If Susan King had bothered to look in a
German-English dictionary, she would not have written that the "name [Schreck]
is German for shriek" in her article "Out of the Shadow of 'Nosferatu"
(Calendar 1/4/01). The word in fact means "terror," an even more
fitting appellation for the actor who portrays Count Orlock in F.W.
Murnau's "Nosferatu." However, the French authors Bouvier and
Leutrat in their detailed monograph on the movie emphatically reject
the idea that the role was played by the "real" Max Schreck--whoever
he may have been--and offer the interesting hypothesis that it was Murnau
himself who enacted the part. If that were true, then the whole idea of
using the name "Schreck" might have been an elaborate in joke--and
not the only one in "Nosferatu," which also features a hyena
implausibly shrieking away in what are supposed to be the Carpathian
Mountains.
Also, Murnau collaborated with Robert Flaherty
on the production of "Tabu," but the direction is entirely his own
as the main titles clearly indicate. If that were not evidence enough,
anyone who is familiar with the work of both men would recognize that the
cosmic pessimism of "Tabu" is the virtual antithesis of Flaherty's Promethean
lyricism in his 1926 documentary of Polynesian life, "Moana".
Dave Clayton
4362 Louisiana Street # 7
San Diego, CA 92104