Faust (1926)
Following some decidedly dodgy modern horror over the Easter weekend i thought i'd finish the mini break with FW Murnau's classic take on Faust.
With silent films i often struggle a little with the acting as it's often over exaggerated seemingly to make up for the lack of speech, however in this particular film it doesn't grate so much and i think the actors do a better job than in say Murnau's other classic horror, 1922's Nosferatu. Even Emil Jannings who could have hammed it up no end in the two guises of Mephisto played it largely straight.
My overriding feeling following this first viewing wasn't of story or characters but of the visuals. What visuals they were. Murnau really excels himself and creates onscreen brilliance that would influence film makers to the present day.
Faust is a film you can practically fall in love with in it's first twenty minutes. Murnau's use of light and shade and the movement of these mediums even in still sequences is stunning, i'm sure it must have had a great influence on Val Lewton's forties output. As was the scene when Faust goes to the crossroad to make his deal with the devil.
However the most outrageously brilliant part of the film comes in the first ten minutes. A breathtaking overhead journey of the town the viewer gazing at what's below. When you take into account there was no CGI and no aviation as such and the tracking shot was all done with models, it really is some feat...with the best still to come...There at the peak of the town is the devil, laughing, slowly, malevolently, spreading his wings, the plague, over the town and it's citizens. Quite honestly this could be the greatest moment of horror cinema, indeed cinema, i've ever seen.
I'm sure there are many on here like myself up until last night who have never seen this film. Do yourself a favour. Treat yourself to Eureka's Blu-ray, sit back and marvel at what unfolds on the tv in front of you.
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