Cinema
Faust
F. W. Murnau · 1926
Synopsis
Mephisto wagers with an archangel that he will corrupt the soul of a righteous man, the old scholar Faust, with the earth at stake. He spreads plague over his town; powerless to fight it, Faust burns his books and invokes the forces of evil. Mephisto proposes a trial pact to him, for one day. Faust cures a sick man, but the crowd, seeing that he shrinks from a cross, drives him away with stones. Mephisto then offers him youth.
Context
Ufa first wanted to entrust the direction of the film to Ludwig Berger; Murnau, supported by Emil Jannings, who plays Mephisto, obtained from Erich Pommer the right to direct it. The story combines the popular sixteenth-century book, Marlowe's play and Goethe's. It was Ufa's most expensive production until Metropolis: six months of shooting at the Tempelhof studios, two million reichsmarks, of which only half was recovered in cinemas. At the Berlin premiere, on 14 October 1926, Murnau was already filming in Hollywood; it was his last German film.
Who it is for
A silent film of about an hour and three quarters, of which the original German version survives only incomplete.
Prizes and reception
Praised for its special effects, it received mixed reviews in Germany, which reproached Murnau with misunderstanding Goethe.