1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. FW Murnou was born December twenty eighth, eighteen 2 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,960 Speaker 1: eighty eight, or one hundred and thirty six years ago today, 3 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: so our episode on him is today's Saturday classic. This 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: is also spectacular timing because the new version of Nos 5 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: Farautu is freshly out, so I theoretically will have seen 6 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:24,319 Speaker 1: it by the time this is out, but have not 7 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: seen it yet as we record, so I'm very excited. 8 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: This episode on Burnow originally came out on October twenty first, 9 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:38,479 Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. Please enjoy. Welcome to Stuff You Missed in 10 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 1: History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to 11 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Holly Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Hey, Tracy, 12 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: it's October. I know it's kind of like the middle 13 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: ish of October at this point. Yeah, So for anybody 14 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: who's worried that we haven't had a ton of Halloween content, 15 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: it's just kind of clumping all at the end, whereas 16 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:05,680 Speaker 1: in previous years it's kind of been like every other 17 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,760 Speaker 1: one throughout the month, right just because of some scheduling needs, 18 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: it's ended up that our October stuff is all coming 19 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: out really in the back half of October. Hopefully that 20 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: will be enough to tide people over. I know it's 21 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: hard to wait those extra two weeks. I know, as 22 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,199 Speaker 1: someone who celebrates Halloween virtually every day of the year, 23 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:29,559 Speaker 1: I understand the topic that we're covering today is something 24 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:32,120 Speaker 1: I have wanted to talk about for a really long time, 25 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: and that is F. W. Murnow. I make no secret 26 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,320 Speaker 1: that I love No Sparatu as well as a lot 27 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 1: of his other work, but No Saratu has a very 28 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: special place in my heart. See above Halloween every day. 29 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: But Murdow's life is so much more than that one film, 30 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 1: and that's actually happened fairly early in his film career, 31 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: so there's a lot that happened afterwards. And he was 32 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: truly an innovator in cinema and a visual storyteller whose 33 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: work is even today hotly debated for its merits and faults, 34 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: but its influence is felt in so many films that 35 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: you see today where the filmmakers were influenced by Murnow, 36 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: So you are still getting the benefit of his efforts, 37 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: whether you know it or not. Mrnow was born Friedrich 38 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 1: Wilhelm Plump in Beilefeld, Germany, on December eighteen eighty nine. 39 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: His brother Robert later described him, who went by his 40 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,640 Speaker 1: middle name of Wilhelm, by saying, quote from the very beginning, 41 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: my brother overflowed with imagination. Their family was well off. 42 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: Their father, Heinrich Plump, had inherited a profitable textile business, 43 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: which he sold for a pretty tidy sum and then 44 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: bought a sprawling estate. The family's children would put on 45 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: plays in the garden, and that's where Wilhelm really fell 46 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: in love with the idea of theater. Yeah. Apparently one 47 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: of his sisters his mother was his father's second wife, 48 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: and one of his older sisters, was initially like directing 49 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: all of them to do these plays, but he pretty 50 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: quickly was like, no, I want to make this stuff. 51 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: But their idyllic, privileged childhood was abruptly interrupted when Heinrich 52 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,360 Speaker 1: Pumpe sold the family property and sunk all of his 53 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: money into what turned out to be a bad investment. 54 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: They weren't destitute at that point, but they did have 55 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: a significant downgrade in their lifestyle. But Wilhelm's love of 56 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: putting on productions continued unabated, and his brothers, who wanted 57 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: to encourage his creativity despite their father, thinking that that 58 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,639 Speaker 1: was a waste of time, actually built a little theater 59 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: for him to put on his shows, complete with lighting 60 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: and moving scenery. Wilhelm, who was a voracious reader, was 61 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: at the top of his class in school. His father 62 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: wanted him to go on to become a professor, and 63 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: to that end, he attended university in Berlin, where he 64 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: started working as an actor under the name of Mernow. 65 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: This new name was in the hopes of his father 66 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: not discovering what he was doing, but Wilhelm was tall, 67 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: about six foot for and very easy to recognize. Soon 68 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: a family friend spotted him in a performance and mentioned 69 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: it to his parents. Heinrich then cut his son off financially, 70 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: but Mernell's grandfather on his mother's side started sending him 71 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: a monthly allowance so he could stay in Berlin. Yeah, 72 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:18,920 Speaker 1: he was still going to school. He hadn't shirked that 73 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 1: part of his responsibility. But he also apparently was living 74 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: a rather lavish life, which had caused some problems when 75 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:29,280 Speaker 1: his father was called with these like huge debts that 76 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: he had amassed, kind of putting only the finest furnishings 77 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: in art in his little apartment. But yeah, he thought 78 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:38,240 Speaker 1: he could just work as an actor on the side 79 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: while he also went to school. But after Berlin, Wilhelm 80 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: went on to school in Heidelberg, and there he studied literature, art, 81 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,159 Speaker 1: history and philosophy. And it was also there, in nineteen 82 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: oh eight that he connected with Max Reinhardt, Austrian born. 83 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 1: Reinhardt was a well known figure on the German theater scene, 84 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: and he was impressed by Wilhelm when he saw him 85 00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: perform in a play that was put on by the university. 86 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: He was so impressed, in fact, that he offered him 87 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: a place in his theater school with a full scholarship 88 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: if Urnow agreed to attend for a full six years. 89 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: In nineteen eleven, Murnow assisted rein Hart in the production 90 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: of a play called The Miracle, which was written by 91 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: Karl Vomler. He had been exploring directing and he realized 92 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,919 Speaker 1: that he preferred that to acting. Also, this move to 93 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: directing was motivated by a certain practicality. He knew that 94 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: being as tall as he was would be a hindrance 95 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: to being cast in leading roles, but his height really 96 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,480 Speaker 1: made no difference to working as a director. Yeah, he 97 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: was so distinctive looking that he was like, no one 98 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 1: is going to want to cast me from one show 99 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 1: to another, because I will just look like the same 100 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,839 Speaker 1: dude no matter what I do. World War One, though, 101 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: did put a damper on art for Murnow for a 102 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,839 Speaker 1: little while, who served in the German military. He was 103 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: first called up as a foot guard, and then he 104 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: was promoted, and then became a company commander, and eventually 105 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: he transferred to the Air Force, and while flying with 106 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,280 Speaker 1: the German Air Force eight times, but he walked away 107 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: every time without any serious injuries, and after his last 108 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: crash landing in Switzerland, he was arrested and interned at Andermot, 109 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 1: where he used his time as a prisoner of war 110 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:14,599 Speaker 1: to work on a film script and produce theater with 111 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: his fellow internees. According to fellow officer Major wolfgung Schump, 112 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: every evening Mernow would recite a poem called the Pianist 113 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: of Death to the officers, and according to the same account, 114 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: he also carried a stick with him which was made 115 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 1: out of a propeller which was full of bullet holes. 116 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: He was so influential that a lot of the men 117 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,599 Speaker 1: he served with also started carrying similar sticks as sort 118 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: of a strange wartime fashion trend that Mernow had created. 119 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,280 Speaker 1: While Mernow made it through the war seemingly unscathed, his 120 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,839 Speaker 1: best friend, Hans Ernbaum Digila, was killed at the front, 121 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:52,720 Speaker 1: and that was a loss that Mernow grieved really deeply. 122 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:55,479 Speaker 1: The loss of Hans was perhaps so difficult because he 123 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: had been one of the few people that Mernow was 124 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 1: actually close to. Vernou's family was often kept at arm's length, 125 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: particularly during the time that he had changed his name 126 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,600 Speaker 1: and worked on his secret acting career. There was a 127 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: story about one of his brothers going to the same 128 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: place as him, but like telling his friends and other 129 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: people in the family like, oh, I can't, I'm not 130 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: allowed to look at at villel like I can't, I 131 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 1: can't acknowledge that I related to him. But losing his 132 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: closest friend really seemed to catalyze a desire to connect 133 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: more deeply to his siblings and his family, which he 134 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: did in his early thirties. After the war ended, Burnout 135 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: didn't go back to the theater, and Steady shifted his 136 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: interest to film. He edited a few short films for 137 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: the German embassy. These were basically propaganda. In nineteen nineteen, 138 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: he founded his own film company with friends from his 139 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:49,040 Speaker 1: time at the Reinhardt School. Under his company Burnout Vite 140 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: voongevel Shaft, he made the transition into directing long form film. 141 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: He did this when he directed The Boy in Blue 142 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: that was inspired by the seventeen seventy painting The Blue 143 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: Boy by Thomas Gane For A copy of the painting 144 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: appears in the film, but the face in the original 145 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:08,720 Speaker 1: was replaced with the face of the main character. In 146 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:13,120 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty, his story overlaps with a previous podcast subject, 147 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: Bella Lugosi. Murnow directed Lugosi in an adaptation of The 148 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: Doctor Jekyl and Mister Hyde's story that was originally published 149 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty six. Murnow's version, which was titled Jana's Faced, 150 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:27,320 Speaker 1: was a critical success, although like a lot of his work, 151 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: modern audiences have no access to it as it has 152 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: been lost. Almost half of his films were lost over 153 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:35,960 Speaker 1: the years. Murnow's work in nineteen twenty two is what 154 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: has truly endured, though, and that's what's given the director 155 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 1: his longevity as a person of interest among horror fans especially. 156 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,120 Speaker 1: It was then that he directed the cult classic Nosferatu. 157 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:50,320 Speaker 1: Even if you don't know the film, odds are that 158 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: you have seen images from it. Count Orlock, who's the 159 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: vampire at the center of the plot, is just an 160 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: unmistakable figure. This is when I'm going to confess to 161 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,679 Speaker 1: Holly that I've never seen this film all the way through, 162 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 1: but I immediately can call what count Orloc looks like 163 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: to mine, like and how he moves like all of that. 164 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,200 Speaker 1: I want to mind a big dramatic throwing of things 165 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:17,080 Speaker 1: across the room, but I'll forgive you. Yeah, you're missing out, 166 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 1: though I know, I know, there's just so much media 167 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: to consume. Count Orloc is tall and thin, with large 168 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: pointy ears, heavy eyebrows, and long, pointy front teeth, and 169 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:32,800 Speaker 1: he's one of cinema's oldest and most iconic villains and 170 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: serves as sort of a shorthand for a vampire. Now 171 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: and coming up, we'll talk about some of the rumors 172 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: around the making of No Speratu, but first we're gonna 173 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:53,079 Speaker 1: pause for a word from one of our sponsors. There 174 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: have been so many rumors and stories surrounding the making 175 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: of the film No Speratu since it was released, in 176 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: part due to some of the promotional materials that were 177 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,960 Speaker 1: released ahead of the movie. To drum up interest, the 178 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,120 Speaker 1: magazine Bunu Unfilm put out an issue just before the 179 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: film came out in nineteen twenty two that featured a 180 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 1: story told by production designer Alban Grau, in which Grau 181 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,959 Speaker 1: claims that during the war he met a Serbian man 182 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,840 Speaker 1: who claimed that his father had died without receiving the 183 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: holy sacraments and then wandered their village in vampire form. Grau, 184 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: who was an occultist and also one of the people 185 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:31,439 Speaker 1: who initiated this project, claimed to have seen documents detailing 186 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:34,680 Speaker 1: the exhumation of the body, which showed no signs of decomposition, 187 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:37,560 Speaker 1: and then Grau's Serbian friend told him that after the 188 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:40,040 Speaker 1: body of his father was exhumed, a steak was driven 189 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:43,200 Speaker 1: through its heart and that the vampire died. So this 190 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:47,320 Speaker 1: theoretically was the inspiration for Nosferatu. According to Grau, it 191 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:50,120 Speaker 1: was all based on this true story that he had 192 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: heard while during the war, and he claimed that no 193 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 1: s ferratu was the Serbian word for vampire, although the 194 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 1: true etymology of that word is a lot hazier than that. 195 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 1: There's no exact news origin point. Nosparatu continues to have 196 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 1: its own mythos as the first vampire film. It's drawn 197 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:09,760 Speaker 1: a lot of interest in the century since that it 198 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 1: was made, but it was almost lost, just like several 199 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 1: of Mernow's other films. That's because the story is a 200 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 1: loose adaptation of bram Stoker's Dracula, and it was made 201 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: without the rights to that story, something that is a 202 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,600 Speaker 1: non issue now because it's so old, but was an 203 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: issue at that time. Mernow's production company was unable to 204 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:31,680 Speaker 1: secure the rights to it, but they went ahead with 205 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: the production anyway, changing a number of the elements, and 206 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:40,360 Speaker 1: Florence Balcolm Stoker, who was bram Stoker's widow, sued over it. Yeah, 207 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 1: they changed names of characters in the location, and it's 208 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:46,600 Speaker 1: it's a little bit different, but there's enough there that 209 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:49,280 Speaker 1: it's pretty clearly if you had read Dracula, you'd be like, this, 210 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:52,280 Speaker 1: shear looks like a lot like Dracula. Yeah, it's sort 211 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:54,560 Speaker 1: of like when you go to buy Halloween costumes and 212 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:59,080 Speaker 1: they are named something like Magical School Student, and you 213 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:03,160 Speaker 1: know it's really Harry Potter. Right. A recent one that 214 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: I saw was Midweek Angry Girl and it's supposed to 215 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:11,520 Speaker 1: be Wednesday, which to me was very funny. By the 216 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 1: time that the case that Florence Balcomstoker brought went to court, 217 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,839 Speaker 1: the film company was already bankrupt. So much money had 218 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:24,199 Speaker 1: been spent on publicity for nos Faratu and on staging 219 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: a massive gala opening at the Berlin Zoo that there 220 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: was literally nothing left for the widow Stoker to be awarded. Still, 221 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: a German court did rule in her favor and issued 222 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:36,559 Speaker 1: a verdict that all copies of the film had to 223 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 1: be destroyed, of course, not to thwart the law, but thankfully, 224 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,600 Speaker 1: in my opinion, that did not happen. Prince of the 225 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: film made their way to London, where Florence Balcomstoker was 226 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:49,960 Speaker 1: able to block its screening in nineteen twenty five, and 227 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,640 Speaker 1: then to New York, where it was viewed by audiences 228 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty nine. And as with a lot of 229 00:12:55,679 --> 00:12:59,000 Speaker 1: Murnow's work, there are multiple different versions of the film, 230 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,079 Speaker 1: and over the years, film fans and historians have worked 231 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:05,080 Speaker 1: very hard, in some cases referring to the original shooting 232 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:08,880 Speaker 1: script to untangle which of those versions is actually closest 233 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 1: to Murnow's original. As an aside the film Shadow of 234 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: the Vampire, which, unlike tas Sperazzi I have seen, stars 235 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: Williem Dafoe as actor Max Shrek, who brought count Orlock 236 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: to life. It's a really fun movie and it plays 237 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: on the long running rumor that Shrek actually did practice 238 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 1: vampirism during the filming of Nosperazu, but to be clear, 239 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,680 Speaker 1: that is fiction. Mernow is portrayed by John Malkovich in 240 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: a manner that suggests that the director was just a 241 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: driven auteur who only cared about capturing what he saw 242 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:44,960 Speaker 1: as his vision without being concerned about anything or anybody else. 243 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:49,000 Speaker 1: That is totally opposite of just about every account of 244 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,959 Speaker 1: Mernow as a director. Yeah, we're gonna read something later 245 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:57,040 Speaker 1: that was was said at his funeral that will kind 246 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: of very clearly point out how differently he really really 247 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: was portrayed in that film from what he was like 248 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,880 Speaker 1: in real life. And while Nosharatu is probably the film 249 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:09,199 Speaker 1: he's most famous for today, at least in sort of 250 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:12,520 Speaker 1: general audience circles, I think if you get into cinophile circles, 251 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:16,600 Speaker 1: others come up pretty quickly. But Mernow went on, as 252 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:19,240 Speaker 1: we said at the beginning, to direct plenty of other films, 253 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: and it was really those films that put him on 254 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:23,720 Speaker 1: the map as a director of note with his contemporaries 255 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 1: in Germany. In nineteen twenty four, Der Lets demnn was released, 256 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: and it was a breakthrough moment in narrative cinema. While 257 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: the title translates directly to the Last Man in its 258 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: English language release that was titled The Last Laugh, it 259 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 1: tells the story of the doorman at a fancy hotel who, 260 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: as he ages, is forced into the lesser role of 261 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 1: bathroom attendant. This transition is significant and difficult for the 262 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:52,360 Speaker 1: main character because his identity is totally tied up in 263 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 1: his work as a doorman, and this emotional fall mirrors 264 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: the fall and his status as a staff member in 265 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:01,520 Speaker 1: the hotel. There is almost no dialogue in the Last Laugh. 266 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: There's no audible dialogue at all. This was still in 267 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,480 Speaker 1: the silent film era, so The Jazz Singer would not 268 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:10,360 Speaker 1: debut for another three years. But there is also only 269 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: a single title card in all of Murnow's nineteen twenty 270 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:17,280 Speaker 1: four film, which runs seventy seven minutes. The entire story 271 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 1: is told through pantomime and the use of shadow light 272 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 1: and another artist creative skill. The Last Laugh gained Mernow 273 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 1: a lot of attention, in part because of the work 274 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: of cinematographer Carl Freund in service to Marnew's vision. Unlike 275 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 1: most of the films of the time that were shot 276 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 1: on sound stages from an audience perspective, almost like you 277 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:41,760 Speaker 1: were viewing a play, the Last Man traveled through the 278 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 1: set to mimic walking the streets of the city. The 279 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: main character's point of view is captured and shared with 280 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 1: the audience, and that's something that moviegoers of the nineteen 281 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: twenties weren't really accustomed to. Today, there are dollies and 282 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:59,239 Speaker 1: rigs that are specifically made to make the cameras agile, 283 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: but Freud had to really improvise to find ways to 284 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 1: get his shots and to meet Brnow's demands because Mernow 285 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 1: really felt like the film needed to be more dynamic. Yeah, 286 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 1: Frend did everything from attaching cameras to bicycles to strapping 287 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: a camera to his waist, and for one scene he 288 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 1: wore the camera on his waist and he crossed the 289 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: set wearing a pair of roller skates with the camera 290 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 1: rolling to create the illusion of drunkenness. For the audience, 291 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:27,680 Speaker 1: and for the film's opening shot, he was on a 292 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: bicycle as it traveled on an improvised elevator going down 293 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:34,760 Speaker 1: and then essentially he pedaled out into a hotel lobby set. 294 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:37,280 Speaker 1: So it drew the audience into the motion and the 295 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 1: tone and the world of the character in the film instantly. 296 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: I think, living in the era of go pro footage, 297 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: it's easy to forget that, like people had to work 298 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: out how to make cameras move this way. Yeah. There's 299 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: a really great story that one of his colleagues tells 300 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: about how when Murnow is first like, we need to 301 00:16:54,920 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: follow this smoke up this this set, and they're like, okay, wait, 302 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: we got to walk up the stairs, and how he 303 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:07,360 Speaker 1: realized later that they had already assumed that they could 304 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 1: figure out how to carry the camera. They were just like, 305 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:12,240 Speaker 1: but how will we get up the stairs? Like they 306 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:14,919 Speaker 1: had no problem getting over that idea of taking it 307 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:18,720 Speaker 1: off the tripod, but the next part was just like 308 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:21,239 Speaker 1: the logistics of the next thing were so big that 309 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:24,160 Speaker 1: they didn't even think about like just having to hold 310 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:27,359 Speaker 1: the camera after the last laugh. Mernow was known as 311 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,960 Speaker 1: the great impressionist in German film Circles. He took that 312 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,760 Speaker 1: reputation and used it to turn out a very sumptuous 313 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:40,360 Speaker 1: and extravagant film. Next that was an adaptation of Moliere's Tartuffe, 314 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:44,119 Speaker 1: which debuted in nineteen twenty five. His next film was 315 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,720 Speaker 1: another literary adaptation. That one was Faust, Twitch, debuted in 316 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:51,800 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty six. Throughout the mid nineteen twenties, Mernow had 317 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,320 Speaker 1: become quite a big name in German cinema, and it 318 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 1: was not long before Hollywood took notice. After the release 319 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: of Faust, Fox Film Corporation offered the director a contract 320 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:03,760 Speaker 1: to move to California and start making films in the 321 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: United States. One of Murnow's requests was that he be 322 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: allowed to take his crew with him, and that was 323 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,399 Speaker 1: something that Fox agreed to. Murnow's first project under his 324 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:17,040 Speaker 1: contract was a nineteen twenty seven picture called Sunrise, A 325 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:21,320 Speaker 1: Song of two Humans. It opens with title cards that read, quote, 326 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: this song of the man and his wife is of 327 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:26,879 Speaker 1: no place in every place. You might hear it anywhere, 328 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 1: at any time. For whatever the sun rises and sets 329 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:33,399 Speaker 1: in the city's turmoil or under the open sky on 330 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,320 Speaker 1: the farm, life is much the same. Sometimes Bitter, sometimes Sweet. 331 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,959 Speaker 1: The film, which is considered a masterpiece by a lot 332 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: of people, tells the story of a married man who 333 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:46,560 Speaker 1: has an affair and his lover suggests that he kill 334 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:48,640 Speaker 1: his wife so that he can leave behind his old 335 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:50,919 Speaker 1: life and start a new life in the city with 336 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 1: her and the man that is all he is named 337 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:57,000 Speaker 1: as is played by George O'Brien, and he's unable to 338 00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 1: follow through on this plan, and instead he reconciles with 339 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,560 Speaker 1: his wife. There are a lot of shots in this 340 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,040 Speaker 1: film that are considered like the first of their kind. 341 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: There's one where the two of them are on a 342 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:14,080 Speaker 1: trolley car kind of passing from a more rural suburban 343 00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 1: setting into a city setting that's considered super important. The 344 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 1: wife in this movie was played by Janet Gaynor. Sunrise 345 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: was and still is a critical success. It went on 346 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: to win an award at the first Academy Awards that 347 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: was held in nineteen twenty nine, and it was in 348 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:34,399 Speaker 1: the now defunct category of Unique and Artistic Picture. Janet 349 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:37,680 Speaker 1: Gaynor also won Best Actress that year. She was nominated 350 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:42,119 Speaker 1: in three different roles, including her work on Sunrise, Seventh Heaven, 351 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:46,119 Speaker 1: and Street Angel. Sunrise won for cinematography and was also 352 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 1: nominated for Art direction and that all sounds like Sunrise 353 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: was a big, big hit, but not so much with audiences. 354 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,119 Speaker 1: Critics loved it, but Sunrise just did not draw viewers, 355 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:00,920 Speaker 1: and the ticket sales on it were really disappointing. Despite 356 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:03,760 Speaker 1: all of the accolades that the film garnered, Fox decided 357 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: that Mernow was going to have less freedom on future projects. 358 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,120 Speaker 1: Four Devils came out in nineteen twenty eight. It told 359 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:12,639 Speaker 1: the story of four orphans who were raised by a 360 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:15,679 Speaker 1: clown and became a high wire circus act. This is 361 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 1: one of Murnow's films which has not survived. Yeah, that's 362 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 1: sometimes when you talk to film people, it's definitely mentioned 363 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:27,240 Speaker 1: as sort of a holy Grail film. They everybody hopes 364 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:29,879 Speaker 1: that one day we will find this film because it 365 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:32,399 Speaker 1: does when you read treatments of it and script pieces 366 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:36,399 Speaker 1: sound very very interesting. Our Daily Bread premiered in nineteen 367 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:39,119 Speaker 1: twenty nine. This film also came out under a different title, 368 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 1: which was City Girl, and Mernow, still being pretty highly 369 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:45,960 Speaker 1: supervised by the studio, did not have complete control over 370 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: this project and additional scenes were added at the last 371 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:51,199 Speaker 1: minute by the studio so that there could be some 372 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,159 Speaker 1: audio dialogue in the film to take advantage of the 373 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,720 Speaker 1: audience's interest in talkies. If you see it today, you're 374 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:00,200 Speaker 1: probably going to see an all silent version, because most 375 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:04,400 Speaker 1: most versions we would see today are re edited back 376 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:08,439 Speaker 1: to what people believe was Murnow's initial vision. Naturally, that 377 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 1: kind of tampering with his work was not something that 378 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 1: Mernow was happy about at all, and an effort to 379 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: regain his artistic freedom, he formed a partnership with Robert Flaherty. 380 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 1: The two combined their efforts to start their own production company. 381 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,760 Speaker 1: But this was kind of an odd pairing. Murnow was 382 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:26,800 Speaker 1: known for his fictional work and that was where his 383 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:29,439 Speaker 1: heart really was as a filmmaker. But Flerty, on the 384 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: other hand, was a documentarian, so working on films together 385 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:35,400 Speaker 1: put them at odds. And we're going to talk about 386 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,080 Speaker 1: the project that Mernow and Flerty took on as their 387 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:40,560 Speaker 1: first collaboration in just a moment. But first we're going 388 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:42,800 Speaker 1: to hear from one of the sponsors that keep stuff 389 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 1: you missed in history class going. Mrnow and Flerty's first 390 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,760 Speaker 1: and only project together was a film called Taboo that's 391 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 1: spelled Tabu. It was shot on location in the South Pacific, 392 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:05,880 Speaker 1: primarily on Bora, Bora and Tahiti. But whereas Flaherty thought 393 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,600 Speaker 1: that they were making a documentary about Polynesian culture, Mernow 394 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:12,639 Speaker 1: saw the documentary aspects of the production as a backdrop 395 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 1: for a fictional story that he wanted to tell. The 396 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:19,320 Speaker 1: collaboration aspect of this film quickly ended. Flaherty left the 397 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,800 Speaker 1: project pretty early on, although his name does appear in 398 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,800 Speaker 1: the credits as a co director. How much either of 399 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:27,840 Speaker 1: them influenced this film is another thing that people sometimes 400 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:31,440 Speaker 1: like to debate. Mernow continued as he desired crafting a 401 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,639 Speaker 1: love story set in the tropics. He cast local Islanders 402 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,320 Speaker 1: in the two lead roles of lovers whose desire to 403 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:40,719 Speaker 1: be together is at odds with their cultural rules. Mernow 404 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 1: fell so in love with Tahiti that he built himself 405 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,320 Speaker 1: a home there. His mother later wrote that he had 406 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:49,160 Speaker 1: always been fascinated with the South Seas and that going 407 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,280 Speaker 1: there to make Taboo was the culmination of a lifelong dream. 408 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 1: He planned to make more movies there after Taboo was released, 409 00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: and in the time that was leading up to the 410 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,360 Speaker 1: release of Taboo, Mernow, who had traveled back to California, 411 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: had planned to visit his mother, and before he left 412 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:08,040 Speaker 1: for Germany, he planned to have a creative meeting with 413 00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:12,000 Speaker 1: author William Morris about some potential projects together. On the 414 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,200 Speaker 1: morning of March eleventh, nineteen thirty one, Mernow stopped by 415 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,240 Speaker 1: the home of his friend, actress and screenwriter Salka Vitel, 416 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:20,879 Speaker 1: to pick up some sandwiches for the car ride up 417 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:22,960 Speaker 1: to Carmel del Monte, where his meeting was going to 418 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:26,600 Speaker 1: take place. Mernow was riding in a hired car, which 419 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 1: he planned to take with him by ship to Germany, 420 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: and he was traveling with a chauffeur for the California 421 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: drive named John Freeland, as well as a much younger man, 422 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 1: Garcia Stevenson, who the director had hired to be his 423 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:40,919 Speaker 1: valet and driver in Germany. There are different accounts of 424 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,159 Speaker 1: what happened next, but a little less than twenty miles 425 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,040 Speaker 1: outside of Santa Barbara, the car Mernow and the other 426 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,919 Speaker 1: two men were traveling in skidded off the road and 427 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:53,240 Speaker 1: down an embankment. According to the news story that ran 428 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,000 Speaker 1: in The New York Times, the car rolled twice on 429 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:58,200 Speaker 1: its thirty foot drop and then it landed on its 430 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:02,280 Speaker 1: Roof Mernow frack his skull in the accident and died 431 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,280 Speaker 1: the next day. In a bit of an unsettling coincidence, 432 00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:10,000 Speaker 1: Murnaut had told friends that he had consulted a fortune 433 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:13,120 Speaker 1: teller before starting his journey, and this fortune teller told 434 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,719 Speaker 1: him that he would die in a car on this trip. 435 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:19,399 Speaker 1: He had thought about taking a ship from California all 436 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:21,680 Speaker 1: the way to Europe instead of driving to New York 437 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,600 Speaker 1: to cross the Atlantic, and he thought that would thwart 438 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: that prediction. Yeah, he thought booking this longer cruise was 439 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,240 Speaker 1: his way around what the fortune teller had told him. 440 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:35,120 Speaker 1: So it was one of those sort of creepy coincidences 441 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:37,880 Speaker 1: that the fact that he died on the much shortened 442 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:42,360 Speaker 1: drive portion of his trip just adds to the mystique 443 00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,280 Speaker 1: of the whole thing. But this is also an issue 444 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 1: that involves a lot of rumors, because rumors began to 445 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:51,160 Speaker 1: swirl immediately as to what exactly had happened to cause 446 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,640 Speaker 1: this accident, and there are multiple different accounts, some by 447 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: his friend Slckovertel, won by a man who was in 448 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,639 Speaker 1: a car by behind him. There is also testimony given 449 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: by Freeman because Mernow's mother tried to sue the company 450 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: that he had rented the car from, and in one account, 451 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: Mernow himself was driving. In others, it was Mernow's valet, 452 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 1: Garcia Stevenson, who was underage. He was a teenager who 453 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:20,840 Speaker 1: was at the wheel. Stories began to circulate in Hollywood 454 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 1: that Mernow and Stevenson had been engaged in a sexual 455 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 1: act in the front seat while the chauffeur, Freeman, slept 456 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: in the back when the accident had happened. Because all 457 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,040 Speaker 1: of the men had been thrown from the car as 458 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:33,679 Speaker 1: it had tumbled to its final landing position, nothing was 459 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,520 Speaker 1: clear and gossip ran rampant. This is still a thing 460 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:39,720 Speaker 1: that is talked about in large question marks. Nobody really 461 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: knows what caused this accident. Were the other two men 462 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,879 Speaker 1: also killed in it? They were not okay. Freeman and 463 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,199 Speaker 1: Garcia both survived. As I said, Freeman gave an account 464 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,719 Speaker 1: during the investigation. Garcia, I didn't see anything that listed 465 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:56,920 Speaker 1: a clear account from him, so I'm not entirely sure 466 00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: what happened there. Even the accounts of where Marnau was 467 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 1: to meet the boat that would take him down to 468 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 1: the Panama Canal and then across the Atlantic were at 469 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:07,920 Speaker 1: odds with each other. One version stated he was headed 470 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:10,440 Speaker 1: to San Francisco, another claimed he was going to San 471 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:13,880 Speaker 1: Diego after the visit with Morris. All these rumors gave 472 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,920 Speaker 1: Murnau's sudden death of very seedy and unpleasant association. Only 473 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 1: eleven people attended the funeral that was held for him 474 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,639 Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, Yeah, with some of his collaborators, a 475 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:25,679 Speaker 1: couple of actors he had worked with, a couple of 476 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:29,920 Speaker 1: his very close friends. After Murnow's body was transported to Germany, 477 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 1: which took considerable effort and paperwork, there was another service 478 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:36,800 Speaker 1: held there and filmmaker Fritz Lange gave a eulogy, which 479 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:39,640 Speaker 1: was described by art director Robert Hurlth. This is also 480 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: interesting because Fritz Lang was considered something of a competitor 481 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: to Murnow. But according to hurl Quote, he Fritz described 482 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:52,840 Speaker 1: Murnow striding into the studio. All was good tempered, smiling, affably, 483 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:57,080 Speaker 1: able by his mere presence to kindle enthusiasm. He seemed 484 00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:00,240 Speaker 1: like some great aristocrat interesting himself in the Senate. I'm 485 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,600 Speaker 1: a partly out of curiosity and partly by way of amusement, 486 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 1: which was in fact what a lot of people believed. 487 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:11,160 Speaker 1: In reality he was a tireless and thorough worker. Behind 488 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,760 Speaker 1: his gaiety was an indefatigable energy that was nonetheless there 489 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,959 Speaker 1: because he liked to hide it. Taboo was released on 490 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 1: schedule just a week after Murnou's death. It wasn't a 491 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:26,359 Speaker 1: box office success. Mernou was finally buried in Stansdorf Cemetery 492 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: outside of Berlin. Even the burial became a source of gossip, 493 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,320 Speaker 1: as stories started to circulate that the director's coffin was 494 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: unburied in a seller because there wasn't any money to 495 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: have it interred. A German film periodical published a counter 496 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:44,920 Speaker 1: to that rumor, stating that the delay in putting Murnau's 497 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,159 Speaker 1: coffin in the ground was because of the chapel not 498 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,679 Speaker 1: being completed. After Murnow's sudden death, his family came to 499 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: know a whole new side of the director. His brother Robert, 500 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: traveled to Tahiti to deal with Murnow's property in his 501 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:00,680 Speaker 1: business there, and in Robert's account, he said that when 502 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:03,800 Speaker 1: he arrived at the port, the locals essentially ignored him, 503 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,639 Speaker 1: which was a stark contrast to the warm greeting that 504 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: all of the other disembarking travelers had received. Allegedly, the 505 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:13,720 Speaker 1: home that Mernow had built there was on the sacred 506 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,639 Speaker 1: soil of ancient temples, something that he had been warned 507 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: would bring him misfortune, and in his brother Robert's explanation, 508 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:23,440 Speaker 1: the locals believed that Mernow had brought his death upon 509 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: himself and viewed anyone associated with him as carrying the 510 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 1: curse as well. Eventually, Robert said that he was able 511 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:32,200 Speaker 1: to win over the people of Tahiti and that they 512 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,399 Speaker 1: confided in him that they had really loved his brother. 513 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 1: Whether that is true or not, we do not know. 514 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:43,520 Speaker 1: Robert definitely made an effort to present sort of a 515 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:47,680 Speaker 1: whitewashed version of Murnow after his death. For example, there 516 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: had been a lot of rumors and a lot of 517 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: discussion that he had been a homosexual. There's some theories 518 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 1: that that's why he was so eager to take the 519 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:56,920 Speaker 1: job in Hollywood, it was going to be a less 520 00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 1: restrictive culture than it was in Germany at the time. 521 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: Vehemently denied that anything of the type could happen. This 522 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,040 Speaker 1: is sort of the trick with Murnow is that there 523 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: are a lot of people involved with a stake in 524 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: his story that want to tell it very different ways 525 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:12,160 Speaker 1: and paint him very differently. Yeah, you'll, like, you'll see 526 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:14,960 Speaker 1: him on a lot of lists of like early gay 527 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: film pioneers and that type of stuff, Like those types 528 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 1: of more celebratory lists. But then there's other like this 529 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:26,440 Speaker 1: whole story of potentially building a house on a sacred 530 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 1: site like that has its own connotations. Yes, for sure, 531 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:31,920 Speaker 1: and it is. It's one of those tricky things. We 532 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,680 Speaker 1: talk about it on the show a lot when someone 533 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 1: is not maybe publicly out as homosexual. On the one hand, 534 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:44,200 Speaker 1: they are entitled to their own privacy even after death. 535 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 1: On the other, I understand the desire for representation and 536 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:49,320 Speaker 1: for people to be able to see that this has 537 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:52,080 Speaker 1: always been part of our history. And in Murnow's case, 538 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,920 Speaker 1: like I said, it's tricky because different people involved in 539 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: his life tell his story very very differently. Yeah. So 540 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:03,280 Speaker 1: there's certainly some degree of evidence to suggest that he 541 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,680 Speaker 1: was in fact homosexual, but in the very protected enclave 542 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:10,320 Speaker 1: of Hollywood, so and also a place where there were 543 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,240 Speaker 1: lots of rumors. Yeah, I feel like we've talked about 544 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,840 Speaker 1: other figures whose the relationships are a lot more clear 545 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:19,640 Speaker 1: and even like, even if they were living in a 546 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: time before that was such a clearly established identity in 547 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:26,400 Speaker 1: the way that it is today, Like we had more 548 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 1: documentation of their relationships and what their life was like 549 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 1: than this particular aspect of his life. Yeah. In nineteen 550 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:37,040 Speaker 1: sixty six, the FW Murnow Foundation was established to preserve 551 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:41,520 Speaker 1: Germany's film history. This foundation maintains and evaluates and manages 552 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: German films quote for the promotion of German film culture 553 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,120 Speaker 1: and film art. Yeah. They also do a lot of 554 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,280 Speaker 1: work to contextualize, for example, films that were made during 555 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 1: the Third Reich and just kind of trace how film 556 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 1: has developed in Germany over the years. And in a 557 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:00,680 Speaker 1: final chapter that makes mernow the perfect subject for one 558 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:04,000 Speaker 1: of our October episodes. He became a headline again in 559 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, as Murnow's work, and particularly nos Feratu, had 560 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:10,320 Speaker 1: gained a cult following in the second half of the 561 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:14,200 Speaker 1: twentieth century. His tomb began to be not just visited 562 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:17,920 Speaker 1: but broken into. Then in July of twenty fifteen, the 563 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:22,200 Speaker 1: coffin was found opened and Murnow's skull was gone. Who 564 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 1: stole it remains a mystery. There was candle wax left 565 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: the scene, which led authorities to speculate that it might 566 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:32,360 Speaker 1: have been quote some sort of occult practice. I can 567 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:35,400 Speaker 1: think of various non occult reasons for there to have 568 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 1: been handle wax there. But regardless, the skull remains at large. Yeah, 569 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:41,840 Speaker 1: we don't know where it is. And his tomb, the 570 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: cemetery that he was buried in, is in a forest 571 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:50,400 Speaker 1: outside of Berlin. He is buried between two family members, 572 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 1: his brother and his father, and it's one of those 573 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,440 Speaker 1: places where a lot of notable people in German history 574 00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,600 Speaker 1: have been buried, and it's considered really a huge cultural 575 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 1: loss that his tomb and his burial place was desecrated 576 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 1: in this way. We have no idea where that skull is. 577 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:10,840 Speaker 1: Maybe somedays someone will come forward with it, or a 578 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:12,880 Speaker 1: family member will pass and they will discover that they 579 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:16,120 Speaker 1: were hiding it all along. We don't know. Yeah, maybe 580 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:18,160 Speaker 1: it will be found with his films. We can only 581 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: hope that's clearly jesting on my part. Thanks so much 582 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,680 Speaker 1: for joining us on this Saturday. If you'd like to 583 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,920 Speaker 1: send us a note, our email addresses History Podcast at 584 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe to the show 585 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:41,160 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio, app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 586 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:42,360 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.