Phantom

Critics Consensus

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TOMATOMETER

Total Count: N/A

60%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 456

Movie Info

Alfred Abel plays a store clerk who is nearly driven to insanity when he sees an apparition of a girl driving a team of white horses. He is sentenced to 20 years in jail when he is convicted of stealing to raise money for a prostitute who looks life the ghost girl. Lil Dagover, Aud Egede Nissen, and Lya de Putti star in this feature directed by legendary filmmaker F.W. Murnau.

Rating:

PG-13
Genre:

Art House & International, Drama, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By:

F.W. Murnau
Written By:

Thea von Harbou
In Theaters:

Nov 13, 1922 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Sep 12, 2006
Runtime:

120 minutes
Studio:

UCO-Films

Cast

Alfred Abel
as Lorenz Lubota

Lil Dagover
as Marie Starke

Aud Egede Nissen
as Melanie Lubota

Grete Berger
as Pawnbroker

Olga Engl

Lya De Putti
as Mellitta

Karl Etlinger

Ilka Gruning

Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
as Hugo

Adolf Klein
as Harlan

Frida Richard

Anton Edthofer

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Critic Reviews for Phantom

All Critics (4) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (1) | Rotten (3)

Somewhat stodgy in its seriousness, Phantom remains a secondary work by a great filmmaker.

Feb 13, 2007 | Full Review…

Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic
It's a bit of a bore.

Nov 26, 2006 | Rating: 2/5

Phil Hall
Film Threat
It's dreadfully slow-paced, overwrought and dated.

Nov 15, 2006 | Rating: C+ | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Phantom comes across more as a job for hire than as a genuine Murnau masterpiece. But even so, the master filmmaker managed to include several of his own touches

Sep 28, 2006 | Full Review…

Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

View All Critic Reviews (4)

Audience Reviews for Phantom

Dec 16, 2011

I wasn't impressed, interested, or put off by this film... in fact I didn't feel anything but boredom towards it. The plot sounds so promising, but the picture doesn't deliver. Even though my DVD was of poor quality, I couldn't get into this movie at all. I expected more from a film called Phantom.

Aj V Super Reviewer
Oct 07, 2010

Not what I expected from F.W Murnau. It didn't have the beauty of SUNRISE or the mystery of NOSFERATU. And the title is a trifle misleading, in that I was expecting a ghost story of some sort. Instead, the title refers to obsessive "phantoms" of desires and dreams that haunt one's thoughts. This film resembles somewhat THE BLUE ANGEL in that a man's chance meeting with a mystery woman and his subsequent obsession of same leads to his downfall. Performances were a bit over-dramatic, but that is to be expected for 1922. And I have a hard time finding a lot of faults with silent German cinema. All in all, not a masterpiece but good enough to hold my attention for 2+ hours.

Cindy I Super Reviewer
May 20, 2009

Frankly, this film stinks. It earns two stars for F.W. Murnau's direction, but the melodramatic story is absolutely awful. The lead character (Alfred Abel, who otherwise did some fine work with Fritz Lang) is a twitching idiot who throws away his life after falling in love with a passing stranger whom he never encounters again, and the film bets all its chips on us <i>sympathizing</i> with him rather than believing he's a ridiculous fool. Then he goes even further, bankrupting himself by throwing gifts at a shoddy <i>lookalike</i> woman who does even less to deserve his affection. And heaven knows why the title suggests a horror movie -- the only horror is the script. To add insult to injury, the film tacks on a cheap, happy ending which is totally unearned. Skip this one.

Eric B Super Reviewer
Nov 30, 2008

At times visually stunning, but the story is weak and boring. You see flashes of Murnau's genius in Phantom, but compared to his later work(Sunrise & Pandora's Box) this film fails.

cody f Super Reviewer