I Only Hunt in Wind and Rain
The Haunted Castle (1921)
directed by F. W. Murnau
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Carnegie Library
This was something of a risk, since the title suggested it might be better next October. But I've been tricked by misleading titles before, especially in silent German cinema (I'll think of an example later). Also, those Mayans might know a thing or two yet, so I hedged my bets. Good thing, too, since a single scene is all that Murnau teases to let you know that Nosferatu is only a year away.
It turns out that the castle is only "haunted" by an uninvited guest who wants to clear his name for murder. No one at the party believes an acquittal handed down by the court was fair, since Count Oetsch is a nobleman and of course a rich man can always buy his innocence. His confidence keeps him bright with a sense of humor, telling jokes and lighting cigarettes from a candle atop the dining room table.
People disappear, but mostly to mope or relive the past in a confessional set up by a traveling priest from Rome. Someone has heard that Oetsch learned "prophecy in India," but it doesn't go anywhere, exotically speaking. With a fall hunt hindered by nasty weather, most of the men sit in a cavernous parlor and play cards in pairs.
Oetsch becomes the hero, in a way, for wanting to keep his fortune and not squander it on the poor like the victim in question, his brother. Clouds of cigarette smoke and bad tonsures come and go, but stay awake for the "Dreams" section and you'll get your reward: a long hand through the curtains of an open window, reaching in to strangle a man in his sleep. Impossibly long, as in Coppola's Carpathian taxi just as Dracula gets under way.
directed by F. W. Murnau
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Carnegie Library
This was something of a risk, since the title suggested it might be better next October. But I've been tricked by misleading titles before, especially in silent German cinema (I'll think of an example later). Also, those Mayans might know a thing or two yet, so I hedged my bets. Good thing, too, since a single scene is all that Murnau teases to let you know that Nosferatu is only a year away.
It turns out that the castle is only "haunted" by an uninvited guest who wants to clear his name for murder. No one at the party believes an acquittal handed down by the court was fair, since Count Oetsch is a nobleman and of course a rich man can always buy his innocence. His confidence keeps him bright with a sense of humor, telling jokes and lighting cigarettes from a candle atop the dining room table.
People disappear, but mostly to mope or relive the past in a confessional set up by a traveling priest from Rome. Someone has heard that Oetsch learned "prophecy in India," but it doesn't go anywhere, exotically speaking. With a fall hunt hindered by nasty weather, most of the men sit in a cavernous parlor and play cards in pairs.
Oetsch becomes the hero, in a way, for wanting to keep his fortune and not squander it on the poor like the victim in question, his brother. Clouds of cigarette smoke and bad tonsures come and go, but stay awake for the "Dreams" section and you'll get your reward: a long hand through the curtains of an open window, reaching in to strangle a man in his sleep. Impossibly long, as in Coppola's Carpathian taxi just as Dracula gets under way.
posted by NPK at 12:01 AM
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