Faust
God and Satan wager on the soul of a learned and prayerful alchemist as part of their eternal war over Earth.
From the archive
Faust – A German Folktale is a 1926 silent fantasy film, produced by Ufa, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Gösta 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. Murnau's film draws on older traditions of the legendary tale of Faust as well as on Goethe's classic 1808 version. The story follows an elderly alchemist named Faust who, disheartened by the suffering in his village due to a plague, makes a pact with the devil, Mephisto, to regain his youth and experience earthly pleasures. As Faust becomes entangled in a tragic love affair with a young woman named Gretchen, his actions lead to devastating consequences, ultimately resulting in her downfall and his own despair.
Why this is free to watch
Faust (1926) is hosted by the Internet Archive as a public-domain or openly licensed work, which means its copyright has expired, lapsed, or was released by the rights holder. The uploader declared an explicit licence, linked in the source panel. Nitrate streams the file directly from the Archive and hosts no video itself.
- Director
- F. W. Murnau
- Starring
- Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Frida Richard, William Dieterle, Werner Fuetterer, Yvette Guilbert, Eric Barclay
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