Nosferatu

A movie from the German Expressionist Period that I did like, majority wise, was Nosferatu. Although silent and very unnecssairily expanded at some points, the movie had a lot of good quality inside of it. I try to keep reminding myself that these movies were the best that could be made at that time and were excellent for those days, so I attempt to put myself in that position of a viewer and the days of the German Expressionist period.

To get the things that weren't necessairily great out of the way, I'd say your basic answer is the same answer for me. For both German Expressionist movies, I had a hard time keeping myself interested. This is not even fully the fault of the sound missing. I just had a tough time trying to stay interested in the actual story and trying to get something out of it. Again, it took me a while to get on key with the movie and into it fully, but better late than never.

Once again, formulism was very evident in this other German Expressionist movie. You can easily tell that it was a key factor in how the film was portrayed. Along with that came the extensive use of more technique. I assume that I will get this the most of these two movies if anything - a more in depth look at technique and how it affects a movie. What was especially interesting was the use of shawdows in Nosferatu. Being a horror film and having that one big "monster," shawdows really helped give the movie more life. The shawdows play a big part in the story as do all of the technique throughout the film.

The main reason I enjoyed Nosferatu more than The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is the fact that I not only got into Nosferatu more but it was more flowing. It had a better flow to it than The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. While the latter was always being interrupted in a bad way and tone by narration to read and such, Nosferatu didn't seem to have these bad interruptions as the narration to be read came at the right times and gave just enough information but not enough. I think this lies in the director's job to perfect this and to me, Murnau (director of Nosferatu) did a better job than Wiene (director of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari).

So, once again, for a movie that was loved and is commended by many, I can't say it was horrible. Sure, the action, color, sound, and drama is all better nowadays but at the same time, now is 2006 and then was 1922. Even more, I enjoyed this movie because this movie enabled me to enjoy it by unique ways by its tone and its setting.

-Kevin