Murnau, F.W.

Murnau, F.W.

 orig. Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe

(born Dec. 28, 1889, Bielefeld, Ger.—died March 11, 1931, Hollywood, Calif., U.S.) German film director. After studying at the University of Heidelberg, he became a protégé of Max Reinhardt in Berlin. During World War I he served as a combat pilot and made propaganda films. He directed his first feature in 1919 and won international acclaim for Nosferatu (1922), which is regarded by many as the most effective screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and The Last Laugh (1924). In 1927 he moved to Hollywood, where he made films such as Sunrise (1927), his masterpiece, and Tabu (1931; with Robert Flaherty). Murnau's films revolutionized the art of cinematic expression by using the camera subjectively to interpret the emotional state of a character.