NOSFERATU (1922) - Well I finally seen this one. It's fantastic. The best of all silent films and possible the best of all Vampire films. This is a superior film in all respects (except dialogue). Even the written dialogue is stronger and more interesting than most vampire tales. I would have needed to keep a notes to remember all the great scenes. Max Schreck is truely a creepy image.
My only question is how did they show silent movies back them? Was the music always live? Recorded? or without any music? Because the music on the copy I watched helped the film alittle bit, but the music wasn't that important. I'm sure DRACULA starring Bela Lugosi was very popular as you could hear the lines, but Max Schreck beats them all.
From what I know most of the time the music was played live, but I'm sure in some instances they used a phonograph/record player.
If you enjoyed "Nosferatu", you might also enjoy "Shadow of the Vampire", which is a fictional re-telling of the making of Nosferatu, where there is definitely something strange about the actor playing the vampire ...
Available on DVD with a bunch of extras.
Many movie theaters had a live piano player during the silent era. Some even had musicians playing several instruments. I'm not sure about phonographs, but I would guess that some theaters had them.
As for NOSFERATU, it is a very creepy vampire film. Another good, creepy silent film is THE CABINET OF DOCTOR CALIGARI. It would make a great double feature with NOSFERATU.
Do you realize that if you unscramble the letters in "Nosferatu" you get:
U fart nose
Coincidence? I don't think so . . .
Apart from the live music, another thing that is missing in watching silent movies in the present day are the original color tints. Many of those films were coloured by hand so they were not in absolute black and white. For instance, in "Nosferatu" the scene where the vampire exits the ship features a daylight background. This is not a mistake, the original prints would have been tinted in blue, to achieve the so-called "night effect". I learned this doing an essay on "Nosferatu" in college.