FW Murnau was born on 28 December 1888 in what is now Germany. He moved to Hollywood in 1926 and worked there until his death in 1931.
Murnau’s death is interesting in that it is similar to the death of Jill Banner. It was another car crash on the Pacific Coast Highway. And just like her, he survived long enough to make it to the hospital but died soon after.
Murnau spent most of his career in Germany. He directed his first film shortly after World War I, in which he served as a pilot. Over the next three years, he made about ten films — half of which were horror. He found fame with Nosferatu in 1922.
Murnau made four films in Hollywood: Sunrise, 4 Devils, City Girl, and Tabu: A Story of the South Seas. These were all technically sound films. But only City Girl features dialogue. The others have sync music and sound effects — kind of like in Modern Times, except that no one is really talking on screen.
(4 Devils is a lost film but we still know quite a lot about it. You can watch a reconstruction of it.)
Nosferatu was a quasi-sound film. Prana Film released it with a musical score. Sadly, it is lost. But that hasn’t stopped later composers from doing it themselves. And then there is Faust (1926), where Werner Richard Heymann wrote a score and performed it live. But Universum Film never recorded it. But again: other composers have stepped in.
I am sorely inclined to feature Faust today. It really is an amazing film. But I fear that most people have never seen Nosferatu. Faust is arguably better. You can watch a great print on Archive. Meanwhile, this is a very good print of Nosferatu.
FW Murnau via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.
