Phantom is a 1922 German romantic film directed by F. W. Murnau. It is an example of German Expressionist film and has a surreal, dreamlike quality.[1] The original novel the movie is based on was written by Gerhart Hauptmann. The film released on November 13th in Germany, which was around the time of Hauptmann's 60th birthday. It was released during this time in celebration of Hauptmann's birthday. [2]
The film isn't as well known as F. W. Murnau's other work that came out in the same year (like Nosferatu) due to the film being considered lost media until recently. [2]
Plot
Phantom (1922)
The film is told in an extended flashback. Lorenz Lubota (Alfred Abel), is a clerk in a minor government office, an aspiring poet, and a member of a family headed by a worrisome mother who has a tense relationship with a daughter, Melanie, whom the mother believes works as a prostitute. One day, while Lorenz is walking to work, a woman (Lya De Putti) driving two white horses hits him in the road, knocking him to the ground. Physically, he is unharmed, but from that point forward, the woman in the carriage (named Veronika) consumes his every thought.
His obsession with Veronika costs him his job when he fails to show up for work and threatens his boss for accusing him of stalking her. Believing his poems will be published and anticipating a meeting with a publisher, Lorenz asks his Aunt Schwabe (Grete Berger)—a cutthroat pawnbroker—for money to buy a new suit. Schwabe's assistant, Wigottschinski (Anton Edthofer), encourages Lorenz to celebrate and they reunite with Lorenz's sister, who becomes Wigottschinski's girlfriend. Unable to contact Veronika, who is wealthy and engaged to someone of her own class, Lorenz instead begins courting a golddigger who looks like Veronika (also played by Lya De Putti), lavishing her with expensive things, all the while reliving the day he was run over in his mind again and again. In the meantime Lorenz's mother's health begins to deteriorate due to her worries over her son's and her daughter's actions, and Lorenz's friend Marie (Lil Dagover) and her father learn that Lorenz's poems will not be published after all.
Wigottschinski swindles more money out of Schwabe and gives Lorenz a sizable amount. However, Aunt Schwabe becomes suspicious and discovers that Lorenz will not be a published poet, and she angrily demands that he pay back the money after three days or else she will notify the police. Desperate, Lorenz agrees to Wigottschinski's plan to break into her house after she has gone to sleep and to steal enough money to pay back the loan. She wakes up and discovers them, running to the window to call for the police. A struggle ensues, and Wigottschinski kills her, while Melanie runs off and eventually briefly reunites with her mother before disappearing.
Lorenz is arrested and sent to prison. After his release, the film returns to the present, where Lorenz is finishing writing his life story down, in an attempt to purge his mind from the phantom woman who continually hits him in her carriage. Lorenz also now has a new life with Marie.
Phantom was originally produced for Gerhart Hauptmann's 60th birthday, and was heavily linked to the original novel. Hauptmann also cameos in the film, as he can be seen near the start of the film. His appearance at the start of the film doesn't have anything to do to the plot, but is meant to link him to the movie itself.[2]
Preservation status
The film was originally thought to be one of the films from F.W. Murnau's career that were lost, but the film was restored by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation, located in Germany.[2] The film was restored in 2003.[3]
The film's preservation status is mostly in-tact to it's original quality, besides a few small issues during night time scenes and damage on the side of the film. A few additions were also added to the restoration, including the addition of color onto the film. The intertitles were re-translated, but the original German titles are no longer available to access. The additions of color and the re-translated intertitles were not originally a part of the film before it was preserved.[4]
Reception
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During Phantom's original release, it was heavily associated with it's original book author, Gerhart Hauptmann. This association helped boost the film's reputation during this time period, and many film journals at the time "concentrated on honoring, thanking, and praising Hauptmann while advertising the Phantom adaptation".[5]
Film critic Dave Kehr reviewed Phantom shortly after the film was restored, and claims that Murnau's work on the film is unique due to his "deep sense of character", as well as his "attention to the details and manifestations of human psychology".[3] Kehr also claims that the work of restoring the film "should go quite a way toward restoring its reputation".[3]
In a review by author and associate professor Paul Dobryden, he supports the preservation and circulation of the film, saying that the film "deserves to be seen and remembered".[4] However, he also stated that he was disappointed in how the original German titles from the original version were omitted in the restoration of the film.[4]
Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film three out of a possible four stars, calling the film "[a] poetic psychodrama".[6]
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