Director

F. W. Murnau

Directing

Career Snapshot

Explained

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Directed credits

Established

Strong directing catalog.

TMDB popularity

0.9

Low visibility

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Directed movies: 23Directed series: 0All crew credits: 25

TMDB ID: 9076

IMDb ID: nm0003638

Known for: Directing

Born: December 28, 1888

Died: March 11, 1931

Age: 42

Place of birth: Bielefeld, North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Gender: Male

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1920 - 2025

Years active: 106

Average TMDB rating: 7.07

Wikidata: Q55412

Also known as

Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe • Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau • 프리드리히 빌헬름 무르나우 • F.W. 무르나우 • 프리드리히 무르나우 • Фрідріх Вільгельм Мурнау • Фрыдрых Вільгельм Мурнаў

Frequent jobs

Director (23)Thanks (1)Writer (1)

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Biography

Friedrich Wilhelm “F. W.” Murnau (December 28, 1888 – March 11, 1931) was one of the most influential German film directors of the silent era, and a prominent figure in the expressionist movement in German cinema during the 1920s. Although some of Murnau’s films have been lost, most still survive. While the horror film Nosferatu (1922) is his most famous work, the romantic melodrama Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) is his critically most acclaimed; the British Film Institute's 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll named it the fifth-best film in the history of motion pictures. Murnau's characteristics are an atmospheric imagery and an innovative use of camera movement. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included him in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States.