Faust
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Movie Reviews of Faust
Movie Review: What would you sell your soul for?
Summary: 5 Stars
What would you sell your soul for?
This is the question posed by the Faust tale, told by Marlowe, by Goethe and here by the incomparable F W Murnau.
As usual, Murnau is a master of creating mood and so the scenes with Mephisto are dark and forboding. The scenes with old Faust are tinted as if with age and the scenes of young Faust almost burst off the scene with their electric energy.
A master of the moment, Murnau uses a rush of pictures to tell his story. The dark Mephisto, all hawk winged poses over of the people. The weary old Faust cringes in terror as he helplessly uses the finger of his healing to dam off the incringing plague. The resigned Faust agrees with Mephisto a one day trial to heal certainly all instead of maybe a few. The young Faust beams radiantly in the glow of love. The distraught Faust sacrifices all to save his love.
And finally "liebe" love itself litterally beats the devil.
Owing to its gravity and potential for being sacarine, the Faust tale requires a true master for its telling and this movie shows just how well F W Murnau is suited to the task...so suited in fact that he deserves to be watched along with those who've read Marlowe and Goethe.
Movie Review: Epitome of an Epic
Summary: 5 Stars
For all intents and purposes, this is THE silent film to own, if one can own just one. It has everything. Drama, special effects, comedy, allegory, myth, good vs evil. Murnau is a director par excellence and displays his visionary propensities to splendid effect in this classic Goethe tale. The inimitable Emil Jannings plays a hearty, red-blooded Mephisto. Jannings as a silent screen actor invokes in one look, or a singular movement, what some contemporary actors could not hope to capture within a fete of endless dialogue. Camilla Horn plays a heartbreaking Gretchen, and the scene in which she wanders the snow with her dying baby is as evocative as it gets. Grab a hankie and do not feel shamed to find yourself swept along for the ride, of which there is a most splendid one included in this film, where Faust and Mephisto glide above a world in miniature. Amazing, exhilarating, absorbing. You shan't be disappointed.Movie Review: Visually stunning, but...
Summary: 5 Stars
... the performance of the musical score is dreadful! The actuall composition is ok, but listen to the unbarable sound of the strings! Ghastly! Can't anybody tell Kino (and Eureka) to find an orchestra that know how to tune their instruments and keep the tone while playing them?
The music actually destroyed the whole experience for me. Spectacular film otherwise, but I think Murnau is turning in his grave knowing a bunch of amateurs making sound to his pictures.
The five stars are all for Murnau!
Sincerely/Daniel (from Sweden)
Movie Review: Excellent Murnau
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the more well-known, and one of the best, of Murnau's films, along with Nosferatu and The Last Laugh. For those unfamiliar with the myth, Faust is a morality play, pitting good against evil, and the selling of your soul to the devil for earthly richs. Others have gone into details about this dvd, so I won't. But I will say the first 30 minutes of the movie are some of the best opening scenes of any silent movie. Must have for anyone collecting classic silent films of any genre.Movie Review: Incredible Cinematography
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie has perked my interest in the silent film era. Murnau's use of light and shade, human expression, and dreamlike (or nightmarish) landscapes create an artistic feast for the mind. Each scene is a punctuation mark. Probably one of the greatest artistic achievments put on film. The accompanying film score is also well suited to the content.