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NOSFERATU with The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra Oct. 24th at the St. Louis Art Museum

By Tom Stockman | October 12, 2014

” Is this your wife? What a lovely throat!”

There’s nothing better than silent films accompanied by live music and I’d go as far as saying there’s nothing better than silent films accompanied by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. And I’ll go even farther by saying that there’s nothing better than the 1922 silent spooker NOSFERATU accompanied by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra which is an event that will be taking place Friday night, October 24^th at The St. Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Dr, St Louis, MO 63110 – Forest Park) beginning at 8pm.

ADMISSION IS FREE !!!

I’ve seen NOSFERATU with live music before and have even shown a 25-minute cut of the film at my monthly Super-8 Movie Madness show with live keyboard accompaniment (by the talented Linda Gurney), but seeing the full-length version one week before Halloween on the big screen at SLAM with an original score performed the Rats and People is not something you want to miss.

The Rats and People is a treasure and St. Louis is lucky to have them here. I’ve seen them perform with silent films several times, often at The St. Louis International Film Festival, and usually at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium and it’s always a stunning good time at the movies. Last summer the Rats and People played along to some Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton at the SLIFF/KIDS film fest, and this summer they did it again for an amazing Harold Lloyd program. The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra will be accompanying the 1913 version of IVANHOE at the SLIFF event ‘The King Baggot Tribute’ on November 14^th (here’s an article about that HERE), but this NOSFERATU event October 24^th will show you how talented these musicians are and will be a great opportunity to see their unbeatable combination of Silent film and live music.

Released in 1922, NOSFERATU was essentially an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel. Disguising the film under different names and details, this Dracula story portrays Count Orlock negotiating a move to Bremen in Germany with realtor Thomas Hutter, and like the plagued-diseased rats of history, Count Orlock is a harbinger of death, bringing a great darkness with him in as he obsessively pursues the neck of Hutter’s wife and brings death and menace to the people of Bremen.

Masterfully directed by F W Murnau, NOSFERATU features timeless images of the nocturnal blood sucker gravitating through the shadows – the epitome being the iconic shot of the shadow ascending the stairs, as one with the dark – an image that will send chills down your spine. Max Schreck’s Count Orlock grotesques all with his rat-like physical demeanor and long, bony fingers ending in talon-like nails – white-washed pale face – pointed ears – dark, sunken eyes – and hideous fangs centered in the very front of his mouth. Schrek’s Orlock takes his rightful place as one of the scariest movie monsters to grace celluloid. Count Orlock is a vampire you won’t be accustomed to seeing if you have been a regular viewer of the shirtless escapades present in the ‘Twilight’ films. NOSFERATU is not exactly heart-warming, buff or sexy. More, a pale stick insect which has just crawled out of a rat hole. Edward Cullen and family like transparent architecture, with their expensive, modern real estate. Nosferatu prefers his abode to be a beautifully haunting, Bavarian castle. It’s all so cool. Bram Stoker’s widow sued the producers of NOSFERATU and the resulting ruling ordered all copies to be destroyed. But, like the movie’s iconic monster, it seems the film was destined for immortality. At least one print survived and NOSFERATU has lived on as the best silent horror film in cinema history. Don’t miss this screening!