Faust (1926)

The demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.

Director:

F.W. Murnau

Writers:

Gerhart Hauptmann (titles), Hans Kyser (titles)

Stars:

Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn

Cast

Cast overview:
Gösta Ekman	...	Faust (as Gösta Ekmann)
Emil Jannings	...	Mephisto
Camilla Horn	...	Gretchen / Marguerite
Frida Richard	...	Gretchens Mutter / Marguerite's Mother (as Frieda Richard)
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 (as Eric Barcley)
Hanna Ralph	...	Herzogin von Parma / Duchess of Parma
Werner Fuetterer	...	Erzengel / Archangel

Storyline

God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist. During a plague, Faust despairs and burns his books after failing to stop death; Satan sends Mephisto to tempt Faust, first with insight into treating the plague and then with a day's return to youth. Mephisto is clever, timing the end of this 24 hours as Faust embraces the beautiful Duchess of Parma. Faust trades his soul for youth. Some time later, he's bored, and demands on Easter Sunday that Mephisto take him home. Faust promptly sees and falls in love with the beautiful Gretchen, whose liaison with him brings her dishonor. Is there redemption? Who wins the wager?

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Plot Keywords:

good versus evil | deal with the devil | seduction | death | murder | 

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Taglines:

NEVER before has the screen revealed a spectacle of such size and impressiveness as in the epic production. The world-famous story of fate and temptation, renowned as an opera, has now been dramatically immortalized in a picture which can be truly called great.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

6 December 1926 (USA)

Also Known As:

Faust

Filming Locations:

Ufa-Atelier, Berlin-Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universum Film (UFA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min 116 min (1997 restored)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Until Metropolis debuted a year later, this was the most expensive German film.

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Quotes

Marthe Schwerdtlein: Gretchens Tante: Three drops of this love potion will make all women crazy for you!

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Connections

Referenced in The Phantom Hour (2016)

User Reviews

A feast to look at.

Faust is a famous German story from Johann Wolfgang Goethe but to be honest I wasn't familiar with it until I saw this movie. Perhaps that's also why I liked the story so much, the movie changes direction time after time and from the beginning on you don't know how it is going to end. A great story of good versus evil in which love conquers all.

What makes the movie very memorable is the visual look of it. The movie is filled with some truly amazing early special effects. F.W. Murnau truly was a master in using convincing early special effects in his movies, some scene's are really impressive. Also the cinematography is spectacular and it has some brilliant lighting.

In many ways the movie was decades ahead of its time. The way the story is told in the movie is unique and spectacular for its period and so is the use of humor in it. All the scene's with Mephisto and Marthe Schwerdtlein were shear comedy brilliance, also mainly thanks to Emil Jannings his acting.

Mephisto himself really was one scary great villain character, especially when the character is first introduced to Faust.

Maybe not entirely a classic masterpiece, the middle and the drama is bit too much dragging and lacking for it but certainly a movie historical important and memorable movie. A F.W. Murnau movie that deserves to be seen by more.

9/10

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