GamerTab That was an excellent one.

2hotFeature one of my absolute favorites!

Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Eric Stevenson 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. ****

SnoopyStyle Archangel rebukes Satan for the scourge of War, Plague and Famine. Faust is an alchemist trying to turn base metals into gold. Satan wagers that he can turn Faust against God. Archangel agrees to put the world in the balance. Satan brings the plague onto the town and Faust is helpless to stop it. In despair, Faust calls on the evil one and Satan sends Mephisto to tempt Faust. It's an elaborate production from UFA. It is technically superior for its time. I am not sure which version I saw. It's probably the German version. I'm not expert enough to comment on the differences. It is a compelling story from the classic tale.

Ryan F I saw Faust last night at a special event at the Paramount theater in Seattle with live organ accompaniment. The hosts relentlessly hyped the movie, so when it started, I had high expectations. I was not disappointed. Faust wastes no time by explaining how portals from Hell opened up and wraiths are running free over the Earth. This is an instant hook, but then it gets better as a head angel makes a bet with the devil Mephisto. So what is there that could go wrong?This movie has world-class production design to complement that it takes place in an apocalyptic, post-biblical fantasy time. Personally, I'm not much a fan of the worlds typical to fantasy stories, but the one in Faust is original and creative.The story follows a young Faust chasing after women and happiness in his new, young body. He finally finds one girl who becomes his only goal. This is fine and tells a perfectly good story. My objection is that the beginning shows us angels, demons, the devil, and the plague. Then the story goes down to deal with small-scale issues, looking at Faust's corruption really close up. This isn't necessarily bad, and the story goes back to its large-scale issues at the end, which has plenty of emotional and physical violence to balance out with Act I. I found it distracting that the jump was made to smaller battles, but these smaller battles are on the emotional side, making them far more important and interesting.Though Faust isn't subtle with its themes, it tells a story that moves right along, despite being seen as "one of those old silent films." The acting can be appreciated without looking down on old styles or thinking them archaic. The movie is dark, but Satan himself is a source of humor in some scenes. I see a lot of people who don't want to watch anything pre-50's and 60's, but right back at the beginning of cinema, there's entertainment, emotion, sex, violence, and comedy present in the same movie. Thank you, Faust.

dlee2012 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.