This article delves into the fascinating history of Nosferatu, a German Expressionist horror film from 1922. Despite its status as a cinematic masterpiece, the film's legacy is shrouded in controversy due to copyright infringement issues and the subsequent destruction of most of its copies. We explore the legal battle that led to the film's downfall, the efforts to reconstruct it from surviving fragments, and the enduring impact of Nosferatu on horror cinema.
is considered a masterpiece not only in horror, but also for the German Expressionist movement, even more than a century after its release. Making its place in cinematic history all the more impressive is that, shortly after its release, virtually all copies of the movie were destroyed in accordance with a court-ruled mandate that Murnau violated copyright laws.
Despite's place in the annals of horror is impressive, and its legacy is expected to grow even further with the release of the upcomingPrana Film was a film studio that aimed to deliver audiences a number of supernatural- and occult-themed stories, which tapped writer Henrik Galeen to adapt Bram Stoker's into a screenplay. Knowing that they didn’t have the film rights, there were a handul of changes made to the story to try to skirt any copyright infringement: Count Dracula was renamed Count Orlok, the setting was changed from Britain to Germany, and Orlok killed victims as opposed to turning them into vampires, among other changes. The similarities between the two stories are so rife, however, resulting in Florence Stoker, still reeling from the death of her husband, taking action against Prana Film. In the ensuing legal battle, Prana Film would ultimately go bankrupt and, in lieu of seeking money in the legal battle, Stoker requested that all prints of the movie be destroyed. The court ruled in her favor, and while there’s no definitive proof of how many copies were destroyed, only a limited number of prints remained, were pieced together through an amalgam of multiple prints, with portions of the film’s score also having to be recreated. One point of contention is that some versions of the original are purely black and white, while others offer yellow or blue tinting in select scenes to convey daytime or nighttime. Some reports claim that the tinting of the film is meant to uphold the original version of the movie, though some of these claims are conjectur
FILM HISTORY HORROR CINEMA GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM COPYRIGHT LAWS NOSFERATU
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