Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: F.W Murnau's Head Stolen

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 07-20-2015, 06:06 PM:

Link To Story (Variety.com)
Nosfaratu Director F.W Murnau's Head Stolen From Grave
German news outlets are reporting that the head of “Nosferatu” director F.W.
Murnau has been stolen from his family plot in a cemetery in Stahnsdorf, Germany.

The filmmaker of the early silent vampire movie, recognized as one of the
scariest horror movies of all time, died in 1931.

In a story reminiscent of one of his own movies, grave robbers opened a metal
coffin to access the filmmaker’s embalmed body, said the newspaper.

Stahnsdorf is about 12 miles southwest of central Berlin. The nearby graves
of his two brothers were not disturbed. Spiegel Online said some wax residue
had been found near the grave, pointing to a possible occult connection.

Released in 1922, “Nosferatu” was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s
novel “Dracula.” Murnau worked in Hollywood for several years, directing “Sunrise,”
which won several Oscars at the first Academy Awards. He died in a car crash
near Santa Barbara but was buried in his native Germany. <END>

>Note to Murnau Family: Check e-bay.
jim c

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-20-2015, 07:24 PM:

Didn't know that The Devil had an Ebay account!

Interesting to speculate how his career would have progressed if not for the accident. Based on City Girl and Tabu, I suspect that he would have ended up directing Universal horrors in the '30s and then B-movie Noirs in the '40s and '50s, which probably would not have made any headlines at the time of their release, but be raved about by academics and restored in 4K and published on deluxe BD editions now. He obviously wasn't destined to preside over the glitzy studio blockbusters of the '30s, given his falling out with Fox, the happy ending of Sunrise forced on him against his will, etc. etc.