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Before plumbing the depths of horror and despair with such films as
Faust and The Last Laugh, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau tested the waters
with this moody drama of a storm-bound manor and the grim mystery that
lurks within. A hunting party
is interrupted by the arrival
of a notorious Count (Lothar Mehnert), who is believed to have murdered
his brother. The uninvited guest sets in motion an elaborate
plot to resurrect the ghosts of the past and bring to light the dark secret
that lies at the center of his brother’s death.
The foreboding atmosphere and
psychological complexity inspired Murnau to delve deeper into the
horror genre, which he did the following year, with the immortal
vampire tale Nosferatu (1922).
THE HAUNTED CASTLE: THE EXPOSURE OF A SECRET
Germany * 1921
* Color Tinted * 81 Min. * 1.33:1
Directed by F.W. Murnau Produced by Erich
Pommer
Screenplay by Carl Mayer
From the novel by Rudolf Stratz
Photographed by László Schäffer and
Fritz Arno Wagner
With Lothar Mehnert, Olga Tschechowa, Paul Hartmann,
Arnold Korff, Julius Falkenstein, Paul Bildt
Music by Neil Brandt
Licensed by Transit Films on behalf of the
Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden
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