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Shadow of the Vampire
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==Plot== In 1921, German director [[F. W. Murnau]] is shooting ''[[Nosferatu]]'', an unauthorized adaptation of [[Bram Stoker]]'s novel ''[[Dracula]]''. Murnau keeps his team in the dark about their schedule and the actor playing the vampire [[Count Orlok]]. It is left to the film's other main actor, [[Gustav von Wangenheim]], to explain that the lead is an obscure German theater performer named [[Max Schreck]], who is a character actor. To [[method acting|involve himself fully in his role]], Schreck will only appear amongst the cast and crew in makeup, will only be filmed at night, and will never break character. After filming scenes in a studio with leading actress [[Greta Schröder]], Murnau takes his cast and crew to a remote inn in [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]] to film. The landlady becomes distressed at Murnau removing crucifixes around the inn, and the cameraman, Wolfgang Muller, falls into a strange, [[hypnosis|hypnotic]] state. Gustav discovers a bottle of blood amongst the team's food supplies, and someone delivers a caged ferret in the night to a not yet fully revealed Schreck. One night, Murnau rushes his team to a nearby [[Orava Castle|ancient Slovak castle]] for the first scene featuring Count Orlok. Schreck appears for the first time, and his appearance and behavior impress and disturb them. The film's producer, [[Albin Grau]], is confused when Murnau tells him that he originally found Schreck in the castle. Soon after the completion of the scene, Wolfgang is found collapsed in the tunnel into which Schreck had receded. While filming a dinner scene, Gustav accidentally cuts his finger. Schreck reacts wildly and tries drinking from Gustav's wound. Grau orders filming ended for the night, and the crew rushes from the castle, leaving Schreck behind. Alone, Schreck examines the camera equipment, fascinated by footage of a sunrise. With Wolfgang near death, Murnau brings in another cameraman, [[Fritz Arno Wagner]]. Murnau threatens Schreck if he does not control himself in Murnau's absence—a threat that Schreck challenges due to his [[immortality]]. While Murnau returns to [[Berlin]] to calm financiers of the film, Schreck approaches Grau and the screenwriter, [[Henrik Galeen]], who believe he is still in character. Schreck points out [[Count Dracula|Dracula]]'s loneliness and the sadness of him trying to remember how to do otherwise mundane chores that he has not needed to perform for centuries. Schreck snatches a bat and sucks its blood. Grau and Galeen, thanks to their drunkenness on [[schnapps]], are impressed by what they assume is talented acting. Later that night, Schreck kills a crewmember on the film's set. The production moves to the island of [[Heligoland]] to film the final scenes. Murnau, in a [[laudanum]]-induced stupor, admits to Grau and Fritz that Schreck is an actual vampire, and in return for his cooperation, Murnau has promised him Greta. The two realize they are trapped on the island, leaving no choice but to complete the film that night. On set, Greta becomes hysterical after noticing that Schreck casts no reflection. Murnau, Grau, and Fritz drug her with laudanum and film as Schreck feeds on Greta, with the laudanum in her blood putting Schreck to sleep. At dawn, the three attempt to open a metal door and let in sunlight to destroy Schreck but discover that the vampire had cut the chain to the mechanism, trapping them. Fritz and Grau attack Schreck, only to be killed. Murnau resumes filming and, crazed, ignores the deaths of his colleagues. Schreck returns to feed on Greta as Murnau films. Galeen and the crew arrive and lift the door, destroying Schreck with the sunlight. Having become obsessed with the film, Murnau asks for an [[clapperboard|end slate]] from his rattled crew. After they oblige, he stops the camera and calmly states, "I think we have it."
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