Set still from Faust 1925/26

Legendary silent film director F.W. Murnau will be the subject of the Academy's winter exhibition in the Academy Gallery on the Fourth Floor. Organized by the Berlin Film Museum, and originally presented as part of the 2003 Berlin Film Festival, this installation of video clips, documents, photographs, production designs, costumes and set models is making its only American stop on a multi-city international tour at the Academy.

Murnau was born in Bielefeld, Germany, in 1888, and following university in Heidelberg became part of the ensemble of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. Service in World War I interrupted his theater career, but by 1919 he had begun working as a film director. By 1921 Murnau had made ten feature films but his next, Nosferatu (1922), became an instant classic, and its influence over the genre of the vampire film (and horror films in general) continues to this day. After making several more films for UFA Studios in Germany, most notably Der Letzte Mann (The Last Laugh) in 1924 and Faust (1925), both starring Emil Jannings, Murnau was signed to a contract with William Fox and left Berlin for the Fox Studios in Hollywood.

Murnau's first project in the United States was Sunrise (A Song of Two Humans), which would go on to win Academy Awards^® at the very first ceremony for actress Janet Gaynor, cinematographer Karl Rosher, and a special award for "Unique and Artistic Picture." Murnau brought his innovative visual style, ingenious camera techniques and startling visual effects to the story of a simple man seduced away from his wife by an alluring woman from the big city. The script was written by Carl Mayer, Murnau's frequent collaborator in Germany, who was also brought to Hollywood at Murnau's insistence.

Two more projects at Fox, 4 Devils (1928) and City Girl (1929), were plagued with difficulties and parts of each were later re-filmed as 'talkies.' But while filming City Girl, Murnau became friendly with acclaimed documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty, which led them to travel to the South Pacific to make Tabu (1931), financed by Murnau himself. Toward the end of filming, with his resources exhausted, Murnau was offered a ten-year contract with Paramount, which also bought the rights to Tabu. Prior to the New York premiere, however, Murnau was killed in an automobile accident in California. Mourned by the leading lights of the German film community, and eulogized by director Fritz Lang, Murnau was buried in Berlin on April 13, 1931.

Generous support for this exhibition has been provided by the Goethe Institut - Los Angeles and Lufthansa Cargo.

The Los Angeles County Museum's Film Department will screen a series of Murnau's films during March and April; the series will kick off on March 25 with the Los Angeles premiere of the newly restored version of Sunrise, completed by the Academy Film Archive, the British Film Institute and 20th Century Fox. Ticket information and schedules will be available in March.