BOOk-To-Movie: 'Dracula' and 'Nosferatu'

Credit: Pixabay.com

Warning: This review may contain spoilers for both the book and movie being discussed. Read at your own risk!

As I said last post, we've moved our Book-To-Movie review from its usual fourth weekend time slot to this Halloween weekend (or as I like to call it, Halloweekend). In a Book-To-Movie, we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation. The usual fate of rip-off films, it seems, is that they’re often soon forgotten as if they never existed. That was almost the case with the original film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, "Dracula". And those of you who are thinking the original film was Universal's 1931 film starring Bela Lugosi, it wasn’t. That was only the original legal film adaptation of the novel. The original adaptation was the 1922 German-made "Nosferatu" and is one of the oldest vampire movies. Although it was at one time destined to be forgotten, it became far from that. As this year’s media coverage of “Nosteratu”’s 100th anniversary has suggested, the movie has become a classic. Two reasons for this are its quality of production and plagiaristic origins. 

'Dracula': The Novel

Needless to say, Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is one of the most famous gothic horror novels of all time. It was published in 1897 and has influenced both high-brow culture and pop culture ever since. The Dracula character is one of the most pop cultural iconic characters in all forms of media including film, TV and music and is seen in both the horror and comedy genres. 

The synopsis to this novel: real estate agent Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to take papers to Count Dracula to sign as part of the purchase procedure for a house in Harker's native England.  He soon discovers that Dracula is a danger to society who plans to use his new home land as a source of nourishment: human blood. When the count gets to England, not only does he drink the blood of innocent victims bringing them to their deaths, but in doing so he turns them into vampires themselves making them to also have to depend on the blood of humans. So, Jonathan, with the help of vampire expert Prof. Van Helsing, must find a way to destroy Dracula and cure his fiancee, Mina, whom the count has bitten. 

Needless to say, this novel has been used as the basis of countless vampire films, including adaptations of the book and movies inspired by it. 

'Nosferatu'

German director F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film, "Nosferatu", was an attempt to make a legal movie adaptation of "Dracula". It was not a very successful attempt since, even though many changes were made to the story, Stoker's widowed wife who owned the copyrights to her late husband’s novel sued the producers. The court ordered all copies of the film destroyed but, somehow, one print survived and so “Nosferatu” was saved from oblivion.  

Because this movie is so closely adapted from Bram Stoker's novel, there's not much need for a synopsis here. Yet there were a few changes to both the events and characters of the story. Most noticeably, the names of the characters were changed, including Count Dracula’s which was changed to Count Orlok, Another major change was that the count’s new home was relocated from England to Germany.

There were several changes to the count’s character in “Noferatu”. One was that instead of being associated with bats like in “Dracula”, he was associated with rats. Another change was that Orlok’s victims do not turn into vampires when he bites them and drinks their blood. Also, sunlight can destroy Orlok whereas it only weakens Dracula. As Jonathan Bailey explains in his article at PlagiarismToday.com: “In Nosferatu, Count Orlok is burned up by the sunlight. However, in Bram Stoker’s version, sunlight was harmless to vampires, it just weakened them slightly.”  

This change ties in with another major one to the story. Instead of Orlok getting killed by a method involving driving a stake into his heart, severing his head and stuffing it with garlic as is done with Dracula in the novel, he can only die if he drinks the blood of an innocent woman just before sunrise. Death by sunlight would become a trope in many later vampire films, including Dracula ones. As Bailey puts it, "This idea of vampires being killed by sunlight has been used over and over again in various movies, including many carrying the Dracula name." 

This movie may not have been made with the best of ethics in mind since it was produced against Bram Stoker’s widow’s wishes. Yet, it was made with some really strong points. One was the way they depicted Orlok's shadow. The shadow is solid black and crawls along surfaces, and this is done especially good when he climbs the stairs to Ellen's room. Such shots as these enhance the suspense and terror. Another strong point of the film is the way they portray the vampire which has become an iconic image among goth and horror fans; Orlok is bald; his ears are large and inhumanly pointed; he has excessively long claw-like fingers; his eyes are large, wide and seem to always be staring; his two fangs are centred and seem to always be exposed. This is one of the most monstrous looking depictions of Dracula in film.

"Nosferatu" is a classic because of its impact on film history and its influence on the Dracula myth and gothic and horror culture in general. Go to any horror convention and you're almost sure to see images of the bald Count Orlok as much as those of Bela Lugosi's slicked back, black haired Dracula.

"Nosferatu" may not had been made legally. However, it was made good in both the filming and its portrayal of the characters, qualities that make it a great film regardless of its plagiaristic origins. Also, because it was the first "Dracula" film, it is an important and invaluable artifact of movie history. Even if not as popular as Universal’s “Dracula”, it makes just as great viewing for Halloween. 

Author’s Newsletter

The Halloween edition of my newsletter, “Night Creatures' Call”, is now out. For those who are subscribed to the newsletter, be sure to check your in-boxes. For those of you who are not subscribed, you can do so for free here! Have you seen "Nosferatu" or read "Dracula"? 

Have a safe, happy and scary Halloween! Until next time . . .