Phantom

Silent German film about a meek, mild man who seems to have no life or goals. Then he meets a blond-haired girl riding a chariot. He immediately falls in love with her. It leads to his downfall ending in murder. But there is redemption.

This silent film was long believed to be lost. Thankfully it's been rediscovered which is great--this is a wonderful drama. My synopsis may sound a little strange but this is a hard film to describe--you have to see it to understand. It's beautifully directed by F.W. Muranu--many elaborate camera tricks and fade ins and outs. Also it deals with some touchy subjects such as prostitution (never called that but it's there). The acting is a little over the top but that's to be expected in silent movies. But there is a wonderful (if frightening) performance by Grete Berger as Mrs. Schwibe. My only complaint is that this film is shown in flashback which somewhat dilutes the drama (that's why I'm only giving it a 9). Still, this is a great silent film. It's not up to Muranu's "Nosferatu" or "Sunrise"--but then what is? Well worth seeing.

Town clerk Lorenz Lubota is a retiring bookish fellow about to settle into a contented hum drum existence when he is bowled over by a carriage on his way to work . Only stunned by the accident he becomes obsessed with the striking beauty of the driver turning the rest of his world upside down. Lorenz then foolishly pursues the woman with an ungovernable monomania that creates havoc in both his personal and professional life. Exploited by a slick grifter he betrays a benefactress and when his clumsy attempt to win the hand of his obsession falters he is exploited by a mother-daughter team and the spiral picks up speed.

Made the same year as Nosferatu director FW Murnau taps down the phantasmagoria considerably in this slow go that reveals much of its outcome early, making it more of a cautionary tale than an intense suspense. Incurable romantic Lorenz moves through the film trance like most of the way and such unabated gullibility wears Phantom down.

Their are a handful of lush tinted classic Murnau compositions that inform and a touch of misogyny that allows his female characters some lurid depth but for this cinema giant it is a sub par effort.

In Germany, the honest city clerk and aspirant poet Lorenz Lubota (Alfred Abel) lives a poor but decent life with his mother (Frieda Richard), his ambitious sister Melanie (Aud Egede Nissen) and his younger brother Hugo Lubota (H.H. v. Twardowski). Lorenz shows his poems to the father of his sweetheart Marie Starke (Lil Dagover), who is the local bookbinder, and the man wrongly believes that Lorenz is a promising poet. The bookbinder promises to show his poems to a prominent professor for evaluation, but the man concludes that they are worthless. Meanwhile Melanie leaves her home to become a prostitute in a cabaret.

When the distracted Lorenz is going to work, a woman named Veronika Harlan (Lya de Putti) that is driving a horse-drawn chariot runs over him and he follows Veronika and immediately has a crush on her. Lorenz pays a visit to his wealthy and wary aunt and pawnbroker Schwabe (Grete Berger) to borrow some money to buy an appropriate suit since he believes that he will become a successful writer and make lots of money with the royalties of his poems. However he is followed by a swindler (Anton Edthofer) that dates Schwabe and they spend the borrowed money in a cabaret where Lorenz meets Melanie. The swindler stays with Melanie and convinces Lorenz to borrow a large amount from Schwabe. The naive Lorenz gives part of the money to the swindler and uses the rest to buy clothes to Veronika to seduce her. When Schwabe discovers that Lorenz is a liar and his poems will not be published, she gives a three days schedule for him to pay his debts; otherwise she will call the police. But the swindler suggests a scheme to Lorenz.

"Phantom" is a moralist tale of corruption of human character and redemption by F.W. Murnau. The story is divided in six acts and has flaws and lack of explanation for many situations, but since the film was reconstructed and restored in 2003 by the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv of Berlin, parts of the original work might be missing. The dramatic plot has many parallel stories entwined through the lead character Lorenz.

I saw this film in a Brazilian DVD with a nice soundtrack and in accordance with the Wikipedia, the first screening of "Phantom" in Brazil was on 30 October 2008, on the 120th anniversary of F.W. Murnau. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Fantasma" ("Phantom")

PHANTOM is a very heavy-handed morality tale of a simple man who inexplicably becomes infatuated with a woman after seeing her only briefly. Despite being a seemingly nice guy, he throws his life away and the film revels in this spiral as well as the parallel story of his sister who becomes a prostitute.

While the film on technical merits isn't bad (it did have some inventive camera work), it was a major letdown since it was directed by the legendary director F. W. Murnau. Had it been done by some studio hack, then I could understand why this film was so hokey and unbelievable--but from Murnau, his fans have come to expect so much more.

Unlike some reviews on IMDb, mine is a bit unusual in that I have now seen just about every known Murnau film in existence today (PHANTOM was the last) and so I can compare it to the body of his work. Clearly, it is the worst of his films and lacks the magic and genius that Murnau is known for having. You might be surprised to hear that although his most famous film is NOSFERATU, it may not be his best film--mostly because NOSFERATU, like PHANTOM, seems a tad old-fashioned and stilted--even for 1922. This can be forgiven in NOSFERATU because despite these lulls, the rest of the film is so transcendent and amazing--making it one of the greatest silent films of all time. There is nothing about PHANTOM that can make you overlook the very dated plot--it's just heavy-handed and not particularly memorable.

As I said, Murnau made some truly amazing films. Aside from NOSFERATU, he is most famous for the Oscar-winning SUNRISE, but neither of these is my favorite. I love and recommend you see FAUST because the camera work and artistry is just amazing--making Goethe's story a freshness and style that just have to be seen to believed. I also liked it because I (unfortunately) have read the very long book "Faust" and found the film actually made me like the story! THE LAST LAUGH and TARTUFF are also simply wonderful films that any serious student of German cinema must see.

So, my advice is to watch PHANTOM if you like, but if you aren't acquainted with F. W. Murnau's films, try any of the others first--otherwise you might not be able to detect his genius and deftness.

A much underestimated movie. I've seen several of Murnau's flicks, and while I am the generally a big fan of his work, this one is actually one of my favorites. In a dreamlike manner it tells a story of main character's obsession with a manipulative and cruel woman. His love and desire makes him lose his senses - to a point where object of his passion becomes like a haunting spectre, a phantom. In some way Phantom is a forecast of another german picture, the famous Blaue Engel. Although the plot in one way or another has become a Hollywood cliche over the years, the movie is dark, strange and compelling. Murnau's depiction of insanity, especially in the final scenes is by itself a milestone of cinema.