openminded1313

This film is something of a precursor to the various Dracula films; and is presented as the source work for Bram Stokers' "Dracula"; as it were.

The film is set in 1830s Germany; which seems to be the destination for Nosferatu; England is, of course, the setting for Dracula. Not clear if the two creatures are cousins or the same being. Nosferatu is not really "presentable' in public, unlike Dracula's depiction. BTW< If Dracula is "undead", then Nosferatu is "not dead"; a small, yet quite meaningful difference.

It is not clear how Count Orlok makes initial contact with the real estate firm in Germany but he does and a newly married agent has to leave behind his new bride in order to complete the deal. It seems the boss of the real estate firm wants to screw over Count Orlok by selling a ruin to him. Well, the Count is up to that game. Another twist of the plot is the fact that the new bride seems to have had some mental connection to the Count going back to when she was a young(er) girl. How this connection developed is left to the viewer's imagination. It is not spelled out as explicitly as in Coppola's 1992 film "Dracula". Lily Rose-Deep gives a stunning performance depicting Ellen Hutter coming under the Count's mental control; in fact, that has been singled out by the media as THE stunning performance in the movie.

This move does not show Dracula romancing the girl as we see in "Love at First Bite"; but rather love that precedes the initial meeting of the Count and the woman. "Love at First Bite" was, of course, another Dracula film. It was a comedy that was released in 1979; same time as the serious Dracula film starring Frank Langella (as Dracula), and included Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasance, etc. In other words, the usual movie stars. "Love at First Bite" actually did better at the box office than that years "Dracula". Don't know what that means except perhaps this genre is best view as a comedy. I digress somewhat. The Dracula films seems to portray a romance; even one that is quite "dark". The Anne Rice version ("interview with the Vampire) shows vampires who are hardly romantic; even seem to be "gay". Certainly a different variant; and that is all I will mention as this movie is of the more "mainspring" vampire version (nothing against Lestat- he is an interesting character).

This Nosferatu movie is hardly a comedy. It does portray the Count as bringing in bubonic plague when he arrives at port. And, in fact, this was one of the reasons, in the past, that people believed that creatures such as a Nosferatu existed. That and tuberculosis were diseases that seemed to come from some unfathomable evil.

An unbelievable scene is in the movie. During a vampire hunt by villagers a young nude woman is on horseback; this enabling the horse to sense a grave that contains a vampire. The villagers exhume the body and burn it. The unbelievable part of the scene is the fact that this quite attractive woman of 18-20 years of age is supposedly still a virgin! (Something to the effect of Andy Warhol's Dracula where the Count can only feed on the blood of virgins; and is slowly starving to death as a result of that as he cannot find any!) And, despite this hunt late at night in late autumn in Northern Europe this nude woman is not shown being cold!! Well, suspension of disbelief is sometimes necessary to view movies.

It is still a good movie and I recommend seeing it (even if it did not have an attractive nude woman on horseback it would still be considered a good movie). The "classics" such as "The Fearless Vampire Killers", "Andy Warhol's Dracula", and "Love at First Bite" are great due to the unusual approach they have to this subject. "Nosgeratu" also has a somewhat unusual approach (albeit dramatic instead of comedic) and I think the average viewer will find it worth seeing. The rest of the cast give great performances but nothing can beat Lily Rose-Deeps.

The Enterprise goes back, by accident, to the "present time" (late 1960s, when this episode was aired). The starship is damaged and in a very low orbit; in fact, low and slow enough for a fighter jet to possibly intercept it. A fighter jet is sent up to investigate the sighting The F-104 jet is "contemporary" for the late 1960s and, did, in fact, sometimes carry nuclear weapons ( air to air missiles with a "low" yield that were still quite capable of damaging Enterprise; as Mr. Spock correctly surmises). Such is the beginning of this episode and I believe D. C. Fontana, the writer, based the beginning on a an actual incident (the "Mantell case";; where a USAF fighter plane may actually have been shot down by a U. F. O.).

It occurred on January 7, 1948 and involved three F-51 aircraft (P-51 Mustangs as they were known in WWII). The commander of Godman Air Force Base (now closed) in Kentucky was notified of a U. F. O. Near his base. Three F-51s were on a routine ferry flight that happened to be in the air were requested to investigate this. Two of them went to the highest level they were able to (no oxygen equipment in them due to it being a routine ferry mission) and turned around. One F-51, piloted by Captain Thomas Mantell, continued to climb and chase the U. F. O. ; much like the pilot of the F-104 in this episode does. And, as the F-104 in this episode does, the F-51 disintegrated in flight.

Captain Thomas Mantell was found, dead, in the wreckage of his P-51 the next day. This DID happen; a military fighter plane chased a UFO and disintegrated. What happens in the Star Trek episode based on this? Watch it and find out.