Live organ to accompany the controversial silent vampire classic.
Nothing sets the mood for Halloween (or everyday life in my opinion) like the haunting drone of a fully stopped pipe organ. Actually, add Nosferatu and make it an organ that towers 3 stories tall, and you have the ultimate jumpstart for your ghoulish torment and bloodthirsty behavior.
All of the controversy surrounding Nosferatu being a plagiaristic and blatant rip-off notwithstanding, the 1922 horror classic is a milestone to the movement and should only be viewed as such. That is, if you watch the right one.
Shortly after the film became public domain, various versions were released with different translations, soundtracks and unnecessary scene edits. That being the case, the chances of having seen an unmodified original copy are slim, very slim. Though a number of copies surfaced after the ruling, the lawsuit involving the Widow Stoker and the filmmakers ordered the original negatives and all duplicates of the film destroyed. Some bootlegs were of course distributed and Nosferatu has since been restored, looking well enough, however the vision of director F. W. Murnau may have been lost somewhere along the way.
The integrity of Murnau’s “vision” for Nosferatu has always been a common focus for debate, but it’s the comparison of his film with the novel that shames the name of Stoker, not the film itself. The similarities between a small, poorly written, silent movie should be less than considered as tribute or imitation, and instead an example of early attempts at an art form still in its infancy. It’s certainly no match for its predecessor The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, but such a comparison is unfair. Caligari still surpasses the filmmaking of today and will always be better than any Michael Bay movie. Anyway…
Having failed to obtain the rights for Stoker’s Dracula, Murnau was forced to use different names for his characters and change many details taken from the book, including the ending – which is the worst part of the movie. There isn’t a thread of convincing romance between vampire and flesh (an enormous theme in Stoker’s novel), and more of a forlorn plague motif commands the evolving turmoil than the acknowledgement of vampire activity. Murnau did what he could, paid the price, and gave us a model of the silent era, which, if you can get your hands on one of the few versions that hasn’t been mangled and manipulated to fit today’s standards, is still chilling – no matter how dated.
Clark Wilson provides the live organ soundtrack for Nosferatu this Halloween at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. With a repertoire of silent movie scores over 40 deep, he is no stranger to organ accompaniment or Disney Hall – you may remember him from last Halloween when he supplied the score for The Phantom of the Opera (1925).
Saturday, October 31, 2009, 8:00 PM
Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA
Tickets: $26 – $51
A special prize to anyone who shows up dressed as the titular character from the scene where he aimlessly and awkwardly wanders the cobbled streets while carrying a coffin.
