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Faust - Masters of Cinema series
On the DVD: Often seen in ragged, incomplete prints projected at the wrong speed, this is a decently restored version, running a full 115 minutes with a complete orchestral score. The original materials show some of the damage to be expected in a film of its vintage, but the transfer is excellent, displaying the imaginative art direction and camerawork to superb advantage. Aside from a nicely eerie menu, the sole extra is a full-length commentary originating in Australia: written by historian Peter Spooner but read by narrator Russell Cawthorne (who mispronounces the odd name). This provides an interesting wealth of background detail, such as Murnau's attempt to cast Hollywood's Lillian Gish as Gretchen, and delivers a balanced assessment of the film itself. --Kim Newman
RRP: £23.99
Our Price: £9.99 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Shot in the UFA studios with a big movie star in the lead and all the special effects and production design resources any blockbuster of its time could wish for, FW Murnau's 1926 Faust represents a step up from his better-known Nosferatu. Oddly, Faust is a less familiar film than the vampire quickie and this release affords fans a chance to see what Murnau can do with an equally major fantasy story. Adapted neither from Marlowe's play Dr Faustus nor Goethe's verse drama, the script scrambles various elements of the legend and presents a Faust (Gosta Ekman) driven to summon the Devil by despair as a plague rages through the town, desperate to gain enough learning to help his neighbours. When this deal doesn't quite work out, because he is stoned by townsfolk who notice his sudden fear of the cross, Mephisto (Emil Jannings) offers Faust instead renewed youth and an opportunity to seduce a famously beautiful Italian noblewoman and then to return to his home village and get involved with the pure Gretchen (Camilla Horn). Like most versions of the story, it's episodic and some sections are stronger than others: the great stuff comes in the plague and initial deal sequences, though it picks up again for the tragic climax as Gretchen becomes the central figure and suffers horribly, freezing in the snows and burning at the stake. Jannings' devil, a gruesomely humorous slice of ham, is one of the great silent monster performances, reducing everyone else to a stick figure, and Murnau faces the challenge of topping his Nosferatu imagery by deploying a battalion of effects techniques to depict the many magical journeys, sudden appearances and transformations.
The domestic version, is by far the best horror film of the 1920s
Review date: 2007-08-28 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is a 1926 classic of silent cinema. This new life that has been given to the film comes from the fact that the domestic (German) version has been restored and we can compare it with the export version that had survived. It is absolutely striking how the domestic version is tighter in the shooting, the taking and the cutting. The angle is slightly different and better, the contrast is a lot finer and more pronounced, which is very important for a black and white film. The cutting packs up many sequences and this increases the dramatic dimension and effect of the film. Apart from that you will not recognize any running version of the myth. The film is essentially centered on the love affair with Gretchen, but a long first part concentrates on the fight between God and Satan to conquer the world. Faust is nothing but a wager thrown by God at Satan's face. This prologue in the sky and this mystic dimension is partly, but only partly, borrowed from Goethe's Second part of his play. But that is all. This first part of the film also makes Faust travel in time but we are very far from the farce Marlowe set up in this voyage to various courts, including those of Troy's Helen, the Germanic Emperor and the Pope in Rome. It is shorter and more centered on the Emperor, on Germany. Most of the second part of Goethe's play is totally absent since this second part is entirely centered on Faust's voyage in time first, to the past, and then in time as well as in space towards some future, this time building dams in Holland. The film then centers on the affair and on the manipulation of everyone by Mephistopheles. He cheats all the time. He asserts his desire to protect Faust but he is the one who goes and tells Valentin, the brother, and then spread the news of Valentin's murder in the city, a murder he has done himself. But so far so good. We can live with this lying Mephistopheles. But then the film becomes melodramatic in an extreme proportion. Gtechen is only put in the blocks for her fornication and then abandoned in the street with her baby in the winter and that is a major difference with all other versions. The baby finally dies of cold. She is discovered with the dead baby and at once accused of having killed him and brought to the stake where she is burnt in spite of Faust's intermission. She accepts her fate since her baby is dead. But the ending is not without some resemblance with Gounod's Faust. In Gounod she kills her baby out of cold blood, and she is saved by the intervention of Jesus Christ himself. A deus ex machina to save her. Artificial and in Gounod practically farcical. Here it is more serious, very visual but Faust regains his youth again on the pyre and they kiss in the flames and both are saved together at this very moment by the intervention of some angel brandishing the fire of God. This is a moment when the film winks at Goethe who also saved Faust but after a long second part and for quite different reasons. The film finally concludes with a moral about one human dimension that will never be conquered by Satan, and this is LOVE. Here we find again both Berlioz and Gounod for whom love is the explanation of everything and love is also the excuse of everything. Then this very melodramatic action leaves us slightly lost in front of the film because the general atmosphere and impression we get here is that of horror, with the plague at the beginning and a pyre at the end, and several people being killed along the way. What made the Germans visit over and over again in these late 20s that theme of horror, either old and great myths like Nosferatu and Faust, or dystopias like Metropolis? Some leaning coming from history and everyday life after the defeat of 1918 and before the victory of 1933? These fifteen years are the melting pot of all frustrations and dissatisfactions, discontentments. But in this film shot before Murnau's moving to Hollywood we have a darker atmosphere than in Nosferatu, though less intensely tragic, or even Metropolis, though without any human or social hope at all, and the special effects are better used to create the scenes in heaven for example.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
Similar Products
- Nosferatu (Definitive Fully-restored version with original score) [Masters of Cinema] [1921]
- Sunrise - Murnau - Masters of Cinema series
- Metropolis - Masters of Cinema series [1927]
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Reviews
Artistic silent masterpiece
Review date: 2007-06-20 Rating: 10 out of 10
This astounding film by F W Murnau made in 1926 is at the very pinnacle of silent film making, probably the pinnacle of artistic presentation plus an almost unique movement of light and shade across the static framing of the scenes.
Like Gounod's opera the film dramatises the first part of Goethe's epic, with the key difference that Faust initially makes his pact with Mephistopheles to prevent a plague, and not solely to regain his youth, this comes later.
Gosta Ekman is equally convincing in his portray of both the old and young Faust but the great performance in the film is Emil Jannings as Mephisto as he slowly persuades and cajoles Faust into his power and eternal damnation.
Although a dancer and not an actress Camilla Horn is a competent Gretchen, and William Dieterle is passable as her brother Valentin.
But the value of this eighty year old film is the painterly way (Rembrant comes to mind) all of the scenes are constructed and acted, It is really as an artistic masterpiece that it excels.
One of the most impressive films ever made
Review date: 2007-01-30 Rating: 10 out of 10
Faust is just an incredible accomplishment in the art of silent cinema, one of the most ambitious and masterfully directed films of any era. If you've never seen a silent film and wonder if one could even keep your attention, Faust is the film to watch. Far too many classic early films were either lost or came to us in relatively poor condition, but this digitally mastered version of Faust is remarkably clear and free of white outs. I'm sure it looks better now that it did when it was released over eight decades ago. Don't go thinking we're only talking about characters standing around conversing, either; F. W. Murnau packed all kinds of incredible special effects into this magnificent piece of filmmaking.
You all know Faust - that fellow who made a deal with the devil. The story goes back as far as the fifteenth century, with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe penning the definitive version in the early nineteenth century. Murnau's Faust differs somewhat from the original two-part drama written by Goethe, supplanting rationalism with mysticism (no one did mysticism better than early German filmmakers). This approach, among other things, allows Murnau to open the film with nothing less than jaw-dropping visuals and effects. The story is heralded by the grim image of the apocalyptic horsemen thundering through the clouds, leading us to a confrontation between Mephisto (Satan) and an archangel over the control of the Earth. A wager is proposed, with dominion over the Earth set to depend upon the fate of one man's soul. That man is, of course, Faust, a good man targeted for evil temptation by the cursed one. Knowing he could not tempt Faust directly, Mephisto uses his own compassion against him. As a devastating plague is unleashed among Faust's fellow citizens, Mephisto casts his dark shadow over the landscape quite literally, as we see him hovering over the entire village. That, to me, is one of the most memorable and iconographic cinematic sights I've ever seen.
As his friends and neighbors beg Faust (Gosta Ekman) to save them from the plague, his unanswered prayers bring him to the point of despair. He actually summons Mephisto himself (in another incredible special effects-laden scene). After some deliberation, Mephisto (Emil Jannings) convinces Faust to sign a pact for one day only, and that proves to be an offer Faust can't refuse. A little later, though, Mephisto brings in the big guns - the promise of restored youth. Extending the contract from one day to eternity is basically just a formality at this point. All of his new powers don't truly satisfy Faust, though, and so he sets his sights on a lovely, pure maiden by the name of Gretchen (Camilla Horn). The whole mood of the film changes at this point, with the art of wooing temporarily displacing the clouds of doom hanging over the first half of the film - but this is only a prelude to true tragedy. As Daniel Johnston says, "Don't play cards with Satan, he'll deal you an awful hand," and that is exactly what happens here. It gets pretty darned depressing, really, making it hard for the viewer to see how Faust can possibly redeem himself for all of the misery he has caused. Murnau doesn't pull any punches when it comes to establishing the central theme of the story.
Thanks to earlier successes such as Nosferatu and The Last Laugh, Murnau had complete control over the making of Faust. Something of a perfectionist, Murnau made sure that every aspect of every single shot met with his satisfaction. It's obvious that the man was a genius, as even the contrast of light and shadow reinforces the central motif of the story he is telling. The special effects seem years and years ahead of their time. Even the makeup is remarkably well-done (I would never have guessed that Gosta Ekman played both the old and young versions of Faust, as the older version looks genuinely old). And the acting? Top-notch, all the way. Ekman is superb, Emil Jannings becomes the very personification of Mephisto, and an inexperienced Camilla Horn is simply enchanting as Gretchen. (The role of Gretchen was actually written for Lillian Gish, but she bowed out because Murnau refused her demand to have her own personal cameraman shoot the film.) The musical score, composed and conducted by Timothy Brock, is a wonderful counterpart to the film, as well.
In virtually every way possible, F.W. Murnau's Faust is nothing less than a cinematic masterpiece.
Two FAUSTS For The Price Of One High Quality DVD.
Review date: 2006-09-30 Rating: 10 out of 10
For many years F.W. Murnau's FAUST was known to me only through a few stills and a poster. About 15 years ago I came across a public domain video copy which had poor picture quality and Vivaldi's FOUR SEASONS as its soundtrack. Even with these handicaps I could tell that it was something very special and I longed for the day when I might see a better print of the film. A few years ago Kino International released a high quality DVD of FAUST with a newly commissioned score and I was ecstatic as I could now see the film close to the way it must have looked in 1926. Now Eureka has come out with this double DVD set which allows us for the first time to see the film the way Murnau intended. The Kino edition was based on the export version which differs in a number of ways from the original domestic version made available here. The biggest difference is in the way a number of scenes are treated. They are more expanded in the original and have a sharper picture quality than the export version. The ending of Faust and Gretchen ascending to Heaven is missing which seems rather strange as that is key to the film's theme of redemption through forgiveness. Thanks to this set you can view both versions and see the differences for yourself. The performances especially by Emil Jannings as Mephistopheles and Camilla Horn as Gretchen are remarkable and the various special effects used are outstanding for the time and still have the power to astonish. As I said in an earlier review most silent film buffs think PANDORA'S BOX with Louise Brooks to be the apex of German silent cinema and maybe it is but I cast my vote for FAUST. Murnau was a true cinematic poet, a German Cocteau if you will, and all of his considerable skill as a cinematic storyteller went into the making of this film. Because of FAUST Murnau was brought to America where his next film would be SUNRISE. I have one minor quibble with this otherwise outstanding offering from Eureka. The new harp score for the domestic version lacks the power of Timothy Brock's orchestral score for the export version and although you have the option of using the Brock with the domestic version, it doesn't always match up because of the differences between the two films. Nevertheless if you love German silent cinema in general, Murnau's films in particular or romantic fantasy overall then this edition of FAUST is a must.
A VISUAL STUNNING CLASSIC
Review date: 2006-04-10 Rating: 6 out of 10
Having seen Murnau's Nosferatu and having enjoyed it immensely I had to check out some of his other films. Faust quickly caught my attention. After Murnau made Nosferatu, he was given the opportunity to do whatever film he wanted and they gave him a huge budget to do it. The result was an impressive, visually stunning and supernatural film.
God and the Devil are fighting over who gets to control humanity. They do a wager, they decide that if Satan aka Mephisto can corrupt Faust then all humanity will belong to Mephisto. After the wager is on, Mephisto spreads the plague throughout Faust's town and people start dying. Faust then decides to call on the powers of darkness to help him out.
First off, more than anything this movie is a true visual feast. How Murnau made this movie with limited resources he had at the time is a true testament to his talent as a film maker.It was 1926, before make up fx, before Stan Winston, before blue screens and CGI - before anything!. Yet, he managed to create an incredibly rich film. This gut even managed to do a crane shot in the film. The scene where Faust and Mephisto are flying through the sky... the camera swoops over landscapes filled with waterfalls, mountains and cliffs all in one shot. I was amazed how with their limited technological resources Murnau managed to do this time of film back in those days.
The imagery is amazing starting with Mephisto spreading is gigantic black wings over Faust's small town. Images of the Horsemen Of The Apocalypse riding the skies... angels with swords, Faust's conjuring up Mephisto by reading from his book this film is really something to behold. Its all wrapped around that black and white aura that gives the film that eerie feeling. I like black and white horror films and Faust is one of them.
Of special interest was the scene where Faust conjures up Mephisto by reading some words in a book, its truley a great movie moment with an incredible supernatural feel. The visuals of those circles of light emanating from the ground up towards the sky was amazing. I think that scene influenced Francis Ford Coppolla in Bram Stoker's Dracula because he uses the exact same image of the circles of light emerging from the ground.
Faust's fantastical imagery truely demonstrates that Murnau had complete control over over everything that he shown on screen. The snow, the wind, the shadows and the lights were all perfectly handled to create the exact mood and feel that was required at the moment. It quite obvious as well that this film benefited from a much bigger budget then Murnau's previous films. The sets look a lot like those on Caligari at times, the detailed miniatures are very well acieved.
The performances are great, better than in Nosferatu. They are sometimes a bit exaggerated, but not as much as in other silent films Ive seen before. On Faust the performances seemed just right to me. Of special mention is Emil Jennings as Mephisto, the character he plays comes across as evil, treacherous and calculating and he does this all with a smirk on his face. The make up on him is great and he kind of reminded me of Bela Lugosi in Dracula at times. But overall his performance is the best in the film. I also enjoyed Camilla Horn as Gretchen, her scenes with her baby in the snow were great, not only in the acting department but visually too.
Overall I'd recommend this film to those interested in German silent cinema. Its really something to see that how even in those days, the imagination and creativity was there. Even the limited technological resources couldn't hold them back from a truly beautiful, haunting, spooky and supernatural film. For those of you who enjoyed films like Murnau's Nosferatu or Robert Wienes The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari then you will most certainly like Faust, yet for some reason this doesn't get as much recognition.
Definitely worth a look.
Thank you for reading my review.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Frida Richard
Emil Jannings
William Dieterle
Gösta Ekman
Camilla Horn
Creators:
Gösta Ekman (Primary Contributor)
Emil Jannings (Primary Contributor)
Carl Hoffmann (Cinematographer)
Elfi Böttrich (Editor)
Erich Pommer (Producer)
Christopher Marlowe (Writer)
Gerhart Hauptmann (Writer)
Hans Kyser (Writer)
Johann Wolfgang Goethe (Writer)
Director(s):
Recording label: Eureka Entertainment
Manufacturer: Eureka Entertainment
EAN: 5060000402100
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2006-06-19
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 110 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1926
Language: English (Subtitled)