F. W. Murnau

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888 – March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer and screenwriter. He is regarded as one of cinema's most influential filmmakers for his work in the silent era. An erudite child with an early interest in film, Murnau eventually studied philology and art before director Max Reinhardt recruited him to his acting school. During World War I, he served in the Imperial German Army, initially as an infantry company commander and communications officer and later with the German Army's Flying Corps as an observer/gunner. He survived several crashes without any severe injuries. Murnau's first directorial work premiered in 1919, but he did not attain international recognition until the 1922 film Nosferatu, an adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. Although not a commercial success owing to copyright issues with author Stoker's estate, the film is considered a masterpiece of German Expressionist cinema and an early cult film. Murnau later directed the film The Last Laugh (1924), as well as a 1926 interpretation of Goethe's ()