Making of ‘Nosferatu’ (by Fritz Arno Wagner, 1922), 2016

The story behind the photograph…

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is a classic silent film (released in 1922), directed by F. W. Murnau and with cinematography by Fritz Arno Wagner (1889–1958). A freely adapted version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the film stars German actor Max Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok. Unfortunately the production company failed to secure the screen rights, and Stoker’s widow sued. The courts sided with her and ordered that all prints of the film be destroyed, although bootleg copies survived. One of the most famous sequences shows the vampire ascending a staircase, then stretching out a sinister, elongated hand. The scene is made more terrifying by the fact that the count is represented by a misshapen shadow creeping across the wall. Exaggerated effects were typical of the prevalent German Expressionist movement, with imagery distorted for heightened emotional impact. In the real world, the Weimar Republic would shortly experience Adolf Hitler’s Munich Putsch. It is perhaps unsurprising that, in those politically unstable times, many horror films, including Fritz Lang’s Dr Mabuse series and Murnau’s Faust, featured a manipulative and destructive protagonist intent on achieving power and glory.