Faust

Faust (Faust: Eine Deutsche Volkssage) (1926)

Runtime: 106 minutes

Directed by: F.W. Murnau

Starring: Gosta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Frida Richard, William Dieterle

From: UFA

“All things in heaven and on earth are wonderful! But the greatest miracle of all is man's freedom to choose between good and evil!”

Via Arrow’s streaming site I was able to check out a film from a great director I hadn’t viewed before; it’s a shame that not only did F.W. Murnau not make that many pictures before he died due to complications from an auto accident, but some of what he did make is now lost. Nosferatu, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Faust are all well worth experiencing for yourself. Of course, Faust is based on German folklore; you may not know that the movie was based on that and an old play Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, but it was.

Those that haven’t heard the term “Faustian bargain”, it’s when someone abandons their morals and/or spirituality for such things as knowledge or material things like wealth. In this case it’s literal… Mephisto-yes, Satan-and an Archangel have a bet where the Devil will run wild over the Earth if he can corrupt a poor man’s soul. An old alchemist named Faust is that soul in question. A plague hits a town; this is represented in a scene from a rather extravagant first act by Satan giant-sized releasing dust upon the area. German Expressionistic, this sure as heck is. Faust can’t find a cure for the plague so in desperation he asks for the Devil’s assistance; this goes about as well as you’d probably guess. Then, love occurs and you’d be mistaken if the thought crossed your mind that Faust’s fortunes would turn around.

It's a movie w/ wild moments where various ideas are usually presented rather boldly-yet it’s also satisfying when the plot turns more romantic and love interest Gretchen is introduced. As Murnau’s preceding movie-The Last Laugh-was a box office hit, the studio UFA gave him carte blanche and this allowed for such an extravagant production with some big sets and even bigger effects. The cast was uniformly solid although it was Emil Jannings as Mephisto (whether giant-sized or human-sized) that was the stand-out; that character was especially over the top, although in a gleeful manner. What a conclusion to Murnau’s time in his home country as right after this he went to Hollywood.