I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Great Film overall

Good movie but grossly overrated

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

"Faust" is a German silent movie from almost 90 years ago. Of course it is also still in black and white and the runtime differs depending on what version you have. The original ran for 85 minutes roughly, but the new restored version almost reaches the two-hour mark. In that case, it's not a good thing. The film drags a lot on several occasions and even if Goethe's story of Faus is a truly interesting one that I also enjoyed reading when we did it at school, it's just not enough material for a 120-minute film, at least not in this version. The director was Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe, more known as Murnau, who worked on several of the most successful German silent films in the early days of movie-making and was probably second only to Fritz Lang at that point here in Germany. Murnau was a combat pilot in World War I by the way and no less than 6' 11" tall.Anyway, back to this film: The lead actor is a Swede that I have to say I am not familiar with. Jzst like Murnau, he died way too early. Emil Jannings plays the devilish character of Mephisto and he won the very first Academy Award not much later. The lead actress is the pretty (and) young Camilla Horn who enjoyed a prolific movie career in many decades after this one, especially the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. And even if the trio did a decent job with their performances and certainly elevated the material, it is not enough to make up for the flaws of this film. All in all, not recommended.

Murnau's masterpiece captures the Gothic genius of the original folktale—and it is obvious that such a story would never have came from a Latin or even Slavic people—it required the uncanny Gothic genius. In these Germanic peoples the platitude (the banality, the philistinism, the petty bourgeois dullness) and the Gothic coexist.Gretchen is both nice and well played; Murnau's Faust is a creepy metaphysical romance, made with flawless taste and snappy aplomb by the German director. Now Murnau's genuine flair for the Gothic and the weird is obvious—his sets are made out of light and darkness, the Christian element (of rituals, practices, customs) is strongly contrasted with the chaos and delusion brought by Faust's new master.Notice that the protagonist, Doktor Faust, is a scientist—or an alchemist, anyway, not a meta-physician, but rather an enquirer of the nature, like Dr Frankenstein. For the folk, the idea of philosopher is that of a naturalist, of a scientist, even an alchemist or an occults, not of a speculative thinker. Think a little about these: Faust—Marlowe—Goethe—Hegel—Mann—Bulgakov—Frankenstein.

A real miracle that brings this film back to life. 1926 in Germany produced many prodigies. Murnau chose to go back to the old traditional legend, hence to ignore Goethe's double drama and all the subsequent romantic or melodramatic adaptations in the 19th century. He also decided to ignore Marlowe's adaptation from 16th century England. He simplified the traditional tale and only had one simple episode of travelling through time, in this case to some Italian noble beauty that Faust rapes under the influence of some magic. Murnau chose to concentrate on the tale of Gretchen in the second part of the film (which had started with the plague, of course the Black Death) after this Italian trip with elephants and black slaves. He makes it romantic and intense in feeling, though all that feeling is nothing but the result of diabolical magic. Mephistopheles seduces the mother while Faust seduces Gretchen. Mephistopheles also keeps the brother away long enough for Faust to succeed in his seduction. But then Mephistopheles gets on his own route since Faust must be damned for him to recuperate his soul. He gets the brother back to the house in time to find the seducer in his sister's room, but after the mother had found him in the room too and had died of the traumatic shock. Faust kills the brother in the fight that follows. The sister will be then put in the blocks but not executed for fornication. But the winter comes and her baby is born. In the cold and the snow the baby will die of exposure. She will be accused of having killed the baby and then sentenced to burn at the stake. And here Murnau regenerates the tale by making Faust truly in love and coming back to see Gretchen again. He runs in the crowd to be on her passage when she is led to the stake. Mephistopheles makes him old again just when he stands in front of her begging for forgiveness. He is pushed away, unrecognized. She is tied to the stake and set afire. He jumps onto the pyre and into the fire and she sees through his age the young Faust she had been in love with. They die together at the stake. And that brings the final salvation because Faust was not moved by lust only but by real love that made him sacrifice his life, and Gretchen was also moved by love since she was able to recognize the young Faust in the old one, hence to see beyond appearances. The end then is the rejection of Mephistopheles' request to get Faust's soul by God's angel whose wings are wide open in the shape of an enormous heart. Apart from this touching and intense tale, the film is of course marvelously well directed and shot and Murnau chooses too to keep the old framing technique that was natural with the old camera, the picture is systematically fuzzy all around. Today this produces some kind of dreamlike feeling. The music of the DVD is also quite fascinating, in both versions of it, only a harp or a full symphonic orchestra. We must be more than plain grateful when we see all these old films that find a new youth and glory thanks to the DVD.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

Many people have heard the tale of Faust, which has become ingrained in the collective mind of our culture. A worldly doctor sells his soul to the devil in exchange for any earthly good he could desire in exchange for the loss of any spiritual good he could have. This, I believe, is told from the Goethe angle, seeing as how the tale of Faust is more of a folktale than anything that can be attributed to any one novelist.An archangel and Mephisto, played magnificently by Emil Jannings, make a wager: if Mephisto can tempt and acquire the soul of Faust, a renowned and prestigious alchemist, all of mankind is doomed. The hideous raven-form of Mephisto slinks off to his work....In a truly awe-inspiring image, we see Mephisto spreading his demonic wings over the nameless Germanic town in what is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. This spreads the plague, which devastates the town. Faust sells his soul in order to stop it, but doesn't stop there. Be it wealth or the flesh of the loveliest woman alive, Mephisto will give him any earthly desire after he makes his contract permanent.The story is heart-breaking: a classic tale of good, evil, religion, love, and temptation. I'm not one of your weepy types, but I have to admit I was getting a little misty-eyed at the ending. The acting is awesome across the board, with Emil Jannings stealing the show as the cackling Mephisto. His range of facial expressions boggles the mind! But really, it's the visuals that make the movie memorable: phantasmagoric montages of bizarre and demonic images, just what you'd expect from the director of Nosferatu. A demon engulfing a town in his wings, satanic birds, skeletal horsemen....and others. It's really....really interesting to watch.Murnau may be known best for Nosferatu, but don't skip out on this other gem from the Expressionistic era.