Fear (1917)

Bruno Decarli ("Count Greven") is quite good here, as the nobleman who likes to collect works of art. When in Java, he alights on a mystical totem and decides he has to have it - despite the objections of the local priest (Conrad Veidt) whom he swiftly despatches. That's not the end of our holy man, however, as he haunts his killer with portents of impeding doom...and death! Veidt looks superb as the spirit; his (heavily made up) facial features - always hugely effective - are lit with added poignancy and the direction from Robert Wiene builds a good degree of tension as the denouement, quite literally, looms. I could have been doing with a bit more of our apparition throughout, he features really rather too sparingly, but it's still quite a well made, spooky, affair with just about enough to commend it.