Faust (1926)
God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist... (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: F.W. Murnau
Written By: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gerhart Hauptmann, Hans Kyser
Starring: William Dieterle, Emil Jannings, Gösta Ekman, Frida Richard, Camilla Horn, Hanna Ralph, Eric Barclay, Werner Fuetterer, Yvette Guilbert
AKA: Faust: Eine deutsche Volkssage
Country: Germany
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Faust belongs to 58 collections
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Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 7 |  |
terrymac | 91 98th |
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This is astonishing to look at. Each frame is packed with detail, character, and masterful composition, and some of the imagery is incredible. It does all feel quite nightmarish. I'll echo comments from others that the middle part, and the romantic passages, do drag a bit, and the tonal shifts are a bit odd, but it makes sense from the perspective of the impactful ending. A very fine achievement, all things considered.
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| 4 |  |
MartinTeller | 82 73rd |
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Emil Jannings hams it up to the extreme, severely overdoing the gestures and expressions (sometimes for ineffective comedic purposes). He plays Mephisto more like an annoying troublemaker than a figure of evil. This is supposed to be the lord of the underworld, not Drop Dead Fred. Besides his performance, however, a top-notch film with astonishing sets, photography and special effects.
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| 4 |  |
KMcNeil | 10 98th |
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Amazing ingenuity, aesthetic on another level entirely. The superimpositions alone - fx Riders of the Apocalypse riding in on a hurricane-like wind - are worth it. Tableau after tableau. Often tableau on top of tableau! Art. Pure art.
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| 4 |  |
Jeb | 86 73rd |
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Spirit crushing and heart-pounding, Faust is a amazing nearly-century old German-foreign horror film that completely dominates with stunning visuals and sensational photography, boosting the score up higher and also raising the bar for most movies. However, this doesn't make up for the mediocrity of the performances, and the plotline is uninspired and completely dull.
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| 3 |  |
PeaceAnarchy | 73 36th |
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The striking images don't make up for dullness of the story. The conflict between Faust and Mephisto doesn't make much sense and neither part is effective. I fact, parts of it are almost comedic, with Mephisto being so neutered that he seems to be more comic relief than menace. The rest of the cast is ok but not especially sympathetic, which makes the driving force of the film falter tremendously.
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| 3 |  |
Barthalen | 85 92nd |
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Despite losing momentum somewhere around the middle, Faust is an engaging film with impressive effects. In fact, the image of Mephisto towering over the city is one of the coolest I've seen in silent films so far. Jannigs is totally hamming it up in that role, but it's impossible not to smile at his expressions. I was thoroughly mesmerised during the climax, and the film more than makes up for some of the filler halfway through.
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| 3 |  |
Luna6ix | 78 66th |
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A strong beginning and a fantastic ending, but the middle is fairly unimpressive. This movie would have been better off making Faust a minor character since Satan was so damn entertaining, it also could have used some serious trimming and a revamping of the dialog which is opaque and overbearing.
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| 3 |  |
snallygaster | 28 17th |
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Despite loving certain parts of this, I can never identify with this kind of premise, and I definitely didn't enjoy the bulk of the movie playing out like a silly rom-com with Mephisto as the bumbling comic relief.
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| 3 |  |
Ununnilium | 51 32nd |
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I understand why FW Murnau is lauded for visual style, but the story is full of problems. The moral framework of this story is terribly confused - medieval blame-the-victim Calvinism mixed freely with Hollywood-esque love-conquers-all. The plot drags, making a movie that's less than two hours feel more like three. And the whole "corruption" aspect is basically forgotten about half an hour in.
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| 3 |  |
backwardsuit | 85 91st |
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Truly magical visuals. The dark presence of Satan infecting the body and soul of a city, the sudden mist-conjured apparitions and the dizzying flying scenes with otherworldly scope & velocity among other things will be impossible to forget. Some issues with pacing and general plot coherence but it's one of those films you remember for its dreamlike imagery rather than any logical story elements. Highly transporting and hauntingly imaginative fantasy that pretty much defines the genre for me.
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| 2 |  |
Moribunny | 88 96th |
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Murnau's Faust is most indebted to Goethe's version, but more a keeping of the legend alive rather than a loyal or modernized adaptation of Goethe per se. It's quaint and truthfully in touch with the antiquated world-view of the folk tale, but does include romanticism. Visually, it's stunningly picturesque. The visual effects are primitive but not obsolete; they are meticulous and display an artistic brilliance missing in more modern fx designs. The first act is the strongest.
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| 2 |  |
Judge Holden | 8 94th |
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Like Nosferatu, Faust is a simple story told amazingly well. It's not quite as economical, but here the visuals and story are even stronger. The bookends are particularly brilliant. Faust takes a slight detour in the middle, where it seems to become more of a silly romantic comedy than an unnerving tale of good versus evil, but the bleakness of its ending reveals Murnau's true intentions, and then it hits you. Hard.
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| 2 |  |
glumpy_99 | 98 95th |
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Gripping and mesmerising silent, highlighted by Murnau's legendary staging and set designs and an extraordinary evocation of "Mephisto" by Jannings, whose sinister presence (and makeup job) still have the power to chill and unnerve. If Fuetterer and Ekman are perhaps a little insipid by comparison (and too much time is spent on change-of-tone seductions in the mid-section), all is forgiven for the masterful opening and closing passages, leaving the film resonating as haunting and brilliant.
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| 2 |  |
ribcage | 78 73rd |
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Visually this film cant be criticized. Murnau had such an eye for striking images for representing darkness and evil. The opening scenes with the devil were wonderfully ominous. He performs many tricks that have aged extremely well. Its a visual masterpiece. For the rest, i feel when the story became about the romance it brought too much humor..which is jarringly introduced at the halfway point. The devil goes from dark to hammy. However it balances out again before ending.
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| 2 | mkellins | 60 54th |
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Honestly, I was expecting more of this. The music is great and they use some fun visual tricks but the story's lacking depth. There is also a painfully boring scene where the main character is playfully chasing his crush around a yard. That goes on for about good five minutes...
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| 1 |  |
Alex Watkins | 4 70th |
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The effects here are fantastic, for starters; among the best you'll find in any silent film. The story is a compelling good-vs.-evil tale (though I much prefer Marlowe's version), with a very touching romantic angle. The beginning and end are riveting and wholly engaging. The middle of the film, however, isn't quite to the standards of the rest - it's a bit plodding, and Jannings, who is fairly hammy overall, is at his worst in these sections. Still, its strengths far outweigh its flaws.
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| 1 |  |
Nathan S | 4 74th |
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A visual marvel, presented in starkly contrasting light and shadow with sharp angles and a bevy of special effects. The expressionist photography goes in-hand with the Gothic art design to make the film appear otherworldly, and yet in Faust's spiritual struggle there is a quality entirely humane. Even for someone with as little religious inclination as myself, it resonates deeply.
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| 1 |  |
AFlickering | 3 37th |
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"this is supposed to be the lord of the underworld, not drop dead fred" holy shit
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| 1 |  |
caiman | 90 92nd |
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This has some impressively complex shots and special effects. Similarly to Sunrise (though not nearly to that level of technical prowess), Murnau's camera is free to move fluidly in all directions. Brilliant use of miniatures and double exposures helps create a dark, mystical world. I enjoyed Murnau's telling of the mythical story despite some goofy parts near the middle. The character of Mephisto was quite entertaining, and the finale, though a bit cheesy, was well executed.
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| 1 |  |
JooJoo | 6 95th |
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I don't say this lightly, the bookends here are the best work of Murnau. Absolutely towering in their imagery and depth of emotion to create such a wonderful fusion of two forms of thought on a mythology. It's such a testament to the director's skill in all areas that even after Jannings tries his best to sink it with his over-the-top expressionism, this still delivers an incredible experience. [gets a considerable boost for both harp/alternative score featured on the MoC version]
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| 1 |  |
miss jesus | 87 89th |
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The film's sense of morality is somewhat simplistic by today's standards--it doesn't spend much time on Faust's struggle. And it doesn't spend much time showing you all the great stuff he got from Satan either, dedicating a lot of time to a romance subplot instead. Other than that, it's an astounding film, with special effects and lively characterizations that I didn't expect at all. Murnau clearly had a very strong sense of how much can be conveyed with visuals alone.
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| 1 |  |
kyvetti | 88 96th |
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Among the most beautiful films I have ever seen, Murnau who has never been a slacker when it comes to visuals really goes all the way here. Somewhat loose retelling of Faust legend gives an excuse of flooding the viewer with state-of-the-art special effects.
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| 1 |  |
d_drudges | 60 69th |
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It's wonderfully shot but the story is pretty lacklustre, and becomes forced about half way in. The women are treated just as props that exist only to lust after the main characters, which is interesting given the ultimate message of the film. The score by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra (the Netflix version) was great.
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| 1 |  |
overrated | 66 71st |
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The first half-hour is incredible - no doubt the best special effects of the silent era (better than even Metropolis) - but Faust devolves into a silly caper plot burdened by Emil Janning's ridiculous overacting. It's a shame because if the beginning could be ranked as it's own thing the score would be up in the 90's.
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| 1 |  |
Darren | 72 59th |
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Still don't feel like Murnau's horror stuff is as scary as his regular flicks but damn this has some epic set pieces and beautiful expressionistic camera work. Obviously very influential just as Nosferatu also was for him. There's a couple of weird choices on a story level (too much unfunny humour) but from a pure cinematic level he's kind of hard to touch especially in that era. Maximalist cinema. The last act is some of the best imagery out there
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| 1 |  |
auhasarderik | 9 91st |
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Choke full of undelible epic-biblical-evil images. Production effort is insane. Tricks, camera, makeup, use of light, fog; top of its time, and still entrance. Story lags a little, but visuals pull through.
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| 1 |  |
Lady Moe | 85 60th |
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The pacing gets really off about two-thirds into the movie and comes to a bit of a halt, but what it gets right it knocks out of the park. Visionary effects and camerawork, this film laid the groundwork for film in ways that are often overlooked.
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| 1 |  |
guy piranha | 80 90th |
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seen as it was meant to be: on the "big" screen to live piano music, which was equal parts challenge and pleasure. and now: "an den pranger mit der dirne!"
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| 1 | damil | 70 67th |
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F.W. Murnau was one of the best silent film directors, for sure. I've been very impressed by Nosferatu (1922), Sunrise (1927) and now this. From the first few shots, I was amazed. The visual effects and camera tricks were brilliant and clever, especially for the time. However, as the story went on, I became less and less interested. The film was too long and felt a little meandering. I didn't love it, but I respect it.
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| 1 |  |
Bagger | 60 29th |
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Another Expressionist film that I really wanted to love because well... I'm a sucker for dark biblical imagery. But it gets hijacked by a dull-as-dirt romance, and unlike say, Metropolis, it has nothing else really going for it in the middle part. And the whole magical place switcharoo was done somewhat more entertainingly in "De Müde Tod". Overall this is probably for completists only.
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| 1 |  |
hotsake | 79 90th |
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Great visuals and atmosphere! Iconic imagery, Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau's films had some of the most imitated imagery ever and this is the most imitated of any movie I can think of. A beautiful movie that gets bogged down in the middle and never reaches the epicness of the first 20-30 minutes great film.
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| 1 | Nepeta | 85 80th |
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The middle of the film lags a bit admittedly (Mephisto's interactions with Gretchen's mother add little to the film), but overall I was very impressed with the film's stunning images, beautiful harp score and the closing fifteen minutes which were really rather moving.
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| 1 |  |
Heliophage | 80 94th |
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Aesthetically, Murnau never fails to impress. In Faust he gives us a study in chiaroscuro and harsh contrasts, with searing lights framed in brooding shadows. I'm not really sure if this rendition of the story lives up to the power of its imagery, and it suffers from a slightly silly Mephisto and an extremely bland Faust. Still, the ending makes up for these shortcomings by bringing in some of the film's most striking images and focusing firmly on Horn's Gretchen (a much stronger performance).
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| 1 | m3tan | 0 1st |
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I wish Criticker would stop generating PSIs in the 90s for silent films. I find them unwatchable. WTF is wrong with their algorithm...
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| 1 |  |
Yiannos | 85 97th |
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Murnau's visionary take on Goethe set a whole new standard for film special effects that, while primitive by today's standards, have a boundless sense of imagination and otherness. The hyper stylized sets are meticulously composed, and the dark imagery, drawing on Rembrandt and Caspar David Friedrich, evokes a stunning, hypnotic occultist atmosphere. The film slows down somewhat in the middle, but it sets the stage for a tragic and unforgettable conclusion.
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| 1 | lance20000 | 100 92nd |
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Visually, Faust is a work of art and is still engaging, moving, and influential. Story-wise, it's good with old-Faust getting seduced by the devil. However, the movie slows to a crawl once Faust regains his youth. There are large sections away from the main characters and focuses on the downfall of Gretchen. It feels like the story loses its focus. All in all, it's a brilliant film and something everyone should see.
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| Average Percentile 74% from 859 Ratings |  |