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Ah yes, but your challenge is an idle one that ignores the substance.
My point was that more of Stoker finds its way into DRACULA than into NOSFERATU. I never said it was absolutely faithful or that the Lugosi film did not also include a lot of stuff that wasn't in the movie. In fact you even quoted the phrase I used to describe how much of the Stoker material is used: "distorted to suit the film."
Thus we get the opening sequence, which is heavily influenced by the book, but with Renfield replacing Jonathan Harker, so that when Dracula shows up in London, Harker will not recognize him.
Different yes, but it is quite an exaggeration to state that "the storyline couldn't have been any more different from the book." The 1931 DRACULA is very much a condensed, telescoped version of the book, minus the chase back to Transylvania and with a lot of stuff from the play thrown in.
As for not being open to anyone else opinion, like John Cleese in the argument clinic, I'm taking a contrary position. The convention wisdom is that NOSFERATU is a masterpiece ("a thrill unequaled to this day," Denis Gifford calls it in A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF HORROR MOVIES). I disagree. Since the NOSFERATU-philes have had eighty-four years to make their case, and since I've read the praise and seen the movie many times, I feel entitled to make my opposiing case.
I've already said it is not my intention to destroy anyone's enjoyment of NOSFERATU, but I have no reservations in pointing out that the film's reputation as a masterpiece rests on rather shaky ground. One of the looser pebbles in this foundation is the assertion that the flm "comes closets to what Stoker was all about" (James Hart's words to me when I interviewed him for Cinefantastique magazine). It's an attempt to shore up the film's standing by granting it whatever cache comes with being "faithful." But NOSFERATU isn't really faithful to Stoker's novel at all.
I suppose one could make an argument the the divergence from the original text represents an improvement. That would be a worthwhile point to debate. But claiming "faithfullness" as a point in NOSFERATU's favor is an untenable position.
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