Gay men have always had a great fluence early and morn horror. The silent film classic Nosferatu (1922) is F.W. Murn's chillg and eerie adaptn of…
Contents:
- GAY HISTORY – DECEMBER 28, 1888: GERMAN DIRECTOR F. W. MURN OF “NOSFERATU” FAME IS BORN
- WHO STOLE GAY SILENT FILM DIRECTOR F.W. MURN’S HEAD FROM HIS GRAVE?
- NOSFERATU'S GAY MASTER
- EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS MURN AM STAFFELSEE
- WATCH: THE 1922 FILM CLASSIC NOSFERATU AND LEARN ABOUT GAY GERMAN FILM DIRECTOR F.W. MURN (HD VIDEO)
GAY HISTORY – DECEMBER 28, 1888: GERMAN DIRECTOR F. W. MURN OF “NOSFERATU” FAME IS BORN
Friedrich Wilhelm Murn was born December 28th, 1888. An openly gay German director, he is bt known for his work Nosferatu, and on the film Sunrise… * murnau gay *
An openly gay German director, he is bt known for his work Nosferatu, and on the film Sunrise, wily regard as one of the greatt films ever ma. Murn’s homosexualy, would have been more or ls accepted his Berl artistic circl of the day. Germany, ed, was one of the gay-iendlier spots the world until the Nazis took power.
Murn emigrated to Hollywood 1926, where he liv his life as an out gay man and joed the Fox Studs and ma Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), a movie often ced by scholars as one of the greatt of all time. While "Dracula" took spiratn om the lbian vampire novella "Carla" and Bram Stoker was mored to be a closeted homosexual, was Murn's viatn om "Dracula" that allowed him to e "Nosferatu" as a vehicle to explore the social and sexual anxieti durg 1920s Germany, thereby queerg the cematic vampire forever.
WHO STOLE GAY SILENT FILM DIRECTOR F.W. MURN’S HEAD FROM HIS GRAVE?
Durg the war, women were permted to the public work space, and the years that followed, homosexualy and gay subcultur beme publicly known. While 'd be easy to dismiss as nothg more than a bloodthirsty vampire cravg his next meal, 's clearly d as a homoerotic sire.
Murn was allegedly gay himself, and spe the public knowledge of homosexualy Germany at this time, was still nsired a crimal (and pathologil) act. Nosferatu is prented as the double of Hutter, reprentative of the gay sire that Hutter sperately tri to reprs. There's a nng gag that "all vampir are gay" or "there's no such thg as a heterosexual vampire, " and wh "Nosferatu" actg as the great-great-granddaddy of all vampire films, there's no nyg .
NOSFERATU'S GAY MASTER
Droppg his birth name of Plumpe for the stage moniker Murn — taken om the Bavarian town Murn am Staffelsee — the young actor sought to distance himself om his parents, who were cril of his artistic ambns and his life as a gay man. Related: Some Of Hollywood’s Most Notor Gay Murrs Rema Unsolved. Subscribe to Queerty for a daily dose of #entertament #film #gay stori and more.
EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS MURN AM STAFFELSEE
Though "The Language of Shadows" never mentns Murn's homosexualy, the film pats an almost stereotypil portra of a "sensive" gay artiste. Sunrise took three awards that night: one for Bt Actrs (Ja Gaynor as the Wife), one for Bt Cematography (Charl Rosher and Karl Stss), and a special award never repeated aga, Bt Unique and Artistic Picture, meant as a unterpot to a picture wh more obv mercial value. The story is meant to be archetypal, mythil, almost timels, wh characters intified only as the “two humans, ” Man and Wife (Gee O’Brien and Ja Gaynor), although there is a very proment role for the stylish sctrs (Margaret Livgston).
Murn was gay, May quot the poser sensg that “thgs that uldn’t be said or spoken were part of his thkg and part of his ternal narrative about sexualy. ” Murn me to Ameri om Weimar Germany, which at the time was perhaps the most sexually “liberated” place on Earth, wh gay and lbian bars and clubs terg to every taste.
Ja Gaynor ‘Sunrise’ / Max Munn Autrey for Fox, 1927 (public doma).
WATCH: THE 1922 FILM CLASSIC NOSFERATU AND LEARN ABOUT GAY GERMAN FILM DIRECTOR F.W. MURN (HD VIDEO)
Contemporari avoid the topic of Murn’s homosexualy more or ls elegantly. In the bleak years of cematic abstence om gay them and characters, Tabu was the rare exceptn: a seri of homoerotic fantasy imag embedd a heterosexual love story which ends tragilly.
In gay disurse, this film has played a role which nnot be unrtimated. Murn beme a poster boy for the gay movement and was drafted to the ranks of assumed proment pneers, a role which might well have nflicted wh his sensibili.