This is a film which really deserves the reputation it has achieved over the years.
The earliest adaptation of the Dracula story to still survive, this movie has such power that lots of the conventions and characteristics of vampires accepted today were actually set up this film and not from the novel which spawned it, the aversion to sunlight being one.
Aside from the character name changes this is a fairly faithful adaption of the novel. The most memorable character is of course Count Orlok, played to perfection by Max Schreck. He really personifies the pestilence he carries in his wake and makes the viewers skin crawl with his staring eyes, long clawlike hands and ratlike appearance. Also particularly striking is Knock the estate agent who, even before he became Orlok's servant, looked completely deranged. Hutter's wife is memorable for her terrible acting but then at this point in history, film was still a fairly new medium, so this can be forgiven.
The filming locations are stunning and fit the mood perfectly and it is extraordinary to think that today ninety years later most of these locations remain unchanged.
The version I watched had sepia tinting throughout and I'm not sure who wrote or performed the soundtrack, although it sounded like it was played on synthesisers with cellos as well. The DVDS was released by Eureka videos, so maybe for some readers this will clarify which soundtrack it was. Although it was a little out of place in some of the sequences especially towards the end, for the most part it fitted in well. Having said that, I, like most viewers, would have liked to have heard the original, but since this is now lost, it wasn't to be.
This is a major piece of motion picture history and simply must be viewed.
The earliest adaptation of the Dracula story to still survive, this movie has such power that lots of the conventions and characteristics of vampires accepted today were actually set up this film and not from the novel which spawned it, the aversion to sunlight being one.
Aside from the character name changes this is a fairly faithful adaption of the novel. The most memorable character is of course Count Orlok, played to perfection by Max Schreck. He really personifies the pestilence he carries in his wake and makes the viewers skin crawl with his staring eyes, long clawlike hands and ratlike appearance. Also particularly striking is Knock the estate agent who, even before he became Orlok's servant, looked completely deranged. Hutter's wife is memorable for her terrible acting but then at this point in history, film was still a fairly new medium, so this can be forgiven.
The filming locations are stunning and fit the mood perfectly and it is extraordinary to think that today ninety years later most of these locations remain unchanged.
The version I watched had sepia tinting throughout and I'm not sure who wrote or performed the soundtrack, although it sounded like it was played on synthesisers with cellos as well. The DVDS was released by Eureka videos, so maybe for some readers this will clarify which soundtrack it was. Although it was a little out of place in some of the sequences especially towards the end, for the most part it fitted in well. Having said that, I, like most viewers, would have liked to have heard the original, but since this is now lost, it wasn't to be.
This is a major piece of motion picture history and simply must be viewed.
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