eine symphonie des grauens

Premiering on this day in 1922 in the Marble Hall of the Berlin Zoological Gardens (previously), this silent, Expressionist horror film directed Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (see also), Nosferatu, was considered and unauthorised, unsanctioned cinematic adaptation of Dracula, despite significant changes to the story of Count Orlok, and all copies were ordered destroyed by the estate of Bram Stoker. A few reels, however, did survive and the world of film retains the legacy of this pioneering and influential masterpiece. A relator (Makler) from the fictional town of Wisborg dispatches one of his employees beyond the Carpathian Mountains to arrange their purchase of a property in his hometown for a mysterious and feared Transylvanian aristocrat.