Journey into the Night

Plot

Dr. Egil Börne, an eminent physician, comes under the spell of an unscrupulous cabaret dancer and deserts his fiancée. The plot finds echoes throughout the Weimar period, including Sternberg’s The Blue Angel. Conrad Veidt appears in a supporting role as a sinister blind painter, whose entrance eerily presages Murnau’s Nosferatu. Der Gang in die Nacht, the earliest surviving film by F. W. Murnau, is also, paradoxically, the only Murnau film for which the original camera negative exists.

Why watch

Dr. Egil Börne finds himself entranced by a cabaret dancer, abandoning his fiancée and spiraling into a world of moral ambiguity. Watching this film is like wandering through a dimly lit alley where shadows dance and whispers of longing echo, revealing the fragility of human connections amidst the allure of the night.

Talking points

• the impact of urban isolation on relationships
• the role of art in personal obsession
• the moral implications of desire and betrayal

Cultural context

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