Journey Into the Night (1921)

 F.W. Murnau's "Journey Into the Night"


F.W. Murnau's "Journey Into the Night" is the earliest found film of his career. It tells the story of a doctor who gets seduced by a dancer named Lily, who entices him to leave his fiance, Helene. After doing so, Helene falls deathly ill. In going back to see her, Lily falls in love with a painter whose blindness the doctor had cured. The doctor finds out and leaves Lily. Soon, Lily comes back to him and begs to restore his vision once more, for he has fallen back on his blindness. The doctor declines. Lily commits suicide. The painter declines the doctor's treatment after Lily's death. The doctor then commits suicide as well.

The story is a very bleak one, albeit a little underwhelming. It seems to demonstrate how we are never satisfied with the choices we make in life and our past sins will always come back to haunt us. However, the most intriguing element of the film comes from Murnau's subtle experimentation. He does not experiment in ways that seem overt. Rather, he will play with the rhythm of the story. His film moves so slowly and precisely that the viewer is captured by every moment. The subtle draws of attention Murnau derives from the viewer comes from his pacing, his mise-en-scene, and his holding on certain story beats. He can make the viewer feel afraid at a moment's notice. For example, when the blind man comes down the pathway, frightening Lily. Murnau allows the beat to really hang over the viewer, as the man slowly walks up to Lily and then past her. This seems like an insignificant moment, however, the prolonged attention to his walking and Lily's gape forcers the viewer to find some element that is unseeable. This allows the viewer to become frightened by the man, as they are suspicious of him, even though he has done nothing to warrant your suspicions. The way characters move, what visual elements surround them, and how long it takes to sit on a certain moment all become a part of Murnau's subtle adjustments. Because Murnau continues to play with the smaller moments of a scene, it pulls the viewers' attention. The viewer's attention becomes so focused on each immediate moment that they become blind to the bigger picture of what is happening. This allows for the surprises of the film to actually catch the viewer by surprise. Murnau experiments all throughout the film with his method of pacing and attention. However, the story itself does not satisfy his unique, yet subtle ambitions. 




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