Faust
About Faust
Mephisto bets an archangel that he can corrupt Faust. He sends plague into the town. Faust calls him up at a crossroads, fails to heal the sick once they see he fears the cross, and signs his soul away for youth. Mephisto shows him the Duchess of Parma, kills her bridegroom, and later steers him to Gretchen with a golden chain. Gretchen's mother dies of shock, her brother Valentin is stabbed in a duel, and she is condemned for leaving her baby in the snow. Faust, made old again, climbs onto the fire with her. The angel tells Mephisto that love has won.
Cast & crew
More about Faust
Erich Pommer produced it at Ufa. The company first wanted Ludwig Berger, because Murnau was on Variety; Murnau, backed by Emil Jannings, got the job. Hans Kyser wrote the intertitles, drawing on the Faust chapbook, Marlowe, and Goethe. Gerhart Hauptmann was paid 40,000 Reichsmark to rewrite them, and those titles were not used. Shooting took six months, with two cameras running on many shots. The Berlin premiere was at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo on 14 October 1926, while Murnau was already in Hollywood. The U.S. release followed on 6 December 1926.
Themes
Background
Ufa mounted it as a large silent fantasy in 1926, the year before Murnau's American debut, Sunrise.
Making
Camilla Horn plays Gretchen. Murnau left for Fox before the Berlin opening, so he was not in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo on 14 October 1926.
Reviews
A 2006 New York Times notice called it one of the most astonishing visual experiences the silent cinema has to offer. In 2012 the Japanese director Shinji Aoyama placed it on a list of ten films and wrote that he keeps Faust in mind because cinema is a joy in the replica, not in realism.
Look
Carl Hoffmann photographed it. Crews ran two cameras so that alternate angles and export versions could be cut from the same action.
Technique
The plague, the flight, and Mephisto's scale changes are trick shots. The burning contract on parchment was a full day's work for one image.
Music
Werner Richard Heymann composed the score played at the Berlin premiere. William Axt supplied the uncredited U.S. score.
Preservation
One copy of the German original is at the Danish Film Institute. Other versions survive in more than thirty prints worldwide. Kino International issued a 106-minute reconstruction with English intertitles.
Notes
- Gösta Ekman plays Faust, Emil Jannings Mephisto, Camilla Horn Gretchen, Wilhelm Dieterle her brother Valentin, Frida Richard her mother, and Yvette Guilbert Marthe.
- It was Murnau's last German film. He then directed Sunrise for Fox.
- Five versions are known, including a German original, a French version, a late German cut, a bilingual version used on ships, and a U.S. version prepared for MGM. They differ in pace, costume, and at least one ending.
- A pre-release screening with Hauptmann's titles was held on 26 August 1926 at the Ufa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz.
- One shot of the contract written in fire on parchment took a day to film.
- The bear scene was shot both with a costumed performer and with a live bear.
- The Bald Mountain vision is cited as a source for Night on Bald Mountain in Fantasia (1940).
Scenes
- Mephisto spreads plague over the town and Faust meets him at the crossroads.
- The pact appears as writing burned into parchment.
- Aged again, Faust throws himself onto the fire beside Gretchen.
Influenced by
- Goethe's Faust
- Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
- the German Faust chapbook
Influenced
- Fantasia (1940)
Also available
- Kino International DVD
