Movie Description Murnau's FAUST stars the inimitable Emil Jannings as Mephistopheles, to whom the hapless and aging Faust sells his soul for renewed youth as well as wealth and power. Based on Goethe's interpretation of the age old legend, Murnau merely uses the story as a starting point for an incredibly phantasmagoric vision of the struggle between good and evil. Beginning with a flourish, Murnau introduces Mephistopheles with one of the most famous sequences in film history, finding Jannings being birthed as a disgusting, primordial creature from the heavens and banished to the netherworld. Baroque, bizarre, and unforgettable, FAUST is one of the German master's greatest triumphs. Silent movie with English and German subtitles. The Kino version is restored with a symphonic soundtrack.
| Credits | | Producer: | Erich Pommer | | Cast: | Camilla Horn, Eric Barclay, Gosta Ekman, William Dieterle |
| Details | | Edition: | Digitally Mastered from 35mm Archive Materials | | Sound: | Stereo Sound |
Notes DVD Features:
Region 1 Keep Case Full Frame - 1.33 Audio: Digital Stereo - Orchestral Score Featurette - 1. "UFA Studios 1925: The Making of FAUST" Interactive Features: Scene Access Interactive Menus Text/Photo Galleries: Essay by Film Historian Jan Christopher Horak, The Kino VHS version of "Faust" has been digitally remastered from an archival print. It is also accompanied by a full orchestral score composed and conducted by Timothy Brock, performed by the Olympia Chamber Orchestra.
175 new intertitles were created for the Kino VHS version, using period type; subtitles were also added to translate the many German language books and manuscripts shown throughout the film.
Editorial Reviews "...Its real seduction is Jannings' turn as Mephisto. His plumply repugnant devil emits the sweet stench of brimstone..." Entertainment Weekly - Troy Patterson (06/08/2001)
"...One of the director's most stirring works..." USA Today - Mike Clark (03/13/1996)
"FAUST's two halves create a dialectical web opposing drama to comedy, darkness to light, repression to sexuality..." Sight and Sound - Brad Stevens (08/01/2006)
"[Y]ou'll be knocked out cold by Murnau's indelible images, haunting use of shadows, and trippy, dreamlike expressionist sets." -- Grade: A Entertainment Weekly - Chris Nashawaty (03/20/2009)
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