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Vampire, you idiot! Nosferatu! π§π»ββοΈ
Definitely Appearance 0. π²
Yesterday, I went to go see Nosferatu with![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
liszante at the Davis Theatre with live organ accompaniment by Jay Warren. The theater even had remnant organ pipes still up on the walls from when there was an organ installed in it, though the actual performance was done using samples.
It's been a very long time since I'd seen a silent movie--not since Metropolis back when I was a university student--and I had forgotten how exaggerated the style of acting was. I couldn't help but think of miming, especially with Hutter and Knock's performances. The film is much less horror for modern audiences than it would have been a century ago due to that. Often, when Count Orlok was looming and Hutter would reel back with an expression of horror, frantically looking around the room, the audience laughed. Admittedly, I did too. To modern sensibilities it was ridiculous, but it certainly did an effective job of conveying their emotions, especially accompanied with Warren's music.
People also laughed at the scene of Count Orlok just...casually strolling through the streets with a coffin full of grave earth under one arm. I really want to know how that played to 1920s audiences.
The movie was pretty effective at selling the mood of creeping doom, especially later, with the scenes of the town officials marking the doors of the "plague"-stricken houses and the procession of coffins being carried through the streets.liszante also told me there was a long scene of the ship sailing into Wisborg cut with scenes of Hutter riding back to town but, uh, I was asleep for that. 
Live music, no matter the context, no matter the genre, makes me sleepy. Even when I went to a Within Temptation concert back in March, I ended up getting sleepy by the end. But I rallied for the final act.
I hadn't realized that Nosferatu was literally Dracula with the serial numbers filed off either. But once Knock the property agent showed up, I figured it out.
And...antisemitism. I don't think it's Nazi propaganda or anything, but I couldn't help but notice that it's the property agent specifically who falls under Count Orlok's sway and, indeed, the way that an Eastern European man who looks ugly and distinctive is literally sucking the blood of good German women. That rendered some of the scenes later on the movie more uncomfortable for me than they might have been for most of the audience, because regardless of Murnau's intentions, the imagery was definitely there.
He was a brilliant director, though. I've seen plenty of stills of Count Orlok's shadow climbing the staircase and the count vanishing when hit by the rays of the sun, but in the theater, accompanied by the organ, they were still effective.
In summary, I'm saddened that Der Totenvogel isn't the name of a metal band. And I can see why Nosferatu survived down through the ages and is regarded as a cinematic classic.
Yesterday, I went to go see Nosferatu with
It's been a very long time since I'd seen a silent movie--not since Metropolis back when I was a university student--and I had forgotten how exaggerated the style of acting was. I couldn't help but think of miming, especially with Hutter and Knock's performances. The film is much less horror for modern audiences than it would have been a century ago due to that. Often, when Count Orlok was looming and Hutter would reel back with an expression of horror, frantically looking around the room, the audience laughed. Admittedly, I did too. To modern sensibilities it was ridiculous, but it certainly did an effective job of conveying their emotions, especially accompanied with Warren's music.
People also laughed at the scene of Count Orlok just...casually strolling through the streets with a coffin full of grave earth under one arm. I really want to know how that played to 1920s audiences.
The movie was pretty effective at selling the mood of creeping doom, especially later, with the scenes of the town officials marking the doors of the "plague"-stricken houses and the procession of coffins being carried through the streets.
Live music, no matter the context, no matter the genre, makes me sleepy. Even when I went to a Within Temptation concert back in March, I ended up getting sleepy by the end. But I rallied for the final act.I hadn't realized that Nosferatu was literally Dracula with the serial numbers filed off either. But once Knock the property agent showed up, I figured it out.
And...antisemitism. I don't think it's Nazi propaganda or anything, but I couldn't help but notice that it's the property agent specifically who falls under Count Orlok's sway and, indeed, the way that an Eastern European man who looks ugly and distinctive is literally sucking the blood of good German women. That rendered some of the scenes later on the movie more uncomfortable for me than they might have been for most of the audience, because regardless of Murnau's intentions, the imagery was definitely there.
He was a brilliant director, though. I've seen plenty of stills of Count Orlok's shadow climbing the staircase and the count vanishing when hit by the rays of the sun, but in the theater, accompanied by the organ, they were still effective.
In summary, I'm saddened that Der Totenvogel isn't the name of a metal band. And I can see why Nosferatu survived down through the ages and is regarded as a cinematic classic.
no subject
And this reminded me of one of those many posts I've not written this summer... >_> I went to see a silent movie at a graveyard (not on the graves, of course, but in the area). Sunrise: a tale of two humans. It actually became one of my favorite movies.
no subject
Probably not in a graveyard, though, as much as I might like the setting.