F. W. Murnau

Rare card · No. 49557

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (né Plumpe; 28 December 1888 – 11 March 1931) was a German film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is regarded as one of cinema's most influential filmmakers for his work in the silent era. An erudite child with an early interest in film, Murnau eventually studied philology and art before director Max Reinhardt recruited him to his acting school. During World War I, he served in the Imperial German Army, initially as an infantry company commander and communications officer and later with the German Army's Flying Corps as an observer/gunner. He survived several crashes without any severe injuries. Murnau's first directorial work premiered in 1919, but he did not attain international recognition until the 1922 film Nosferatu, an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. Although not a commercial success owing to copyright issues with author Stoker's estate, the film is considered a masterpiece of German Expressionist cinema and an early cult...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Underwood & Underwood, Public domain