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Phantom
1922 Drama
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Credits
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Director: F.W. Murnau
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Script: Thea von Harbou, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Gerhart Hauptmann (novel)
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Photo: Axel Graatkjär, Theophan Ouchakoff
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Cast: Alfred Abel (Lorenz Lubota),
Grete Berger (Mrs Schwabe),
Lil Dagover (Marie Starke),
Lya De Putti (Veronika/Mellitta),
Anton Edthofer (Wigottschinski),
Aud Egede Nissen (Melanie),
Karl Etlinger (Starke),
Ilka Grüning (Baroness),
Frida Richard (Lorenz's mother),
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski (Hugo Lubota)
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Country: Germany
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Language: German
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Runtime: 125 min; B&W; silent
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Aka: The Phantom
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Summary
Haunted by his past, Lorenz Lubota agrees to his wife’s suggestion to write the tragic
story of his life. Some years before, he was a humble clerk, earning barely enough
to keep himself and his elderly mother. His sister Melanie had left home in
disgrace, having chosen to put comfort before virtue. In his spare time, Lorentz
occupies himself by writing poems. His neighbour, the bookbinder Starke, is impressed
by Lorenz’s poetry and is sure he can find a publisher. One day, Lorentz is knocked
down by a horse and cart. Unharmed, he is spellbound when he sees the beautiful
young woman in the cart - she is the wealthy heiress Veronika Harlan. From that
instant, Lorentz is possessed by the strongest and most dangerous of emotions - love.
A short time later, he meets Mellitta, who is the exact image of Veronika, but she is
in desperate want of money. Convinced by Starke that he is about to become
a famous poet, Lorentz persuades his Aunt Schwabe to give him money, which he foolishly
squanders on Mellitta. When she realises she has been duped, Schwabe threatens to
prosecute Lorentz unless he returns the money...
Review
The great German cineaste F.W. Murnau followed his landmark expressionist horror film
Nosferatu
(1922) with this inspired adaptation of a novel by the Nobel Prize winning
author Gerhart Hauptmann. The film’s production was beset by all manner of problems
- Murnau fell ill during the shoot and financing was a nightmare thanks to rampant hyper-inflation.
It was a miracle the film was ever completed, and it’s also a miracle that the film is
available to be seen today. Until quite recently, it was believed that all copies
of the film had been lost, and it was only restored in 2002/3 from various sets of damaged
prints.
In contrast to the highly stylised expressionism of Nosferatu
, Murnau adopts a far more naturalistic approach for Phantom
- similar to the harsh social realism of his later film
Der Letzte Mann (1924). There are some
stunning expressionistic touches in the film, but these are used sparingly and with a
specific purpose. The restrained cinematographic style of Phantom
allows Murnau to focus more on plot and characterisation. The film
may have less visually impact than, say, Nosferatu
or Faust
(1926), but it has much greater psychological depth than many films of this
era. Each of the characters is well-drawn and portrayed convincingly - even the
minor characters such as Lorentz’s younger brother and the amiable bookbinder Starke.
The cast includes some of the most notable German actors of the time.
Phantom
is unusual for a German film of this period in that it knits together two very
distinct styles - realism and expressionism. Murnau limits the use of expressionistic
technique to those sequences where Lorentz experiences his great emotional upheavals -
his falling in love and subsequent bouts of panic and mental derangement. We see
both the world in which Lorentz lives - one of unremitting hardship and duplicity - and
the world as he experiences it - one of emotional excess, irrational optimism followed
by crushing despair. The expressionist sequences are brief but extraordinarily effective
- the most memorable being the scene in which a street of houses apparently comes to life
and menaces Lorentz like some Gothic horror monstrosity.
The genius of Murnau
is evidenced by the skill with which he brings these two perspectives (the actual and
the experiential, the objective and subjective) together in a coherent narrative which
thoroughly engages the spectator’s attention. Watching a Murnau film is never a
passive experience - there’s something about the director’s technique which draws us into
his eerie twilight dreamscape and makes us feel as though we were active participants
in the drama we are seeing. This is why Nosferatu
is regarded as one of the greatest of horror films and why
Sunrise is equally considered to be one of
the finest of cinematic love poems. Phantom
is almost as impressive as these great works - a compelling study in obsession
and human frailty, realised with great sensitivity, intelligence and an almost unrivalled
appreciation of the potential of cinematic art.
© James Travers 2007
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