Grau went back to Germany, founded his small video company Prana Film, and got to work on developing the movie. Even though there were many similarities to Stoker’s work, he made quite a few bold detours. For example, Count Orlok (a new name for Count Dracula) doesn’t create new vampires when he bites people; he just kills them. This was a significant change, one that would later influence Interview with the Vampire, where the severely anemic characters have a choice whether they kill their victims or turn them. The story also moved from England to Germany; there was no Van Helsing, no incessant letter writing, and the ending was completely different (what with the whole sun thing).
Grau’s work was regarded as an expressionistic retelling of the tale, but the Bram Stoker estate wasn’t having it. Stoker’s widow refused to sell Grau the rights, and when the movie was finished, the estate sued him for copyright infringement, claiming that Grau and director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau originally wanted to make a straight adaptation of Dracula. The German court sided with Stoker’s widow, ruling that all copies of the film be destroyed.
F.W. Murnau
![Disclaimer](<a href="https://rebrand.ly/LazadaSalePh"><img src="http://getfreefollowers.net/images/lazhorizontal.jpeg" /></a>){kind=link}
0 Comments