Murnau, Friedrich Wilhelm b. September 28, 1888; Bielefield, Westphalia (Prussia) d. March 11, 1931; Santa Barbara, California
German director who became famous for his vampire movie Nosferatu and who left Germany for the United States in 1926 to produce several art movies. A film director who had the soul of a poet and the eyes of a painter, Murnau remains a legend in German cinema.
Murnau was born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe. After studying philology at Berlin University, Murnau worked as an actor with stage director Max Reinhardt from 1912 to 1919. At thirty Murnau directed his first film, Satanas (1919). His career in Germany was quite productive and successful, with some seventeen films released in just seven years, including Nosferatu. Eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu the Vampire, 1922), Der Letzte Mann (The Last Laugh, 1924), Tartuffe (1925), and Faust (1926).More than a naturalistic masterpiece, Murnau’s Nosferatu had set the standard of the horror film for the whole century. It is the famous story (freely adapted from Bram Stoker’s Dracula) of a mysterious nobleman from Transylvania who wants to buy a house in northern Germany; but the buyer appears to be a vampire and he brings the plague wherever he goes. One day, the vampire falls in love with a married woman, the spouse of his agent. Filmed on location, that strange film created an uncomfortable atmosphere with just natural settings and a minimum of light. Half a century later, director Werner Herzog did a fantastic remake titled Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht (1978), in which he meticulously copied every scene from the original version, almost shot by shot (except for the ending).
Working with actor Emil Jannings, Murnau released The Last Laugh, the story of an old doorman who, having worked for years in a deluxe hotel, loses his position and has to work in the men’s room in the basement of the same hotel. Because the film was so sad, its producers asked Mur- nau to add a “happy ending,” although he was reluctant to do so.
During the 1920s, German films often had tragic endings and Murnau did not make many exceptions. Against his will, Murnau nevertheless added an incredible epilogue in which the dishonored character suddenly becomes a millionaire. The light, funny, improbable final scene strangely contrasts with the dramatic progression that was made during the first hour. The film was Murnau’s biggest success, mainly because of its technical innovations, such as the use of revolutionary camera traveling made in many scenes by Karl Freund. Incidentally, The Last Laugh is still considered the perfect example of the Kamimu-rspielfilmi, a realistic trend in German cinema from the 1920s that contrasted with expressionist esthetics.In 1926 Hollywood producer William Fox invited Murnau to work in the United States and offered him an unlimited budget with total artistic freedom for his next movie. Murnau’s previous films were already famous in America. Many U.S. critics admired his work and unanimously appreciated The Last Laugh, especially its ending.
Murnau’s first U.S. film, Sunrise. A Song of Two Humans (1927) remains an authentic German work. He worked closely with his Austrian friend and scriptwriter Carl Mayer (who lived in Germany), with whom he had teamed up before on many projects. It tells the story of a farmer who, after being seduced by a vamp from the city, tries to regain his wife’s confidence and love. They spend a whole day together in a little American town, visiting a church, a barbershop, a big store, and a chic restaurant, before going back home, when a tragic event surprises them. The script of Sunrise was written in German in a very poetic style by Mayer and later translated into English; it was adapted from a novel, Trip to Tilsit, by the East Prussian author Hermann Sudermann (1857—1928). The crew and actors were American, but the romantic style and the symbols were typically German (for instance, the character of the pure blond wife who rivals the evil darkhaired vamp). A perfectionist creator, Mur- nau worked for months on that project; a whole city had to be built in the studio.
Many extras were hired. The result was remarkable: hence, when film critics from all over the world gathered at the 1958 World Exhibition of Brussels, they voted Sunrise the best film of all time. The famous romantic scene when the husband and his wife walk together toward the road to take the train that will lead them to the city has been copied many times.Back in 1927 most critics acclaimed Sunrise, and the film received three Academy Awards. It was nevertheless a commercial failure, because it did not raise more profits than its astonishing costs. Because of that, Murnau had to be more modest for his next projects and had less artistic control. However, his following film, Four Devils (1928), also written by Mayer and adopted from Hermann Bang’s novel De Fire Djaevle did not have much success either. Murnau’s third American film, Our Daily Bread, was totally written by an allU.S. team from a short story by Elliot Lester titled “The Mud Turtle.” It was first made as a silent movie, but once finished, the producers (Fox) decided to reedit it without Murnau’s consent (with the help of Ernest Palmer, who shot new scenes with new dialogue), adding an unplanned soundtrack to release a new version under the title City Girl (1930).
In 1930 Murnau felt unhappy in Hollywood and could not stand the compromises and the producers’ pressure, comments, and changes made on his films. This explains why he spent so many months in Tahiti to shoot Tabu (1931) as an independent. This was a cross-cultural adventure: Murnau teamed with Robert Flaherty (1884-1951), a U.S. director who became famous with documentaries such as Nanook of the North (1922), shot in northern Canada, and Moana (1925), filmed in Polynesia. Murnau and Flaherty both wrote the script and directed the scenes of Tabu, about a young man who wants to marry a Maori virgin who was chosen as a “tabu,” which means that she was dedicated to be given to the gods. The forbidden lovers try to leave their island in order to begin a new life elsewhere.
But they know that their masters are looking for them.In the middle of the shooting, the codirectors disagreed on the stylistic trend: Flaherty wanted a more “documentary” approach about the way the Maori people of the Bora-Bora Island lived; Murnau preferred a dramatic story and brought in his favorite themes: impossible and naive love, unavoidable fate, premonition, individual freedom thwarted by social rules—in a perfect aesthetic style with beautiful images and almost no dialogue. Although they respected each other’s work, Flaherty left the project before the end and acknowledged Murnau as the sole author of the film. Nevertheless, Murnau was enthusiastic and even had plans to return to Tahiti to make more films. He also wanted to return to Berlin to study the new sound film technology. Tragically, Murnau died after a car crash near Santa Barbara just one week before Tabu was released. It premiered in New York City and was acclaimed worldwide.
Yves Laberge
See also Film (German), American Influence on; Herzog, Werner; Hollywood; Jannings, Emil; Reinhardt, Max
References and Further Reading
Allen, Robert, and Douglas Gomery. FilmHistory. Theory and Practice. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985.
Eisner, Lotte. Murnau. Paris: Le Terrain Vague, 1965.
The F.-W-Murnau-Stiftung. Wiesbaden, Germany. At http://www.murnau- stiftung.de/en/01-05-00-murnau.html (accessed May 11, 2005).