The List

The many faces of Faust

By Dennis Harvey

The Faust legend has resonated throughout cultures, genres and media for centuries—particularly in Germany, where it began. It was already popular in various literary and performance forms (notably Christopher Marlowe’s 1588 drama) long before Goethe wrote the most famous and influential of all interpretations, the two-part stage epic simply called Faust In honor of that work’s 200th anniversary, the Goethe-Institut is hosting a mini Faust-fest offering four memorable screen versions of the story.

Herewith a few relevant trivia notes:

1. A 15th-century necromancer named Georg Faust is purported to have inspired the whole tale of an aged scholar and alchemist who promises his immortal soul to the devil in order to experience all the youthful earthly pleasures his ivory-tower existence has denied him. It was this real-life model’s connections amongst the powerful and his tendency toward bragadoccio—rather than any direct contact with Satan, presumably—that led to such fanciful later mythologizing of his exploits.

2. Famous for playing Goethe’s Mephistopheles on stage, Gustaf Grundgens died just three years after a 1960 video recording of Peter Gorski’s bold Hamburg production (which opens the series March 25) immortalized that signature turn. Decades earlier he’d been married to Erika Mann, daughter of that other German literary titan Thomas. After WW2, her brother Klaus wrote a book about his former brother-in-law’s close ties to the Nazi regime—which Gustaf managed to suppress for some years.

3. Unfortunately for him, the thinly veiled “novel” Mephisto did indeed get out there eventually, its incriminating portrait of an ambitious, morally compromising talent finally overshadowing all Grundgens’ artistic achievements. That was largely due to Istvan Szabo’s Oscar-winning 1981 drama of the same title, which made an international star of Klaus Maria Brandauer. It plays April 11.

4. Incredibly, and despite the film’s enormous success, Klaus Mann’s book remained banned in Germany until 2000.

5. Much less widely seen than Mephisto was the next year’s Doktor Faustus (playing the Goethe April 3), a German production that stars the English actor Jon Finch in an update of Thomas Mann’s same-named novel. Here, Faust is a composer who uses Ol’ Beezlebub to further his career. This highly eccentric interpretation incorporates the rise of Nazism, a wee case of syphilis, and cut-up chronology.

6. Doubtless the most extravagant Faust ever committed to celluloid was F.W. Murnau’s 1926 silent one (playing April 15), which starred Emil Jannings—then viewed as Germany’s, perhaps even the world’s greatest screen actor—as Mephistofeles tempting the not-so-good Doc (Gosta Ekman). It followed his landmarks Nosferatu and The Last Laugh, just preceding Sunrise, the dazzling first effort in his shortlived Hollywood sojourn. This Faust is operatic in every way (except, of course, the singing), with a full-on display of the directorial innovation and command over spectacle that at the time made many think German cinema was several steps ahead of Hollywood.

7. Future Triumph of the Will Nazi poster girl Leni Riefenstahl campaigned to play the ingenue role. It eventually went to newcomer Camilla Horn—but only because Murnau couldn’t come to terms with his first choice, Lillian Gish.

8. According to the Internet Movie Database, 25 movies or TV projects thus far have been simply titled Faust. Then there’s another 69 that merely include it in the title. Among the latter are I Was a Teenage Faust, King Kong’s Faust, Don Juan and Faust, Faust Family of Acrobats (dated 1901, so maybe that was just their inherited or stage name) , Faust XX, President Faust, Extreme 7: Faust Orgasmus, and Perverse Faust: Flick Klinik. Which latter we don’t even want to try translating.

9. The most recent stage incarnation to hit San Francisco seemed to be an exciting coup for our own Magic Theatre: The 2004 world premiere of Faustus, written and directed by David Mamet, who more typically premieres works on Broadway or on the big screen. Imagine the air leaking from the balloon as it turned out to be a dust-dry, garrulous, most un-Mametlike exercise in intellectual windbagging.

10: A few funny Faust variations: Brian DePalma’s 1974 rock musical Phantom of the Paradise; the prior year’s massive porno hit The Devil and Miss Jones; Tenacious D’s concept album Pick of Destiny; and the classic stage musical Damn Yankees, where the Devil lets an armchair slugger realize his Major League dreams. Hey, there might be a reality show in there somewhere—how about American Idolatry, in which contestants wager their immortal souls to become the next Britney or Paris? You know there would be plenty of takers.

topics: bay area, german cinema, silent film

03.27.2008