Bereichsnavigation
Wednesday Cinema: F. W. Murnau – Nosferatu (1921)
Event date: 11/18/2026
Location: Musikinstrumenten-Museum, 6 p.m.
The first vampire film in cinema history and a masterpiece of German Expressionism, accompanied live on the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ by Jörg Joachim Riehle.
A business trip takes the unsuspecting estate agent Hutter from the port city of Wisborg to Transylvania. There, he signs a contract with the sinister Count Orlok for the purchase of a property in his home town. The next morning, Hutter wakes up with small bite marks on his neck and realises that Orlok is a vampire. He is unable to prevent the Count from travelling to Wisborg and bringing plague and death to the small town. Hutter’s wife Ellen had sensed the impending disaster and sees only one way to save the town...
F. W. Murnau’s first adaptation of Bram Stoker’s *Dracula* is an icon of the horror genre. The film derives its impact not from the depiction of physical violence or an artificial studio atmosphere. The horror arises from the contrast between the rigidity of the vampire Nosferatu and the impetuosity of the youthful hero Hutter, and from the juxtaposition of the barren, desolate Carpathian castle and the Biedermeier atmosphere of the town of Wisborg.
Directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Germany 1921, 95 minutes, starring Max Schreck, Alexander Granach and Greta Schroeder. FSK 12
A film from the collection of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation, Wiesbaden.
At the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ: Jörg Joachim Riehle
The Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ at the Musical Instrument Museum is one of the largest surviving instruments of its kind in Europe. In 1929, it was acquired by Werner Ferdinand von Siemens, the grandson of the company’s founder, from the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company in North Tonawanda, NY. It has four manuals, 1,228 pipes and more than 200 stops. It also features a large number of percussion and effect instruments. Thunderclaps and birdsong, wailing sirens and the ringing of bells – the Mighty Wurlitzer’s range of sounds is truly impressive.
Find out more about the MIM’s Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ here.
Start: 6.00 pm
Admission: 10 euros
Book tickets on 030 254 811 78 or at kasse@mimpk.de