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Faust (1926) - F.W. Murnau




I didn't know that when I started watching these silent films I would fall in love with them. When I started this, I thought that silents were going to be boring and dull. I really had no interest. Boy was I way wrong. These old things are sometimes better than the crap we have now. 

1926's Faust is one of the most well shot and put together films of its time. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. F.W. Murnau is an amazing director and he is on a roll with me here. Firstly directing The Haunted Castle, then Nosferatu, and now this! The special effects here are phenomenal and the acting is superb. I have come to expect both of these elements in a Murnau film. It's not really scary though, but who cares. 

Faust is an old man that sees some bad stuff going down in his town. His town being somewhere in olden times Germany. Whoa, back it up a bit... The Angel, Gabriel and The Devil, Mephistopheles make a bet that if The Devil can seduce Faust, a human, he will inherit the earth. Well Faust (See above) is torn by seeing some really bad stuff go down, a big thing being Satan showering his town with the plague. He sells his soul to the devil at first to help the town, but, he is outed because he is found to be doing the devils work. So he decides to let Satan keep his soul as long as he can be young. He sells his soul to the Devil and regrets it. Things don't really turn out the way that Faust wanted, but Gabriel wins the bet. 

Like I said above, this is one of the most beautiful and creative movies I have ever seen. Kino video restores the audio in this beautifully. You can watch this with both German and English subs as well, which is nice for my friends from the land of Beer. I was blown away with this film. I wish i could see more of it!

Go out and find this movie, its on YouTube, but you should probably just put it on your Netflix queue and watch it the right way. Its really not that bad to sit down and watch it. Its only like 102 minuets, its a quick easy watch and its really entertaining. Satan is really pretty funny in this too.

Watch for Satan copping a feel, i busted up laughing!

Director: F.W. Murnau
Starring: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, and Camilla Horn
Style: Dramatic Horror
Studio: Universum Film
Country: Germany


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