Horizon

Murnau’s Faust

I’ve never seen F.W. Murnau’s work. Nosferatu is surely available here in the boondocks, but it’s unlikely I’ll ever see Faust if I insist on traveling only between Burlington and Glens Falls. I enjoyed Roger Ebert’s review, but what interested me most was this comment:

Like all silent-film directors, Murnau was comfortable with special effects that were obviously artificial. The town beneath the wings of the dark angel is clearly a model, and when characters climb a steep street, there is no attempt to make the sharply angled buildings and rooflines behind them seem real. Such effects, paradoxically, can be more effective than more realistic ones; I sometimes feel, in this age of expert CGI, that I am being shown too much -- that technique is pushing aside artistry and imagination. The world of "Faust" is never intended to define a physical universe, but is a landscape of nightmares.