Nosferatu release history

[pathe16mm]

Hello,

I'm hosting a screening of Nosferatu next month, and in doing some research about its release history on mediahistoryproject.org , discovered it doesn't seem to have much press. There are some mentionings of it in The Film Daily in 1924 being distributed by the American arm of Russian Artfilm, but no reviews. In 1929 it appears to have gotten more of a release by Film Arts Guild. A review in Motion Picture News pans it, but Variety praises it. A cast and character list has the original changed names of the German version. When did it get the names changed to match those of the Stoker novel that we see in all the PD prints?

Does anyone know more details about its release in the US? Why was it getting a release in 1929? How and when did it start to acquire its status as a masterpiece if it wasn't widely seen in the 1920s?

Any info would be greatly appreciated, or if anyone knows any books or other resources that would be helpful, that would be great.

Thanks,

J Pierce

[Scoundrel]

Try HOLLYWOOD GOTHIC by David Skal

[Lokke Heiss]

Start with Skal's Hollywood Gothic. Actually, start with this site - use the 'search' function for Nosferatu and you'll see a lot of discussion about this film.

But in brief, Nosferatu is considered a classic because a copy of it was available in France where it was well regarded and when the scholars were writing the Very Important Books on which films were classics.

Lotte Eisner wrote The Haunted Screen (and a bio on Murnau) and that cemented popular critical opinion on the film.
And to be fair, a lot of people have seen this film since the early 20s, and AGREE with the critics that it's a classic.

[pathe16mm]

Thanks! Will check out the Skal book and poke around in old threads here. And of course, I wasn't disagreeing that it was a classic.

[FlammableNitrate]

What was the deal with the hyenas in the early part of the movie, anyway?

[Jay Salsberg]

What was the deal with the hyenas in the early part of the movie, anyway?

Armadillos weren't available.

[wich2]

(Well-played, sir - WELL-played!)

-Craig
(Jerusalem cricket fan)

[FlammableNitrate]

What was the deal with the hyenas in the early part of the movie, anyway?

Armadillos weren't available.

10/10 I love you

[Killer Meteor]

The English names were "restored" in the late 1940s when the MOMA made their version...which was based on the French version, hence the narrator being called Johann Cavalius (the narrator in the German version is not named).