TEHRAN-The Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran will show the restored version of the 1926 silent fantasy film Faust directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau on Friday.The screening of the 107-minute film will start at 6 p.m.
at the Nasseri Hall of the IAF, ILNA reported.Murnau's film draws on older traditions of the legendary tale of Faust as well as on Goethe's classic 1808 version.In this classic of silent cinema, the demon Mephisto makes a bet with an archangel that a good man's soul can be corrupted.
Mephisto sets his sights on the thoughtful old alchemist Faust, who is desperately trying to save his village from a plague.
He is able to help the villagers, thanks to Mephisto, but further dealings with the devil lead Faust on a decadent downward spiral.
Can he redeem his soul before it's too late?The movie stars Gsta Ekman as Faust, Emil Jannings as Mephisto, Camilla Horn as Gretchen/Marguerite, Frida Richard as her mother, Wilhelm Dieterle as her brother, and Yvette Guilbert as Marthe Schwerdtlein, her aunt.Faust was Murnau's last German film, and directly afterward, he moved to the United States.
The film has been praised for its special effects and is regarded as an example of German Expressionist film.Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (1888-1931) was a German film director, producer, and screenwriter.
He is regarded as one of cinema's most influential filmmakers for his work in the silent era.An erudite child with an early interest in film, Murnau eventually studied philology and art before director Max Reinhardt recruited him to his acting school.Murnau's first directorial work premiered in 1919, but he did not attain international recognition until the 1922 film Nosferatu, an adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.
Although not a commercial success owing to copyright issues with the author Stoker's estate, the film is considered a masterpiece of German Expressionist cinema and an early cult film.SS/SAB.
This article first appeared/also appeared in Tehran Times