Nosferatu - Will's Review

Right off the bat I think it's only fair to point out that silent movies aren't really my thing; I don't have the experience necessarily to compare one to another, or to know which of my complaints or comments apply to any particular movie, rather than being typical of the time.

What I will say, is that in the print I watched the tinting had been preserved (it was not uncommon for silent film to be tinted on a scene by scene basis to show mood or time of day), and the image was sharp and crisp; a vast improvement over last time I attempted to watch this in a poor quality grayscale transfer.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say I found this enjoyable, which for me is high praise indeed for a silent movie.

On the off chance you don't know, Nosferatu was the first major release of a movie based on Bram Stoker's Dracula... Although the production company never obtained rights to the book, and tried to get away with changing everyone's names; a decision that resulted in a court order to destroy all copies of the film (an order which was obviously, thankfully, unsuccessful).

The acting is very over-the-top, almost cartoonish, but I expect this is a product of the time, and I found that I acclimatised to it quickly.

The movie looks wonderful, not only in the beautiful sharp transfer, but also the cinematography, which makes astounding use of shadows.

The make-up on Count Orlok is superb and (with the exception of a couple of badly out of place stop motion sequences) even the effects, such as they are, are stunning for the day, and the music is very well chosen, even the inter-titles are styled and tailored well to each scene.

I went into this expecting this to be a hard slog; I was expecting to report back to you about how this was an important movie, but not one I personally enjoyed... Much to my surprise I enjoyed the film, almost in spite of myself.

I'm going to, nervously, recommend this one; on the proviso that you get a well-restored, tinted copy, rather than the standard Black and White Public Domain version.

I know this isn't for everyone... But then I didn't think it was for me either, and I was happy to be proven wrong!