
Directing
F. W. Murnau
Born — Died
1888-12-28 — 1931-03-11
Place of birth
Bielefeld, North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Known for
Directing
Credits
34 titles
Friedrich Wilhelm “F. W.” Murnau (December 28, 1888 – March 11, 1931) was one of the most influential German film directors of the silent era, and a prominent figure in the expressionist movement in German cinema during the 1920s. Although some of Murnau’s films have been lost, most still survive. While the horror film Nosferatu (1922) is his most famous work, the romantic melodrama Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) is his critically most acclaimed; the British Film Institute's 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll named it the fifth-best film in the history of motion pictures. Murnau's characteristics are an atmospheric imagery and an innovative use of camera movement. Andrew Sarris in his in…
Known for
7.7The mysterious Count Orlok summons a happily married real estate agent to his castle, located up in the Transylvanian mountains, to finalise a terrifying deal.
Nosferatu
1922
7.8An aging doorman, after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel, is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbours and society.
The Last Laugh
1924
7.8A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
1927
7.9Murnau’s epic adaptation of Goethe’s tragedy stands with Fritz Lang’s Metropolis among the supreme achievements of German silent cinema. Gösta Ekman plays the alchemist who, his faith shaken in a time of plague, is offered the gift of healing and eternal youth… in exchange for his soul.
Faust
1926
6.9Lorenz Lubota is a city clerk with no direction in life. One day on his way to work he is run over by a woman driving a chariot and he is immediately infatuated with her.
Phantom
1922
7.1On the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
1931
Film credits
2000s · 3 titles
1920s · 3 titles
7.8A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
1927
7.2The only surviving excerpt of a documentary on film production in Weimar Germany, featuring the different personalities of several famous directors of the era at work on the set including Fritz Lang, Robert Wiene, and E.A. Dupont.
The Film in the Film
1924
German documentary about Hollywood
The Movie City of Hollywood
1928
Behind the camera
7.7The mysterious Count Orlok summons a happily married real estate agent to his castle, located up in the Transylvanian mountains, to finalise a terrifying deal.
Nosferatu
1922
7.8An aging doorman, after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel, is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbours and society.
The Last Laugh
1924
7.8A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
1927
7.9Murnau’s epic adaptation of Goethe’s tragedy stands with Fritz Lang’s Metropolis among the supreme achievements of German silent cinema. Gösta Ekman plays the alchemist who, his faith shaken in a time of plague, is offered the gift of healing and eternal youth… in exchange for his soul.
Faust
1926
6.9Lorenz Lubota is a city clerk with no direction in life. One day on his way to work he is run over by a woman driving a chariot and he is immediately infatuated with her.
Phantom
1922
7.1On the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
1931
7.1On the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
1931
7.1On the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
1931
6.3The sinister Count Oetsch scandalizes the aristocratic social gathering at Castle Vogelod as he announces his intention to "crash" the festivities. Baroness Safferstätt is expected shortly, and the guests are well-aware of the rumors that Count Oetsch murdered the baroness' late husband. Oetsch refuses to leave, vowing that he will reveal the identity of the real killer. Before the weekend is through, the Count and Baroness will reveal secrets too shocking to be believed!
The Haunted Castle
1921
7.5A waitress from Chicago falls in love with a man from rural Minnesota and marries him, with the intent of living a better life - but life on the farm has its own challenges.
City Girl
1930
6.3When farmer Rog dies, his eldest Peter takes over the farm while his youngest Johannes is determined for a better life: he becomes secretary to Count Rudenberg and starts courting his daughter Gerda. When he learns that the Count, who is terminally ill, has bequeathed a piece of land under which lies a petroleum field to his second wife, he courts her instead.
The Burning Soil
1922
7.2A young man shows his millionaire grandfather a film based on Molière's play "Tartuffe" in order to expose the old man's hypocritical governess who covets the young man's inheritance.
Tartuffe
1926
6.1Dr. Egil Börne, an eminent physician, comes under the spell of an unscrupulous cabaret dancer and deserts his fiancée. The plot finds echoes throughout the Weimar period, including Sternberg’s The Blue Angel. Conrad Veidt appears in a supporting role as a sinister blind painter, whose entrance eerily presages Murnau’s Nosferatu. Der Gang in die Nacht, the earliest surviving film by F. W. Murnau, is also, paradoxically, the only Murnau film for which the original camera negative exists.
Journey into the Night
1921
NR"Nosferatu: The First Vampire" is a 1998 direct-to-video movie with the horror classic, "Nosferatu", remastered with a soundtrack by Type-O Negative and hosted by David Carradine.
Nosferatu: The First Vampire
1998
6.6The likeable and carefree Grand Duke of Abacco is in dire straits. There is no money left to service the State's debt; the main creditor is looking forward to expropriating the entire Duchy. The marriage with Olga, Grand Duchess of Russia, would solve everything, but a crucial letter of hers about the engagement has been stolen. Besides, a bunch of revolutionaries and a dubious businessman have other plans regarding the Grand Duke. With the intrusion of adventurer Philipp Collins into the Grand Duke's affairs, a series of frantic chases, plots and counter-plots begins.
The Finances of the Grand Duke
1924
7.6Four orphans, raised by an aging clown, becomes a high wire act in a circus. Lost film.
4 Devils
1928
9.0Two opposing characters are hidden in the person of the inconspicuous London gentleman Dr. Warren and Janus. A lost film.
The Head of Janus
1920
5.8All men are under lovely Maritza's spell.Tired of working for the old woman Yelina, who forces her to cajole customs officials to help the smugglers, she flees and finds work at Mrs. Avricolos' farm. Mostly lost, one reel survives.
Marizza
1922
NRNew sound design and a neon color palette offer a fresh take on the horror classic. A mysterious count travels to Germany bearing a deadly secret.
Synthwave Horror: Nosferatu
2023
7.0Wilton, a hunchback, who was always scorned and ridiculed by women, returns from Java a rich man after having discovered a diamond mine. He romances Gina, who is on the rebound from a broken affair, and showers her with expensive gifts. After Gina reconciles with her boyfriend, she continues to see Wilton because of what he gives her. After he discovers her perfidy, Wilton develops a poison and mixes it into her lipstick, which will kill any man who kisses her.
The Hunchback and the Dancer
1920
The extended Steyer family lives together in a cottage in the mountains. The younger Steyer's wife Ludmilla wants money, and doesn't care if she must ruin the lives of the Steyer family to get it. Lost film.
The Expulsion
1923
8.0A man searches for a cursed emerald belonging to his ancestor. Lost film, minor fragments survive
The Boy in Blue
1921
10.0Cheston, a millionaire, is looking after Maud, a beautiful woman from the 'demimonde'. Her brother, Brilburn, forces her to ask her rich admirer for an expensive piece of jewelry. Cheston buys a precious pearl necklace. Lost film.
Evening – Night – Morning
1920
8.0A young Russian dancer in Geneva returns to Russia, where he falls in love with a grand duchess. He is arrested but manages to escape. Lost film.
Desire: The Tragedy of a Dancer
1921
NRA version of Nosferatu to which sound was added. Some scenes were left out and new ones were added including a different ending. Additionally all the characters names were changed.
The Twelfth Hour
1930
NRThe film depicts one of the great hunts the South Sea Islanders. Come schools of fish in one of the bays on the island, so hurry on an alarm signal all the people out to sea to seal off the bay to drive the fish towards the coast and to impose there with spears.
Hunting in the South Seas
1940
8.0No synopsis available yet.
Comedy of the Heart
1924
7.0A three-part historical film: the first episode takes place in ancient Egypt, the second is based on the Hugo novel La Fin de Satan, and the third takes place during the 1917 Russian revolution. Lost film, minor fragments survive
Satan
1920



