Faust - Eine deutsche Volkssage (1926)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

F.W. Murnau

Writers:

Johann Wolfgang Goethe (play)
Gerhart Hauptmann (titles)

Release Date:

6 December 1926 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror

Plot:

God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist...

Plot Keywords:

Faust | Youth | Plague | Death | Love

Cast

Gösta Ekman	...	Faust
Emil Jannings	...	Mephisto
Camilla Horn	...	Gretchen / Marguerite
Frida Richard	...	Gretchens Mutter / Marguerite's mother
William Dieterle	...	Valentin: Gretchens Bruder / Marguerite's brother (as Wilhelm Dieterle)
Yvette Guilbert	...	Marthe Schwerdtlein: Gretchens Tante / Marguerite's aunt
Eric Barclay	...	Herzog von Parma / Duke of Parma
Hanna Ralph	...	Herzogin von Parma / Duchess of Parma
Werner Fuetterer	...	Erzengel / Archangel

Also Known As:

Faust (Germany) (short title)
Faust: A German Folk Legend (Canada: English title)

Runtime:

Canada:85 min | 116 min (1997 restored version)

Country:

Germany

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Germany:6 | Spain:T

Filming Locations:

Ufa-Atelier, Berlin-Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Universum Film (UFA)

Trivia:

Director F.W. Murnau wanted Lillian Gish to play Gretchen, but she insisted that the film be shot by her favorite cinematographer, Charles Rosher. Murnau instead cast newcomer Camilla Horn, whom he had met on the set of Herr Tartüff (1925), where she was a double for Lil Dagover.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Die Sprache der Schatten (2007) (V)

Interesting & Memorable

It's no surprise that F.W. Murnau's film version of "Faust" is so interesting and memorable. It seems almost to be ideal material for his style and skill, and indeed this movie combines the Faust story with plenty of Murnau's own touches. The creative visuals are probably the most impressive aspect of the feature, although Emil Jannings's performance is also impossible to overlook.

The Faust legend is interesting enough simply as a story that it would be easy for a film-maker to focus on the story alone. It would also be easy to glamorize the power of Mephisto and the fascination that it holds for weak minds. But Murnau and Jannings make Mephisto appear interesting, powerful, and clever, while still never obscuring the shabby and hateful nature of his efforts to ensnare Faust. Faust himself faces not only the battle for his soul, but also the even more interesting struggle of making sense of everything.

The early sequences are very effective in setting it all up. The initial temptations that the devil uses to entice Faust are interesting in their own right and also in terms of the larger issues, and the imagery that Murnau uses complements the events very well. It sets the stage nicely for the developments that follow, creating a very well-conceived version of the classic tale.