"Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror" (Kino Edition)

We all know the story by now, but might as well go over it briefly here.  Sometime in 1921, Germany's "Prana Films" decided to have a go at a vampire movie.  Choosing Bram Stoker's "Dracula" for the basis, the basic plot was left intact, while characters and details were slightly altered to create what turned out to arguably be the greatest horror film ever committed to film.  Since the proper rights were never secured, copies of the film were ordered to be seized and destroyed.  Several prints survived, and for all the years thereafter, technically inferior and butchered copies, pieced together from various sources, became what fans would come to know as "Nosferatu".  

     In 2007 "Kino" brought us "The Ultimate Edition", and what a feast we are served.  A true "Symphony of Horror" now exists thanks to the extraordinary efforts of this incredible company.  

     Kino has restored, from the best available sources, the definitive version of the film.  All sequences are tinted in the original intended tones: beautiful golds, roses, violets and sea-greens awash the newly-cleaned print.  You get two discs with the set...One with the original German title cards, and the best English titles restored on disc two.  I'm normally not a fan of digital processing, but in the hands of the Kino crew the process is handled in a delicate and masterly manner.  The final digital restoration is simply astounding.   Inferior DVD and VHS copies of the film previously available contained an enormous amount of frame "jitter" and tracking issues.  This along with the proper running speed has been addressed in the Kino version.  

     The delicious icing on the wedding cake is the restoration of the original music for "Nosferatu", written by Hans Erdmann and arranged by Giuseppe Becce.  Painfully careful research was utilized to search out the original orchestral score, piecing it together from notes and other printed sources.  The original music brilliantly fits the film like a glove.  Together the entire package, along with a worthwhile documentary on the film provides silent horror buffs with an edition that is unlikely to be ever bested.  No longer do fans of this incredible motion picture have to sit through lousy, scratchy, un-tinted copies with missing footage and inferior (sometimes embarrassing) soundtracks.  If you own but a single silent horror masterpiece you can do no better than this edition of F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu:  A Symphony of Horror" the Kino edition.