The Haunted Castle

The Haunted Castle (1921)

Schloß Vogelöd

The sinister Count Oetsch scandalizes the aristocratic social gathering at Castle Vogelod as he announces his intention to "crash" the festivities. Baroness Safferstätt is expected shortly, and the guests are well-aware of the rumors that Count Oetsch murdered the baroness' late husband. Oetsch refuses to leave, vowing that he will reveal the identity of the real killer. Before the weekend is through, the Count and Baroness will reveal secrets too shocking to be believed!

Date of release
1921-04-07
TMDB
6.3 / 10 (57)
Runtime
1h 21m
Genres
Drama, Mystery, Crime, Horror
Director
F. W. Murnau

Casting

Interesting facts

The Haunted Castle is a 1921 silent mystery film directed by F. W. Murnau.

Production and style

The Haunted Castle was adapted from a novel that Murnau biographer Lotte Eisner described as "semi-highbrow, semi-commercial" story by Rudolf Stratz published in Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung.

For The Haunted Castle, director F.W. Murnau often wrote in his script when and where scenes were shot. According to details given in the script owned by Robert Plumpe Murnau, The Haunted Castle was shot between 10 February and 2 March 1921, with two days taken just in building sets. These were designed by Hermann Warm, including the tableau of the castle's exterior and its surroundings, which is shown several times in the film.

Eisner noted the film is sometimes incorrectly described as a horror film, finding it influenced by Swedish films. A reviewer in Sight & Sound described it as "a drawing-room whodunit." Philip Kemp echoed this statement, calling it "not a supernatural story but a murder mystery."

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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