Faust
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Movie Reviews of Faust
Movie Review: Stunning reproduction and photography, good art film
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not a silent film buff. But the story of Faust was enough of a temptation. The black and white photography, alone, makes this worth watching. The textures, gray tones, and authentic and artistic style kept me a captive audience. The orchestral soundtrack is something you would expect from Wagner. All in all, an excellent viewing experience.Movie Review: One Of The Best Pieces of Expressionist Cinema
Summary: 5 Stars
I love German expressionism, especially that in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre, and have to say that this movie is one of the finest works of the style. I loved the special effects, the story, and the characters, and found it to be very enjoyable. Fans of horror and silent movies ought to check it out.Movie Review: Fantastic Classic Silent Film
Summary: 5 Stars
F. W. Murnau's final movie is a dramatic telling of good versus evil. A combination of music, lighting and shadows and scenery create a masterpiece of cinema to last through the ages.Movie Review: Visually stunning but flawed
Summary: 4 Stars
Having watched Nosferatu recently, I've developed a bit of a Murnau "thing", and Faust has done nothing to dampen this. In some ways it's a similar film - figuratively, Mephisto is not unlike Dracula, and the use of the plague metaphor for societal decay is used in both films. Over 115 minutes Faust is neither even nor coherent enough to be in the same league as Nosferatu, though. The individual set pieces, however, thoroughly outdo anything in Murnau's Stoker adaptation.The special effects are rudimentary, but boy do they pack some bang for their buck. The camerawork and heavily shadowed lighting lends a sombre and dreamy air to proceedings, and there are certain images, particularly at the beginning of the picture, which are astounding: Murnau's representation of the plague and Faust's invocation of the Devil (it reminded me of the strikingly similar Robert Johnson legend) are especially memorable scenes.
For all that, the middle of the film loses momentum badly. This is mostly not Murnau's fault: the Faust legend doesn't, when you analyse it, make for awfully good cinema. The dramatic impetus is done at the end of the first act. Once Faust has made his pact, it's game over; the rest of the story is just the slow revelation of the enormity of what Faust has done.
Murnau has a go at modifying this to make for a better screenplay, but it doesn't work. The Faust/Gretchen love interest isn't enough to hold up the last hour of the film, and bizarrely (given the decidedly unsettling opening scenes) Emil Jannings plays Mephisto not for dread but for laughs. I suppose that's the only way the Faust story has any credibility - we can believe that a beguiling trickster might pull a fast one on the fundamentally decent Faust, but not a horrible Satanic Majesty. But I don't think that is an excuse to turn the Devil into Oliver Hardy.
In his attempt to pull a happy ending out of the Hat (Goethe and Marlow don't have a happy ending, Faust scholars will note), Murnau eschews his slapstick for good old fashioned incoherence: Mephisto and Faust take leave of the screen altogether and Gretchen goes postal, things get very maudlin - to what point, your guess is as good as mine - and, rather abruptly (given how the last 30 minutes dragged) it's all over.
Just as there is for the new edition of Nosferatu, there is a commentary track prepared by an Australian actor with a comedy baritone voice. It isn't quite so insightful, however.
Well worth a watch, but you are left wondering what might have been.
Movie Review: CLASSIC MURNAU ON DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
Kino has just released the new DVD stroboscopic light show from the silent German era, "Faust", directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe, or F.W. Murnau. Adding onto his success with "Nosferatu", Murnau and UFA, the giant German studio, decided to spare no expense. There's no CGI here. But there is an impressive use of light, shadow, and wind, that includes a fantasy ride with the devil. The classic Goethe tale from 1926, Faust sells his soul to the devil when he is told: "Go to the crossroads, and call his name 3 times". The smoky,windy,moon-lit set fortells Murnau's "Sunrise", the classic filmed in Hollywood one year later. In 1927, Fox Pictures erected a huge city set on miles of open land, for "Sunrise". It's now covered by condominiums and known as Century City. "Faust" features Muranu's wistful direction, Camilla Horn as young Gretchen, and Emil Jannings as Mephisto. Just one year later, all three would be working in Hollywood. The second half of "Faust" bogs down with Gretchen's problems, and her brother's death. The brother is played by William Dieterle, a future Hollywood director. "Faust" has a large print cut 3 1/2 minutes into the film, and some serious negative print damage in the reel change from 2 to 3. Otherwise, the DVD is rather pristine for an 80 year-old film. F.W. Murnau died in a possibly scandalous car crash in 1931, in Santa Barbara, rushing to the premiere of his last film, "Tabu".