{"id":36660,"date":"2022-02-04T19:05:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-05T00:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=36660"},"modified":"2022-02-04T19:05:43","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T00:05:43","slug":"the-bootleg-files-der-januskopf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2022\/02\/04\/the-bootleg-files-der-januskopf\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Der Januskopf"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 794: <\/strong>\u201cDer Januskopf\u201d (1920 unauthorized version of \u201cDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde\u201d directed by F.W. Murnau). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN: <\/strong>When it was theatrically released.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.
\n
\nREASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> Murnau did not clear the rights to the Robert Louis Stevenson source material. <\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Excellent, provided that someone finds a print of the film. <\/p>\n

In the early 1920s, the great German director F.W. Murnau made back-to-back horror films based on popular books from his era: \u201cDer Januskopf,\u201d based on Robert Louis Stevenson\u2019s \u201cThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,\u201d and \u201cNosferatu,\u201d based on Bram Stoker\u2019s \u201cDracula.\u201d There was just one problem: Murnau never bothered to secure the rights to these books and tried to get circumvent copyright laws by making slight adjustments to their respective stories and changing the names of the characters.
\n<\/p>\n

Stevenson\u2019s estate was unaware of the Murnau film and made no effort to stop the filmmaker from releasing his unauthorized adaptation of \u201cThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.\u201d The same year, two American film versions, one with John Barrymore and one with Sheldon Lewis, plus a parody with Hank Mann were in theaters. Also, there were at least nine other versions of the story before Murnau\u2019s work, so it is safe to assume the Stevenson estate was not keeping an eye on this property.<\/p>\n

But Stoker\u2019s estate was made aware of the Murnau film version and filed a lawsuit in German courts, which ruled against the film\u2019s production company, Prana Film, and ordered all prints be destroyed.<\/p>\n

Today, \u201cNosferatu\u201d is hailed as a masterpiece \u2013 despite the court\u2019s orders, prints of the film survived outside of Germany and Murnau\u2019s work has been seen by global audiences. Oddly, \u201cDer Januskopf\u201d is a lost film \u2013 no print of the film is known to exist, even though no effort was made to willfully destroy the work.<\/p>\n

From what survives of the production \u2013 the screenplay, some production notes, several still photographs and the advertising posters \u2013 and based on the involvement of Murnau, screenwriter Hans Janowitz (fresh off \u201cThe Cabinet of Dr Caligari\u201d) and cinematographer Karl Freund behind the camera and the great German actor Conrad Veidt in front of the camera \u2013 one can easily assume that \u201cDer Januskopf\u201d was on a level as \u201cNosferatu\u201d for both style and substance. <\/p>\n

\u201cDer Januskopf\u201d takes place in London and finds the quasi-Jekyll Dr. Warren (Veidt) acquiring a strange bust of the two-faced Roman deity Janus in a curiosity shop. He brings it to his fianc\u00e9 Grace (Margaret Schlegel), but she is appalled by the bust and refuses to accept the gift.<\/p>\n

Dr. Warren becomes obsessed by Janus\u2019 double-faced appearance and theorizes that he can create a physical separation of the good and evil sides of human nature. In his laboratory experiments, he creates an elixir to separate these opposing aspects of the human psyche and an antidote to reunite them. <\/p>\n

After trying the elixir on himself, Dr. Warren transforms into the hirsute, hairy being that becomes Mr. Warren (the Hyde character in Stevenson\u2019s work). Warren rents a flat in the seedy Whitechapel section of London (best known as home to England\u2019s ultimate cut-up, Jack the Ripper) and begins to commit horrible crimes, including the rape of Grace (who is unaware that O\u2019Connor is the elixir-powered version of her fianc\u00e9). <\/p>\n

But a problem arises that was not considered before: although Dr. Warren can revert back from the O\u2019Connor beast he created, those transitions become briefer over time and he spends more time as O\u2019Connor. At one point, he is trapped in this condition because the police are pursuing him and he is unable to return to Dr. Warren\u2019s laboratory to mix the antidote. Ultimately, he reveals what he has done in a suicide note, but reverts back to O\u2019Connor before the poison he swallowed exterminates his life.<\/p>\n

Based on the surviving still photographs from this work and considering his performances of that era, Veidt\u2019s performance must have been remarkable \u2013 especially when one views a photograph of O\u2019Connor seeing himself in the mirror for the first time and shrieking in horror. There is also another surviving still of a panic-stricken Dr. Warren in a hallucination sequence where he is aghast at an army O\u2019Connors marching against him.<\/p>\n

Many film scholars today point out the presence of Bela Lugosi in the supporting role of Dr. Warren\u2019s butler. This was the only time that Veidt and Lugosi worked together, but the latter did not seem to make much of an impression \u2013 at least not with the critics who reviewed the film, as they barely acknowledged his presence. <\/p>\n

\u201cDer Januskopf\u201d played across Europe and in the U.S. \u2013 the English-language releases used the title \u201cThe Head of Janus,\u201d though most critics pointed out the excessive borrowing from the Stevenson source material. <\/p>\n

How long \u201cDer Januskopf\u201d survived is anyone\u2019s guess. The survival rate of silent films is so poor that it is not surprising that this version disappeared. While there is always a possibility that a print might be located, logic dictates that Murnau\u2019s version will remain a phantom presence in the history of the horror genre.<\/p>\n