1922
NOSFERATU
cast
Count Dracula, the vampire....................Max Schreck
Renfield, an estate agent..............Alexander Grannach
Jonathon Harker, Renfield's clerk...Gustav von Wangenheim
Nina, his wife............................Greta Schroeder
Westenra, Harker's friend....................G. H. Schell
Lucy, his wife.............................Ruth Landshoff
The Professor................................John Gottowt
The Town doctor...............................Gustav Botz
Captain of the 'Demeter'.......................Max Nemetz
First Mate.................................Wolfgang Heinz
>From the diary of Johann Cavallius, able historican of his
native city of Bremen: Nosferatu! That name alone can chill the
blood! Nosferatu! Was it he who brought the plaque to Bremen in
1838? I have long sought the causes of that terrible epidemic,
and found at its origin and its climax the innocent figures of
Jonathon Harker and his young wife Nina.
B R E M E N 1 8 3 8
MORNING
At the Home of Jonathon and Nina Harker
Harker leaves for work
HARKER: (presents Nina with a bouquet of flowers)
In the streets of Bremen
Harker walks to work
An old man approaches
OLD MAN: Wait, young man. You can't escape destiny by running
away.
HARKER: (shakes the old man's hand and continues walking)
At the Estate Office of Agent Renfield
Renfield reads a letter
The agent Renfield was a strange man, and there were unpleasant
rumors about him.
Enter Harker
RENFIELD: Here is an important letter from Transylvania. Count
Dracula wishes to buy a house in our city. It's a good
opportunity for you, Harker. The Count is rich, and free with
his money. You will have a marvelous journey. And, young as
you are, what matter if it costs you some pain--or even a little
blood? The house facing yours...that should suit him. Leave at
once, my young friend. And don't be frightened if people speak
of Transylvania as the land of phantoms.
At the Home of the Harkers
HARKER: I may be away for several months, Nina. Renfield is
sending me to some lost corner of the Carpathians.
NINA: (looks worried)
Harker left Nina with his good friends, Westenra and his wife
Lucy.
Outside the Westenras' House
Nina runs to say goodbye to Harker
HARKER: Don't worry, Nina, nothing can happen to me.
Harker mounts a horse and rides away
*****************************************
T R A N S Y L V A N I A
>From relay to relay, through the dust raised by the stages,
Harker hurried on.
A coach speeds along rugged countryside
EVENING
A Village Inn
Harker disembarks from the coach and enters the Inn.
HARKER: Dinner, quickly! I should already be at Count
Dracula's castle!
The inn patrons look away in worry.
INNKEEPER: You must not leave now! The evil spirits become
all-powerful after dark!
HARKER: (chuckles to himself)
In a room at the Inn
Harker undresses for bed
He reads from a book left on the bedtable
THE BOOK OF THE VAMPIRES
...and it was in 1443 that the first Nosferatu was
born.
That name rings like the cry of a bird of prey. Never
speak it aloud...
Men do not always recognize the dangers that beasts can
sense at certain times.
HARKER: (laughs and goes to bed)
Outside the window, a hyena prowls
Village horses scatter in fear
Village women cower in terror
MORNING
Outside the Inn
A coach departs
LATE AFTERNOON
In the Carpathian Mountains
The coach speeds along mountain roads
PASSENGER: Hurry! The sun will soon be setting.
AT DUSK THAT EVENING
At a crossroads
The coach stops and Harker disembarks
DRIVER: We will go no further, sir. Not for a fortune! We
will go no further. Here begins the land of the phantoms.
The driver throws down Harker's luggage
HARKER: (Walks away, crossing over a bridge)
And when he had crossed the bridge, the phantoms came to meet
him.
Harker is met by a coach which carries him to Castle Dracula
An the Castle
Harker is greeted by the Nosferatu Count
NOSFERATU: You are late, young man. It is almost midnight. My
servants have all retired.
He leads Harker to sup at a dining table
HARKER: (cuts finger on a bread knife)
NOSFERATU: Blood! Your precious blood!
Harker warily backs away
NOSFERATU: Let us chat together a moment, my friend. There are
still several hours until dawn, and I have the whole day to
sleep.
He leads Harker to a chair by a fireplace
As the sun rose, Harker felt himself freed from the oppressions
of the night.
Harker awakens
He notes two marks on his neck
LATER THAT MORNING
Harker walks in the countryside around the Castle
He finds a gazebo and writes there a letter to Nina
Nina, my beloved-
Don't be unhappy. Though I am far away, I love
you. This is a strange country. After my first night
in the castle, I found two large bites on my neck.
From mosquitoes? From spiders? I don't know. I have
had some frightful dreams, but they were only dreams.
You mustn't worry about me. I am leaving immediately
to return to Bremen--and to you.
Harker stops a traveler
and gives him the letter to post
As twilight came on, the empty castle became alive with menacing
shadows.
In the parlour at Castle Dracula
Harker and the Nosferatu review legal papers
The Count sees Harker's picture of Nina
NOSFERATU: Is this your wife? What a lovely throat! That old
mansion seems quite satisfactory. We shall be neighbors.
Count signs the documents
THAT NIGHT
In Harker's Bedroom
Harker packs away Nina's picture
He finds The Book of the Vampires
and reads more
Nosferatu drinks the blood of the young, the blood
necessary to his own existence.
One can recognize the mark of the vampire by the trace
of his fangs on the victim's throat.
HARKER: (peeks out his bedroom door)
COUNT: (stands motionlessly at the end of the hall)
HARKER: (quickly closes his bedroom door, looks out the window
at the river far below, and climbs into his bed)
Enter the Count
That same night in Bremen, in a somnabulistic dream...
At the home of the Westenras
NINA: (awakens in a trance and walks out to the terrace)
Westenra follows
WESTENRA: Nina?
Nina collapses in Westenra's arms
Enter servant
WESTENRA: The doctor, quickly!
LATER THAT NIGHT
In Harker's Bedroom in Castle Dracula
The Count advances on Harker as he lies asleep
MEANWHILE
In Nina's Bedroom in Bremen
The doctor, Westenra and Lucy
stand over Nina as she sleeps
NINA: (suddenly sitting up) Jonathon! Jonathon! Hear me!
MOMENTS LATER
In Harker's Bedroom in Castle Dracula
The Count turns from Harker's sleeping body
Exit the Count
MEANWHILE
In Nina's Bedroom in Bremen
NINA: (sighs relief and returns to sleep)
DOCTOR: A sudden fever.
The doctor laid Nina's trance to some unknown disease. Since
then I have learned that she had sensed the menace of Nosferatu
that very night. And Harker, far away, had heard her cries of
warning.
THE NEXT MORNING
In Harker's Bedroom at Castle Dracula
Harker awakens
He rushes from his bedroom out into the courtyard
and wanders into a crypt
He finds the Count lying in a coffin
Exit Harker, horrifed
EARLY THAT EVENING
Harker looks out his bedroom window
He sees the Count loading coffins on a horse-drawn cart
COUNT: (climbs into a coffin and closes the lid)
Exit horses, cart, coffins and Count
HARKER: (Makes a rope from a bedsheet and climbs out window)
Harker falls to the ground below and is knocked unconscious
THE NEXT DAY
A cargo-bearing raft floats down a river
The men little suspected what terrible cargo they were carrying
down the valley.
SEVERAL DAYS LATER
In a hospital room somewhere in Transylvania
A nurse and doctor tend to Harker at his bedside
NURSE: Some peasants brought him here last evening. He still
has a high fever.
HARKER: (leaps up suddenly) Coffins! Coffins filled with
earth!
In a shipyard
Sailors load crates onto a ship
Tipping over one crate, they find only dirt and rats
Nosferatu was en route; and with him disaster approached Bremen.
At the same time, Dr. Van Helsing was giving a course on the
secrets of nature and their strange correspondences to human
life. The professor told his students about the existence of a
carnivourous plant.
********************************
B R E M E N
Professor Van Helsing's Laboratory
Van Helsing and four colleagues watch
as a Venus flytrap traps a fly.
VAN HELSING: Astonishing, isn't it, gentlemen? That plant is
the vampire of the vegetable kingdom.
Nosferatu held Renfield under his influence from afar.
At the Sanatarium
An attendant enters the doctor's quarters
ATTENDANT: That patient who was brought in yesterday has gone
out of his mind!
In Renfield's cell at the Sanatarium
Enter Doctor and Attendant
RENFIELD: (catches and eats flies) Blood! Blood!
Renfield leaps at Doctor
Attendant subdues Renfield
In Van Helsing's Laboratory
Van Helsing and colleagues peer into a tank
VAN HELSING: And now, gentlemen, here is another type of
vampire: a polyp with claws...transparent, without substance,
almost a phantom.
Nina was often seen alone among the dunes, watching and waiting
for her husband's return.
On the dunes overlooking the sea
Nina sits on a bench looking out to sea.
Lucy and Western bring Nina the letter from Harker
MEANWHILE
In Harker's Hospital Room Somewhere in Transylvania
Harker dresses for his journey back to Bremen
AT THE SAME TIME
In Renfield's Cell at the Sanatarium in Bremen
Renfield unfolds a newspaper clipping and reads it
NEW PLAGUE BAFFLES SCIENCE
A mysterious epidemic of
the plaque has broken out
in eastern Europe in the
port cities of the Black
Sea, attacking principally
the young and vigourous.
Cause of the two bloody
marks on the neck of each
victim baffles the medical
profession.
RENFIELD: (laughs)
Aboard the Demester, first one man was stricken, then all.
In the hold of the Demeter
Captain tends to a sick sailor
The Count appears briefly then fades
One evening at sundown, the captain and his first mate buried
the last man of the crew.
On the deck of the Demeter
Captain and first mate toss a body overboard
FIRST MATE: I am going below. I want to have a look in the
hold.
In the hold of the Demeter
First mate sees the Nosferatu rise from his coffin
FIRST MATE: (rushes topside and leaps overboard)
CAPTAIN: (ties himself to the sterring wheel)
The Nosferatu approaches the Captain
Despite all sorts of obstacles, Harker pushed on towards Bremen.
Meanwhile, driven by the fatal breath of the vampire, the
vessel moved rapidly towards the Baltic.
ONE NIGHT
At the Westenras' House
Nina sleepwalks to the terrace
Lucy follows Nina
NINA: He's coming. I must go to meet him.
In the Bremen Harbour
The Demeter sails into port
In Renfield's Cell at the Sanatarium
Renfield attempts to climb out his window
RENFIELD: The Master is coming! The Master is here!
Renfield escapes
I have long tried to understand why Nosferatu travelled with the
earth-filled coffins. Recently I discovered that to preserve
their diabolic power, vampires must sleep during the day in the
same unhallowed ground in which they had been buried.
The Count carries his coffin from the harbour
to his newly-purchased house in Bremen
MEANWHILE
At the Westenras' House
Harker returns and is met by Nina
NINA: Jonathon! Thank God you are safe! Now I feel that I too
have been saved!
THE NEXT MORNING
In the Bremen Harbour
Officials search the Demeter
The captain is found dead at the wheel
OFFICIAL: We couldn't find a single living soul on board!
A second official discovers the Ship's Log
Ship's Log - Varna to Bremen
24 April 1838
Passed the Dardanelles - East wind - Carrying 5
passengers, mate, crew of 7, and myself, the Captain.
6 May 1838
Rounded Cape of Inatagran - One of my men, the
strongest, is sick - Crew is restless, uneasy.
7 May 1838
Mate reported stowaway hiding below decks - Will
investigate.
18 May 1838
Passed Gibraltar - Panic on board - Three men dead
already - Mate out of his mind - Rats in the hold - I
fear the plague.
BURGOMASTER: The plague is here! Stay in your houses!
HOURS LATER
In the deserted streets of Bremen
Towncrier reads a notice
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ NOTICE ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
To halt the spread of the plague,
the Burgomaster of Bremen forbids
the citizens of this city to bring
their sick to the hospitals
until further notice.
Nina had promised her husband never to open The Book of the
Vampires, but she found herself unable to resist the temptation.
In the living room of the Harkers
Nina reads from The Book of the Vampires
One can recognize the mark of the vampire by the trace
of his fangs on the victim's throat.
Only a woman can break his frightful spell--a woman
pure in heart--who will offer her blood freely to
Nosferatu and will keep the vampire by her side until
after the cock has crowed.
Enter Harker
NINA: (pointing out the window to the mansion across the
street) Look! Every night, in front of me!
The townspeople lived in mortal terror. Who was sick or dying?
Who will be stricken tomorrow?
At the Harkers' House
Nina lies sick in bed
HARKER: Don't be frightened. I will get the professor.
Exit Harker
Nina looks out the window
at the line of coffins being carried along the street
She reads from The Book of the Vampires
Only a woman can break his frightful spell--a woman
pure in heart--who will offer her blood freely to
Nosferatu and will keep the vampire by her side until
after the cock has crowed.
MEANWHILE
Outside the Sanatarium
Two old women talk to each other
OLD WOMAN: They saw him escape. He strangled his keeper.
Renfield runs down an alley, pursued by a crowd
He climbs onto a roof
The crowd throws rocks at him
He climbs down and runs outside of town
The crowd pursues
THAT NIGHT
In the Harkers' Bedroom
Nina is awakened by the Nosferatu outside her window
She opens the window
Harker awakens and Nina faints in his arms
HARKER: The professor! Call the professor!
Exit Harker
Enter the Nosferatu
THE NEXT MORNING
In the Harkers' Bedroom
The cock crows
The Nosferatu looks up from drinking at Nina's neck
MEANWHILE
In Renfield's Cell at the Sanatarium
RENFIELD: Master! Master! Beware!
Outside the Harkers' House
Harker and Van Helsing arrive
In the Harkers' Bedroom
Sunlight sweeps across the buildings
across the street from Nina's window
Nosferatu attempts to escape but is touched by the sunlight
He vanishes in a puff of smoke
In Renfield's Cell at the Sanatarium
RENFIELD: The Master is dead.
In the Harkers' Bedroom
Nina awakens
Enter Harker
NINA: Jonathon!
Harker takes Nina in his arms as she dies
And at that moment, as if by a miracle, the sick no longer died,
and the stifling shadow of the vampire vanished with the morning
sun.
THE END