Nosferatu (1922)

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Overture

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

After the novel ?Dracula?
by Bram Stoker

Freely adapted by
Henrik Galeen

Direction:
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau

Costumes and Sets:
Albin Grau

Photography:
Fritz Arno Wagner

Music:
Hans Erdmann

Persons:

Count Orlok: Max Schreck

Hutter: Gustav von Wangenhei

Ellen, his Wife: Greta Schr?eder

Harding, a Shipowner: G.H. Schnell

Ruth, his Sister: Ruth Landshoff

Professor Sievers, the Town Doctor:
Gustav Botz

Knock, a Property Broker:
Alexander Granach

Professor Bulwer, a Paracelsian:
John Gottowt

A Captain: Max Nemetz

1st Sailor: Wolfgang Heinz

2nd Sailor: Albert Venohr

Act I

Chronicle of the Great Death in Wisborg
The Year of Our Lord 1838

Nosferatu.

Does this word not sound to you like
the midnight cry of the Deathbird?

Beware that you say it, else the
images of life fade into shadows,

haunting dreams rise from your heart
and nourish themselves on your blood.

Long have I thought about the onset
and conclusion of the Great Death

in my hometown of Wisborg.
Here is its story:

There once lived in Wisborg
Hutter and his young wife Ellen...

?Why have you k*lled them...
the beautiful flowers...?!?

?Not so hasty, young friend!
No one outruns their fate.?

There was also a property broker, Knock,
about whom all sorts of rumors went around.

One thing for certain,
he paid his people well...

?Count Orlok ? His Grace...
from Transylvania...?

?wishes to purchase a lovely house...
in our little town...?

?You could earn a tidy sum...?

?...though it shall cost some effort...?

?a bit of sweat and perhaps...?

?a little blood...?

?He wants a right fine,
deserted house...?

?That house... just across from yours.
Offer him that one!?

?Travel quickly, travel well, young friend,
into the land of spectres.?

?I travel far, far away into the
land of thieves and spectres.?

Thus did Hutter give his distraught
wife over to the care of his friends,

the wealthy shipowner
Harding and his sister...

?Do not be concerned.?

...and the young Hutter traveled many
dusty roads, but at last the peaks

of the Carpathians glowed ahead of him.
The horses pulled harder...

?Quickly... my dinner ?
I must get to the castle of Count Orlok!?

You cannot go any further,
the werewolf roams through the woods.?

Of Vampyres, Ghastly Spirits,
Witchcraft, and the Seven Deadly Sins

From Belial?s Seed sprang forth the
Vampyre Nosferatu, one who does live and
feed himself from the Blood of Mankind.

Unredeemed he dwells in fearsome
Caverns, Sepulchres, and Coffins,

such as may be filled with accursed
Earth from the Fields of the Black Death.

Of Vampyres, Ghastly Spirits,
Witchcraft, and the Seven Deadly Sins

Drive on! The sun sets!?

Pay what you want!
We?ll travel no further!?

?We won?t go! It?s creepy
on the other side of the pass!?

Scarcely had Hutter crossed the bridge,
when he was struck by the eerie visions
of which he has often told me.

You left me waiting ?
waiting too long.?

Now it is coming on midnight.?

The servants are asleep!?

End of Act I

Act II

You have done yourself injury...
The precious blood!?

Shall we not keep one another company?

a little while, most lovely man??

It is yet quite a long time until sunrise ??

and I sleep in the day, my dear fellow,?

I truly sleep the deepest sleep ? ??

Once the sun rose, the shadows of
night also retreated from Hutter...

My Darling! My Dearest!

Let yourself not be grieved that
your Beloved travels far away.

The mosquitoes are a real nuisance.

Two have just bitten me on the neck,
quite close together, each on one side.

One dreams heavily here
in this desolate castle,
but do not be alarmed.

The spectral evening light seemed to revive
the shadows of the castle once again...

A beautiful neck your wife has...?

I am buying the house...
that fine, deserted house,
the one across from yours...?

In the Night this same Nosferatu may latch
his claws onto his Victim and suck for his
own infernal Life-potion their Blood.

Take heed lest his Shadow, like an Incubus,
encumber you with gruesome Dreams.

At the same hour.

A doctor... a doctor!?

Harmless blood congestion.?

The doctor related Ellen?s distress
to me as some sort of unknown malady.

I know, however, that her soul heard
the cry of the Deathbird that night ?

Already was Nosferatu
spreading his wings.

But with the morning light, Hutter set out
to investgate the horrors of that night.

The raftsmen did not know of the sinister
load they carried into the valley.

End of Act II

Act III

He was brought yesterday
to the hospital by farmers.?

They said he had fallen.
He is still feverish...?

Coffins ? ? ??

Nosferatu was on the way.

The peril for Wisborg drew near.

The Paracelsian, Professor Bulwer, who
at this time was fathoming the secrets

of Nature and their most profound
correlations, told me about it:

Onto the double-masted schooner, Empusa,
were loaded coffins filled with earth...

The ship?s all set
for sail this night.?

Port Authority Galaz

Lading of the Vessel Empusa
Route: from Galaz to Wisborg
Lading Port: Varna

Parcelled Goods: from Varna to Wisborg
6 crates, containing earth
for experimental purposes.

Galaz, 17 August 1838

Of those days, I will note that
Professor Bulwer was explaining

to his pupils the savage
manner of carnivorous plants.

With horror they beheld the
mysterious workings of Nature.

Is it not ? like a vampire!?

It seems that the approach of the
wretched Nosferatu had already driven
the property broker Knock into his Shadow.

The patient admitted yesterday
is having a fit of raving madness...?

Blood is life! Blood is life!!!!?

And this one here...?

...a polyp with tentacles...?

...transparent... almost incorporeal...?

...nearly just a phantom...?

Spiders...!?

Ellen was often seen on the beach
in the solitude of the dunes.

Her yearning flew out towards
her beloved, her eyes searched
over waves and in the distance.

My Darling! My Dearest!

Let yourself not be grieved that
your Beloved travels far away.

The mosquitoes are a real nuisance.

Two have just bitten me on the neck,
quite close together, each on one side.

One dreams heavily here
in this desolate castle,
but do not be alarmed.

No, I must be away...
on the shortest path home!!!?

Plague

In Transylvania and the Black Sea ports
of Varna and Galaz, an epidemic of plague

has broken out. Young people are being
carried off in droves. All victims present

the same peculiar stigmata on their neck,
the origin of which is still baffling to doctors.

The Dardanelles were closed to all
ships suspected of carrying the plague.

Below deck, a sailor has fallen ill.
He?s delirious.?

It crept like a pestilence
throughout the ship.

The first sailor who was infected
pulled the whole crew after him

into the dark grave of the waves.
In the light of the sinking sun,

the captain and ship?s mate bid farewell
to the last of their comrades...

Im going below!!!
If Im not back up again in ten minutes...?

The Death Ship had its new captain.

End of Act III

Act IV

It is very hard to say how,
with his depleted strength,

the young Hutter succeeded in overcoming
every obstacle on his journey home,

while Nosferatu?s deadly breath swelled the
sails of the ship, so that with supernatural
haste it flew towards his destination.

I must go to him. He is coming!!!?

The Master is nigh...
The Master is nigh...!?

Long have I pondered why Nosferatu
was said to have brought coffins filled

with earth along with him. I found it
recorded that vampires can only draw

their shadowy power from the accursed
earth in which they were buried.

I thank God... you are safe...
All is well now...?

Looked over everything...
No living soul on board.?

Varna ? 12th July
Crew ? excluding myself as Captain
one Helmsman
one Ship?s Mate
five Sailors

Second Day: 13th July
One sailor taken ill with fever
Heading: SSW
Wind Direction: NE

Third Day: 14th July
Ship?s mate talking crazy
An unknown passenger may be below deck
Heading: SE
Wind Direction: NE

Tenth Day: 22nd July
Rats in ship?s hold
Danger of plague

Danger of plague!! Get to your homes!
Bar all windows and doors!?

Proclamation

Be it hereby declared and known to all
citizens that the most-high Magistrate

forbids the transport of suspected
plague victims to the hospital,

for doing so will only spread
plague through the streets.

End of Act IV

Act V

Hutter had bound Ellen to a solemn
promise not to touch the book that
had frightened him with its visions.

She however could not resist its
strange, foreign compulsion.

In the Night this same Nosferatu may latch
his claws onto his Victim and suck for his
own infernal Life-potion their Blood.

Take heed lest his Shadow, like an Incubus,
encumber you with gruesome dreams.

Forasmuch as no other
Deliverance is available,

it may be that a Woman truly
without sin make the Vampyre
forget the first Crowing of the c*ck,

would She give him
Freely of her own Blood.

Thus I see it ?
every evening...!!!?

Fear crouched in every corner of the town.
Who was still healthy? Who already ill?

I am running over as quick as I can...
I will fetch Sievers...?

Forasmuch as no other
Deliverance is available,

it may be that a Woman truly
without sin make the Vampyre
forget the first Crowing of the c*ck,

would She give him
Freely of her own Blood.

Convulsed by fear, the town sought
out a scapegoat: it was Knock.

We?ve seen him!
He ran from the house!
He has strangled the warder...?

He has strangled him...
the vampire!?

I love You

Bulwer! Fetch Bulwer!?

Knock is captured!?

The Master... the Master...!?

The Master... is... dead.?

...and the Truth bore witness
to the Miracle: at the same hour,
the Great Death ceased

as the Shadow of the Deathbird
was scattered before the victorious
beams of the living Sun.

The End