The Haunted Castle (1921 film)

The Haunted Castle
(Schloss Vogelöd)
The Haunted Castle ; (Schloss Vogelöd)
	File:Schloss Vogelod.jpg Title card
Directed by	F. W. Murnau
Written by	Carl Mayer; Berthold Viertel; Rudolph Stratz [de] (novel)
Produced by	Erich Pommer
Starring	Arnold Korff; Lulu Kyser-Korff; Lothar Mehnert; Paul Hartmann; Paul H. Bildt; Olga Tschechowa
Cinematography	László Schäffer; Fritz Arno Wagner
Production; company	Uco-Film
Distributed by	Decla-Bioscop
Release date	21 April 1921;
Running time	81 minutes
Country	Germany
Languages	Silent; German intertitles

The Haunted Castle (1921), also known as Schloß Vogelöd: Die Enthullung eines Geheimnisses^[1] and Castle Vogeloed, is a silent chamber-drama directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. The film is a moody psychodrama, "blending multiple flashbacks and dream sequences with a gloomy atmosphere.... It is one of the earliest surviving works of (F. W. Murnau)."^[1]

It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art director Hermann Warm.

Plot summary

A company of men meet for a hunt lasting several days at Castle Vogelöd, being hosted by Lord von Vogelschrey, but a sweeping rain brings the pleasure to nought and they spend their time in the inward parts of the castle. Even the not invited Count Johann Oetsch appears. He gets eschewed by other partakers of the hunt since he is reputed to have shot his own brother, Peter, a few years ago. This rumour gets nourished by a retired Judge of the District Court.

The widow of the brother, the remarried Baroness Safferstätt, is also expected – which makes the situation unpleasant for the host. Count Oetsch neglects this matter and remains. The Baroness is affrighted by their coming and determined to depart again. The report of the coming of Father Faramund, allied with her former husband, is kept back by her; she will make confession unto him.

In the following days, Oetsch and the Baroness – and the Baron – accuse one another of the murder of the brother of the Count. At the same time, in flashbacks, follows a confession in stages of the Baroness, that her marriage was anything but harmonious. Her husband became more and more interested in spiritual things than in her, so that she, in the presence of Baron Safferstätt, a friend of her husband, had wished for something "evil" – which in turn had falsely interpreted it and thereafter shot her husband. This common trespass had finally let her and the Baron be married, without something else to feel for each other than emptiness.

The Father takes his false beard and his wig off, revealing himself as Count Oetsch who now can justify his innocence. Baron Safferstätt shoots himself. The true Father Faramund comes to the castle.

Cast

Arnold Korff – Lord von Vogelschrey, Schloßherr of Vogelöd
Lulu Kyser-Korff – Centa von Vogelschrey, his wife
Lothar Mehnert – Count Johann Oetsch
Paul Hartmann – Count Peter Oetsch
Paul Bildt – Baron Safferstätt
Olga Tschechowa – Baroness Safferstätt
Victor Blütner – Father Faramund
Hermann Vallentin – Judge of the District Court, retired
Julius Falkenstein – Anxious gentleman
Robert Leffler – Master of the household
Walter Kurt-Kuhle – Servant

Uncredited

Loni Nest – Little girl
Georg Zawatzky – Apprentice cook

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.

External links

The Haunted Castle at IMDb
The Haunted Castle at AllMovie

[workman-1] Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.

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