“This extraordinary piece of artistry and craftsmanship integrates its dazzling special effects so seamlessly that they’re indistinguishable from the film’s narrative, poetry, and, above all, metaphysics.”
Drawing on older traditions of the Faust legend as well as on Goethe's classic version, Murnau's Faust stars Emil Jannings as the demon Mephisto, who wagers with an Archangel that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul. Mephisto sets his sights on the thoughtful old alchemist Faust (Gösta Ekman), who is desperately trying to save his village from a plague... Faust saw Murnau return to the dark supernatural elements of his 1922 classic, Nosferatu, and was his last German film before moving to Hollywood.
