DIE ZWÖLFTE STUNDE - THE TWELFTH HOUR
NOSFERATU. A SYMPHONY OF HORROR.
After the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.
Freely adapted by Henrik Galeen.
Direction: F. W. Murnau.
Costumes and Sets: Albin Grau.
Photography: F. A. Wagner.
Music: Hans Erdmann.
Cast:
Count Orlok: Max Schreck
Hutter: Gustav v. Wangenheim
Ellen, his wife: Greta Schroeder
Harding, a shipowner: G. H. Schnell
Ruth, his sister: Ruth Landshoff
Professor Sievers, the town doctor: Gustav Botz
Knock, a property agent: Alexander Granach
Professor Bulwer, a Paracelsian: John Gottowt
A Captain: Max Nemetz
1st Sailor: Wolfgang Heinz
2nd Sailor: Albert Venohr
1st Act.
Chronicle of the Great Death in Wisborg
anno Domini 1838, by...
NOSFERATU
Does this word not sound to you like the midnight cry of the Deathbird.
Take care in saying it,
lest life's images fade into shadows, and ghostly dreams rise from
your heart and nourish themselves on your blood.
Long have I contemplated the origin and recession
of the Great Death in my hometown of Wisborg.
Here is it's story:
There lived in Wisborg Hutter and his young wife Ellen
Why did you kill them... the lovely flowers?!
Not so fast, my young friend! No-one outruns his destiny.
There was also a property agent by the name of Knock -
the subject of all sorts of rumours.
One thing was certain: He paid his people well
Count Orlok - His Lordship... from Transylvania...
wishes to acquire a beautiful home in our little town...
You could earn a nice bit of money...
...of course the price is a little effort... some sweat
and perhaps... a little blood...
He wants a fine, deserted house...
That house... directly across from yours.
Offer him that one!
Travel quickly, travel well, my young friend,
into the land of the spectres.
I'm travelling far, far away
into the land of thieves and spectres.
So Hutter placed the anguished girl in the care of his friends,
the rich shipowner Harding and his sister
Be at ease.
And young Hutter travelled many dusty roads,
but at last the peaks of the Carpathlans
loomed before him.
The horses strained harder
Quickly... something to eat -
I have to get to Count Orlok's castle!
You shouldn't go any further now: The Werewolf roams the woods.
Of Vampyres Gastlie Spirits, Bewitchments
and the Seven Deadlie Sins
From Belial's seed sprang the vampyre NOSFERATU,
who doth live and feed on the bloode of humankind -
Beyonde deliverance he doth dwell in gastlie caves,
sepulchres and coffins, filled so with god-curst earth
from the fields of the Black Death
Of Vampyres Gastlie Spirits, Bewitchments
and the Seven Deadlie Sins
Onward! The sun is setting!
Offer what you like! We're not going any further!
We won't go on! Is frightening beyond the pass!
No sooner had Hutter stepped across the bridge,
than the eerle visions he had often told me about
seized hold of him.
You have kept me waiting - waiting too long. -
Now it is nearly midnight. The servants are sleeping!
End of the 1st Act.
Nosferatu 2nd Act.
You have hurt yourself... Precious blood!
Shouldn't we like to sit together a bit, dear friend?
It is a while still till Sunrise - and in the daytime I sleep,
my dear fellow, I sleep the deepest of sleeps -
Just as the sun rose,
the shadows of the night withdrew from Hutter as well
My dear! My dearest!
Grieve not that thy beloved is so far away
I am plagued by mosquitoes.
I already have two bites on my throat,
one quite near the other, on each side
One dreams so heavily in this desolate castle,
but fear not.
The spectral evening light seemed to revive the shadows
of the castle once more
Your wife has a lovely neck...
I shall buy the house...
The fine, deserted house opposite yours...
At night this same Nosferatu doth clutch his victim
and doth suck like hellish life-potion it's blood.
Take heede that his shadow not encumber thee
like an incubus with gruesome dreams
At the same hour.
A doctor... a doctor!
Harmless congestions of the blood.
The doctor related Ellen's distress to me
as an unknown Illness.
I know, however, that her soul that night
caught the cry of the Deathbird -
Nosferatu was already spreading his wings. -
Yet with the morning light Hutter set out
to make sense of the horror of his nights. -
The raftsmen didn't know what kind of unholy cargo
they were conveying through the dale.
End of the 2nd Act.
Nosferatu 3rd Act.
He was brought to the hospital yesterday by some farmers.
They said he must have fallen. He's still feverish...
Coffins -
Nosferatu was on his way. The danger for Wisborg drew nigh.
The Paracelslan Professor Bulwer,
who at that time was studying the secrets of nature
and their deepest unifying principles,
told me the following:
Earth -filled coffins were to be loaded
onto the double -masted ship, the Empusa
The vessel's still set for sail tonight.
Bill of Lading: EMPUSA
Route: From GALAZ to WISBORG
Cargo: 6 crates of earth (experimental purposes)
In those days, I should note, Prof. Bulwer was explaining
to his students the cruel habits of carnivorous plants.
They observed in horror nature's mysterious ways.
Like a vampire - isn't it?
It seems that the approach of the strangler, Nosferatu,
already compelled the property agent Knock
into his shadow.
The patient admitted yesterday is going mad...
Blood is life! Blood is life!!!!
And this one here...
...a polyp with tentacles...
...transparent... almost incorporeal...
...almost but a phantom...
Spiders!
Ellen was often seen on the beach
within the solitude of the dunes.
Yearning for her beloved,
her eyes scanned waves and distance alike.
My dear! My dearest!
Grieve not that thy beloved is so far away
I am plagued by mosquitoes.
I already have two bites on my throat,
one quite near the other, on each side
One dreams so heavily in this desolate castle,
but fear not.
No I must go... by the shortest route home!!!
PLAGUE. A plague epidemic has broken out
in Transylvania and the Black Sea ports
of Varna and Galaz.
All victims exhibit the same peculiar stigmata on the neck,
the origin of which still puzzles the doctors.
The Dardanelles were closed to all ships
suspected of carrying the plague.
A sailor's fallen ill below deck. He's delirious.
It spread through the ship like an epidemic.
The first stricken sailor pulled the entire crew
after him into the dark grave of the waves.
In the light of the sinking sun,
the captain and ship 's mate
bid farewell to the last of their comrades.
I'm going below!!! If I'm not back up in ten minutes...
The ship of death had acquired its new captain.
End of the 3rd Act.
Nosferatu 4th Act.
It's quite difficult to say how, despite his depleted strength,
young Hutter succeeded in surmounting the obstacles
on his voyage home - - meanwhlle, Nosferatu's
deadly breath swelled the sails of the ship,
which flew on toward it's destination with ghostly haste.
I must go to him. He's coming!!!
The master is near... The master is near!
Long have I pondered why Nosferatu was said
to have travelled with earth-filled coffins.
I found it recorded that vampyres
can only draw their shadowy strength
from the accursed earth
in which they were buried.
Thank God... you're safe... All's well now...
Looked over everything... Not a living soul on board.
Varna - 12 July
Crew - minus myself as captain: One helmsman, :
One ship's mate, : Five sailors
Second day - 13 July one sailor ill with fever
Course: SSW Wind: NE
Third day - 14 July ship's mate is babbling
claims strange passenger is below deck
Course: SE Wind: NE
Tenth day - 22 July
rats in ship's hold danger of plague
Danger of plague!! Go home!
Shut all windows and doors!
PROCLAMATION
It is hereby decreed that the honourable magistrate
of this town forbids the populace to transport
the ill or plague-stricken to the hospital
lest the plague spread through the streets.
End of the 4th Act.
Nosferatu 5th Act.
Hutter made Ellen swear not to touch the book
which had frightened him with it's visions. -
Yet she could not resist it's bizarre attraction.
At night this same Nosferatu doth clutch his victim
and doth suck like hellish life-potion it's blood.
Take heede that his shadow not encumber thee
like an incubus with gruesome dreams
Wherefore no other salvation is possible,
but that a maiden wholly without sin
maketh the Vampyre forget the first crow of the cock.
Would that she give freely of her blood
This is what I see - each evening!!!
Fear lurked in every corner of the town.
Who was still well? Who already ill?
I'll run over there quickly... I'll fetch Sievers...
Wherefore no other salvation is possible,
but that a maiden wholly without sin
maketh the Vampyre forget the first crow of the cock.
Would that she give freely of her blood
The panic-stricken town was looking for a victim:
It was Knock.
Someone saw him! He ran outside!
He strangled the custodian...
He strangled him... the vampire!
I LOVE YOU
Bulwer! Fetch Bulwer!
Knock has been captured!
The master... the master!
The master... is... dead.
Witness the miracle on the heels of the truth:
At that very hour,
the Great Death came to an end, and as if confronted
by the victorious radiance of the living sun,
the shadow of the Deathbird was dispersed.
END.