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About this movie

Genres:
Horror, Mystery & Suspense
Language:
English
Running time:
1:55:42
Partner rating:
GREEN
Released:

Cast & Crew

Cast

  1. Gösta Ekman Faust
  2. Emil Jannings Mephisto
  3. Camilla Horn Marguerite
  4. Frida Richard Mother
  5. William Dieterle Valentin
  6. Yvette Guilbert Marthe
  7. Eric Barclay Duke of Parma
  8. Hanna Ralph Duchess of Parma
  9. Werner Fuetterer Archangel
  10. Hans Brausewetter Farmboy
  11. Hertha Von Walther
  12. Hans Rameau

Directors

  1. F.W. Murnau

Producers

  1. Erich Pommer
  2. David Shepard

Writers

  1. Johann Wolfgang Goethe
  2. Gerhart Hauptmann
  3. Hans Kyser

Faust

Faust was the mammoth German production which won F. W. Murnau his contract with Hollywood's Fox Studios. Emil Jannings glowers his way through the role of Mephistopholes, who offers the aging Faust (Gosta Eckman) an opportunity to relive his youth, the price being Faust's soul. Though highly stylized, the film is unsettlingly realistic at times, especially during the execution of the unfortunate Gretchen. Even in old age, actress Camilla Horn could recall how close she came to genuine immolation when Murnau burned her at the stake. An American version of Faust had been planned earlier as a Mary Pickford vehicle, but Pickford's mother wanted no part of a film in which her darling daughter strangled her own baby. The scenario for Faust touches lightly upon the previous retellings by Goethe and Marlowe, but is more heavily reliant on the paintings of Pietr Breughel.

Reviews by Rotten Tomatoes

Scored 'fresh' by Rotten Tomatoes

94%Tomatometer score: 94% positive reviews from professional critics.

percent positive reviews

  1. Positive review
    Alan Morrison, Empire Magazine Visually striking early telling of the German folktale. Full review External link
  2. Positive review
    Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader This extraordinary piece of artistry and craftsmanship integrates its dazzling special effects so seamlessly that they're indistinguishable from the film's narrative, poetry, and, above all, metaphysics. Full review External link
  3. Positive review
    Don Druker, Chicago Reader As atmospheric and menacing a work as the expressionist movement ever produced. Full review External link
  4. Negative review
    Geoff Andrew, Time Out Murnau's version of the story of the man who sold his soul to the Devil (Jannings) in return for youth is visually extraordinary but dismally uneven in terms of its dramatic effect. Full review External link
  5. Positive review
    Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times I sometimes feel, in this age of expert CGI, that I am being shown too much -- that technique is pushing aside artistry and imagination. The world of Faust is never intended to define a physical universe, but is a landscape of nightmares. Full review External link
  6. Positive review
    John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press Still a classic example of eye-popping excess at a time when German filmmakers were among the most innovative in the world.

Read more reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

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