There's actually a funny story behind my viewing of this movie. It started off a week or so ago as I was renting movies and saw the film "Excalibur". A lot of it seemed familiar to me and that was because I forgot that I already reviewed it! I had to watch a new movie every day so I tried watching bits and pieces of this film over a week's span. I finally got the whole thing done today. I was shocked to find out that this film was listed here as being 85 minutes long.The version I saw was 115 minutes long! I now realize I was watching an updated version and I'm certainly glad to have come by that. I always want to see the longest version of a great movie. I thought that I knew the plot to this film. I had actually mistaken it for "The Devil And Daniel Webster". A deal with the Devil is just so common, since the beginning of fiction. From the first two minutes, I knew this was a great movie! We get these wonderful effects showing off Heaven and Hell. Initially, Faust's deal is actually selfless as he wants to help other people. I love how we just keep getting these different scenes of all these different characters. It's hard to keep up with, but it's so beautiful to look at and you can tell a lot of detail was put into the plot. We are taught some interesting things about love and morality. ****

Two great European myths emerged from the early modern period, despite its being a time of print culture: that of the great seducer, Don Juan, and that of Faust, the frustrated intellectual who strikes a pact with Hell. These are myths in the sense that they are the exclusive property of no individual author, but belong in common to the whole culture (as Murnau's subtitle, calling this a "Volkssage," reminds us); and as such they are susceptible to wide variations in the telling. The tale of Faust began humbly enough (by literary standards) in the anonymous German *Faustbuch*, which, quickly translated into English, soon became the basis for one of Kit Marlowe's greatest plays. After that brief emergence into high culture it went low-brow again, becoming a staple of German puppet theater, and wall-paintings in beer-cellars like Auerbach's in Leipzig. Lessing saw its possibilities, and Goethe (who had drunk at Auerbach's as a student) realized them in the greatest work of German literature--on which he lavished much of a very long life. Goethe's work inspired Romantic artists including not only Byron (as in "Manfred") but also opera composers ranging from Ludwig Spohr to Hector Berlioz, Charles Gounod, and Arrigo Boito.Murnau's splendid (and now splendidly restored) silent film takes its cues primarily from the Goethe and Gounod versions, but goes its own way too, as is quite right. Goethe, after all, was writing a "closet drama," that is, a play meant to be read rather than performed and seen in a theater (though the first of its two parts is widely considered stage-able); but Murnau was creating a photo-play in which any words had to be in the form of disruptive title screens; and so the verbal component, which for Goethe was the whole, had in film to be kept to a bare minimum. This underlies and justifies many of Murnau's departures from Goethe's splendid precedent--departures that offended me when I first saw this film many years ago, in a far inferior version, but that I now see the reason and justification for. In any case, those of us who are familiar with Goethe's *Faust* (as Germans tend to be) are seeing a rather different movie here from the one that others see--for better and/or for worse.From Goethe (himself borrowing from *Job*) this film takes the notion of a background wager between Heaven and Hell, here providing that if Faust falls, spiritually, Hell gets to rule the whole earth. This being a film from Germany a quarter of the way through the twentieth century (which Al Pacino, as the Devil in *Devil's Advocate,* memorably characterizes as "all mine"), the terms of the wager provide no sure clue which side will win it. The *Faustbuch,* Marlowe, and Berlioz all consign Faust to Hell at the end; Goethe, Gounod, and Boito all redeem him. What will this film do? Find out! The emphasis on "youth" (as the main desideratum for which Faust bargains with the devil), and the disproportionate (relative to Goethe) emphasis on the love story with Gretchen, both show influence from the Gounod opera. An example of Murnau's departing from both precedents is having Mephisto himself commit a murder that in both Goethe and Gounod he manipulates Faust into committing; but the underlying idea, that Mephisto is prepping Faust for Hell and damnation by leading him to despair of salvation, is rightly maintained. Also, where Goethe has Faust recall a plague when his and his father's medical science utterly failed to help people, Murnau makes that plague present, and Faust's inability to help is the immediate cause of his spiritual desperation. A maiden who appeals in vain to the aged Faust for medical help (for her mother) is a near look-alike to Gretchen, a nice touch.Jannings is a splendidly louche, unhandsome devil (here named "Mephisto," the only name bestowed upon this character in actual dialog in Goethe, though speech prefixes give "Mephistopheles"). His tactics are ingeniously contrived to keep outright magic to a minimum, relying on spiritual cunning instead. Camilla Horn seems too much the stock silent heroine early on, but grows mightily as Gretchen suffers. Gösta Ekman as the title character is perhaps weaker in his young guise, but his ability (with great help from makeup) to represent both old Faust and young is breathtaking.Makeup in general is too stagy for the frequent sharply focused closeups, so that we see it AS makeup. For special effects, shots of the apocalyptic horsemen, and shots of Mephisto and Faust on the back of some rough beast supposedly carrying them through the sky, may induce some cringes; but otherwise the quality is astonishingly high for the period, with model sets exquisitely designed, built, dressed, and photographed. The soundtrack of the 1997 restored version features only one each of cello, trumpet, violin, clarinet, and piano, and so sounds a bit thin, and also rather repetitious, but it is enlivened by intelligent quotations from both Gounod's opera and Schubert's setting (from Goethe) of "Gretchen am Spinnrade."

First of all, I must confess I have not read Goethe's poetic version of Faust, being more familiar with the great writer through his novel the Sorrows of Young Werther. I do have a limited degree of familiarity with the folk tale but, by and large, I saw the film with few pre-conceived expectations.Watching this 1926 adaptation of the Faust legend today is a mixed experience. The visuals at the start of the film certainly pushed the boundaries of what was achievable at the time and many are still stunning, whilst a minority have aged badly. However, they show how much the early directors were already exploring the boundaries of what was possible and treating cinema as a medium in its own right, with capabilities far beyond the bounds of what is achievable on the stage.More problematic is the pacing. The tempo of the film slows dramatically during the second half and it is here that the problems arise as the vast cosmic scale of the piece zooms into a stodgy love story.The acting is also varied and the performance of the actor playing Mephisto has dated particularly badly; indeed he is laughably camp from a modern perspective.For these reasons, Murnau's work lacks the timeless appeal of Lang's early films. Nevertheless, there are many interesting ideas on display that still make this period piece a worthwhile viewing experience. As the audience leave their ordinary lives to enter the cinema (an experience that was still highly exotic in 1926) they are immediately lifted into the cosmic realm and a confrontation between Satan and an Archangel. They are then transported again to a medieval village situated in the folk memory of the past, doubly estranging them and allowing themselves to immerse themselves in this attempt to make cinema a spiritual experience.The scenes of the devil sending plague (in the form of miasma) on the village would have stirred painful memories for many in the audience given that the Spanish influenza epidemic had taken place only seven to eight years previously.The cinematography is less static than that on display in Lang's work and there are some nicely framed moments such as the scene of the girl and the baby in the snow, where she is made to look like Mary holding the Christ child.The shot of her scream echoing out across space to Faust is a bravura moment, whilst the ghostly appearance of her mother in the chair is effective if a little maudlin.Faust himself is somewhat reminiscent of Frankenstein and Rotwang, being partly rational scientist and partly alchemist. Whereas Frankenstein rejects the past and embraces the future, Faust rejects not only God but also science when he seeks to dabble in the occult.The ending of the film, which shows Christian redemption coming from supreme/sacrificial love or agape may seem somewhat trite but given the emphasis on salvation coming by right beliefs held by some Fundamentalist denominations in our day, perhaps it is one that needs to be reasserted.Overall, then, this film is certainly worth watching but be aware that some scenes have dated badly. However, it is an ambitious take on a story that is, at its heart, timeless.

For me, along with Metropolis, The Gold Rush and The Passion of Joan of Arc, this is one of the finest movies of the 1920s. In design and direction especially, Faust is a masterpiece. It has a great story with a strong operatic feel, and the characters are great, Mephistopheles is especially memorable.F.W.Murnau's direction is superb. This is especially true in the duel between Faust and Mephistopheles which defines the term epic in every sense, and part of the reasons why it works so well is the wonderfully malevolent atmosphere that Murnau, Robert Herlth and Walter Rohrig create. The music fits amazingly well and the story despite one or two scenes in the middle that drag just a tad is compelling.The acting is very good. Gosta Ekman does a fine job conveying his character complete with a believable transformation from decrepitude to youth, while Camilla Horn is suitably pure. As the imposing demon Mephistopheles, Emil Jannings with a magnetic appearance and presence steals the film, while he does keep some of his comedic qualities there are times where he is quite terrifying.Other than Jannings' performance and Murnau's direction, what makes Faust such a masterpiece are the expressionistic images which inspired by Casper David Frederich's paintings are amazing, with excellent cinematography and sculptures of smoke, light and steam to compliment them. All in all, a brilliant film and one of the best of its decade. 10/10 Bethany Cox