, she is also great in this too.

Catherine McCormack as Greta Schroder/Ellen Hutter/Mina Harker

Cary Elwes as Fritz Arno Wagner, the cinematographer

Udo Kier as Albin Grau, occultist; the producer, art director and costumer designer

John Aden Gillet as Henrik Galeen, the screenwriter

[m4movies]

Nosferatu

An ancient Transylvanian vampire stalks a haunted young woman in 19th-century Germany.

Release date: December 25, 2024 (USA)

Director: Robert Eggers

Screenplay: Robert Eggers

Distributed by: Focus Features, Universal Pictures

Based on: Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens; by: Henrik Galeen; Dracula; by Bram Stoker

[thewarmestplacetohide]

Dread by the Decade: Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens

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★★★★★

Plot: A solicitor suspects his new client is not what he seems.

Review: I have loved this movie since I was a child. An amazing piece of German expressionism, it captures Dracula's overall themes and horror brilliantly.

English Title: Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror Source Material: Dracula by Bram Stoker Year: 1922 Genre: Vampires Country: Germany Language: Silent Runtime: 1 hour 20 minutes

Director: F. W. Murnau Writer: Henrik Galeen Cinematographers: Fritz Arno Wagner, Günther Krampf Cast: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder

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Story: 4/5 - Though it cut much of its source material's story line and characters, the plot is still rich and transfixing.

Performances: 4/5 - Shreck shines as the ominous Count Orlok, and the rest of the cast is charming.

Cinematography: 4.5/5 - The work of Wagner and Albin Grau--the film’s producer and artistic designer--is bold and inventive, and they did it all with one camera.

Editing: 4/5

Music: 4/5 - Eerie, beautifully building the atmosphere and tension.

Effects: 4/5 - Some solid stop motion and superimposition.

Sets: 4.5/5 - Fantastic! Much of the film was shot on location in Germany and Slovakia, and the built sets are very detailed.

Costumes, Hair, & Make-Up: 4.5/5 - The make-up for Orlok is, in my opinion, disturbing even by today's standards.

Trigger Warnings:

Mild violence

[byneddiedingo]

Max Schreck in Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922)

Cast: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder, Alexander Granach, Georg H. Schnell, Ruth Landshoff, John Gottowt, Gustav Botz. Screenplay: Henrik Galeen, based on a novel by Bram Stoker. Cinematography:  Fritz Arno Wanger, Günther Krampf. Art direction: Albin Grau. 

As Bram Stoker first described him, Count Dracula was by no means hideous. Creepy, yes, but with his long white mustache, his aquiline nose, and his "extraordinary pallor," he must have been at least striking to see. Most of the incarnations of Count Dracula on screen have been more or less attractive men: Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Jack Palance, Frank Langella, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, among many others. And lately, since Anne Rice's novels and Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Angel (David Boreanaz) and Spike (James Marsters), the tendency has been to portray vampires as hot young dudes like the ones seen on the CW's The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. Vampires have been getting more human. But not the very first version of Dracula portrayed on screen: With his steady glare, his beaky nose, his batlike ears, his long taloned fingers, his implacable stiff-legged gait, and his posture suggestive of someone who sleeps in a coffin, Max Schreck's Count Orlok (the name has been changed to protect the studio, which it didn't) is decidedly non-human. He's a mutant, perhaps, or an alien. He is also not sexy, which is something of a paradox because vampirism, with its night prowling and exchange of fluids, is all about sex -- or the fear of it. And yet this is probably the greatest film version of Dracula, even allowing for the fact that it's a ripoff, designed to allow the producers Enrico Dieckmann and Albin Grau to avoid having to pay the Stoker estate for the rights. They were sued, and according to the terms of the settlement all prints of the film were supposed to be destroyed. The studio went out of business, but Nosferatu was undead -- enough copies survived that it could be pieced together for posterity. Undead, but not undated: Some of the opening scenes involving Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim), the novel's Harker, are a bit laughable given the actor's puppyish grin, and the character of Knock (Alexander Granach), the novel's Renfield, is wildly over-the-top. But Murnau knew how to create atmosphere, and he keeps the action grounded in plausibility by using real locations and natural settings. The scene in which a long procession of coffins filled with plague victims moves down a street (actually in Lübeck) is haunting. But most of all, it's Schreck's uncanny performance that makes Nosferatu still able to stalk through dreams after more than 100 years.