Short and Sweet
One of the most famous German silent film classics and Murnau’s last directorial work in Germany before continuing his career in Hollywood. In the hope of saving his fellow citizens from the plague, the scholar Faust makes a pact with Mephisto. Mephisto grants him eternal youth. After seducing Gretchen, Faust causes her mother to take her own life out of shame, forcing Faust and Mephisto to flee. Abandoned by all, Gretchen gives birth to a child and wanders through the snow with it until the child freezes to death. When Gretchen is sentenced to be burned at the stake for infanticide, Faust renounces his eternal youth and ascends through the flames to join her on the pyre.
About:
After films like “Nosferatu” and “The Last Laugh,” Murnau was at the peak of his career. The “Prologue in Heaven” already showcases a main characteristic of Murnau’s Faust: his sophisticated camera and trick techniques, which give him extraordinary visual power. In Faust, Murnau explores the limits of cinematic possibilities, particularly with visual effects such as double exposures. The set design strikes a balance between the Expressionism that dominated German cinema in the 1920s and, especially in the landscape shots, Romantic painting. The old Faust’s search for wisdom, Mephisto’s offer to grant the aged scholar a life of eternal youth through a blood-sealed pact, and Faust’s encounters with Gretchen—including episodes of seduction, a duel with Gretchen’s brother Valentin, the pillory, the stake, and redemption through love—are all framed by the disputes between the archangel and the lord of darkness.
Musical Score:
The music for solo organ (alternatively for solo piano) is newly composed and is structurally oriented towards the film music dramaturgical approaches of the silent film era.
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Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, also known as F. W. Murnau, was born on December 28, 1888, as Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe in Bielefeld, Germany, and passed away on March 11, 1931, in Santa Barbara, California. He is regarded as one of the most significant German film directors of the silent film era. Influenced by Expressionism, his work was characterized by psychological depth, revolutionary camera techniques, and innovative editing, which opened new possibilities for the nascent medium of film.
In 1919, Murnau moved to Berlin to begin his career in film. His collaboration with screenwriter Carl Mayer began with “The Hunchback and the Dancer,” marking the start of a highly fruitful partnership that extended to six more of Murnau’s films. One of his most famous works from this period is “Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens” (1922), an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which had to be renamed due to licensing issues despite featuring Max Schreck in the iconic role.
For UFA studios, Murnau directed “The Last Laugh” in 1924, where Emil Jannings portrayed a hotel doorman demoted to restroom attendant, facing personal collapse. The film utilized “unleashed” or “flying” camera techniques pioneered by Murnau and cinematographer Karl Freund, freeing the camera from static positions to explore dynamic perspectives (such as following cigarette smoke by strapping the camera to a fire ladder).
Additionally, Murnau introduced the concept of the “subjective camera” in this film, depicting events through the eyes of a participating character. His ability to tell stories purely through visual means allowed him to minimize the use of intertitles, an uncommon practice in silent film.
Murnau concluded his German film career in 1926 with adaptations of Molière’s “Tartuffe” and Goethe’s “Faust,” a German folk legend.
His successes in Germany, particularly the American version of “The Last Laugh” in 1925, drew Hollywood’s attention. Murnau received a contract offer from American producer William Fox, promising full artistic freedom. His first American film, “Sunrise” (1927), won three Oscars at the inaugural Academy Awards but fell short of commercial expectations. Facing studio pressures and the advent of sound film, Murnau’s subsequent films saw increasing interference with his artistic vision, culminating in his replacement as director on “City Girl,” followed by a post-production sound version made without his input.
Disillusioned with Hollywood’s constraints, Murnau terminated his contract with Fox in 1929. After unsuccessful attempts to re-enter the German film industry with UFA, he purchased a sailing yacht with a determination to realize his next film independently. He sailed to Tahiti and collaborated with director and documentarian Robert J. Flaherty on “Tabu.” Despite financial difficulties during production, Murnau persevered, filming entirely with local non-professional actors on Bora Bora. “Tabu” became a groundbreaking blend of documentary and melodrama, financed entirely by Murnau and distributed by Paramount, which was so impressed that they offered him a ten-year contract.
Sadly, Murnau did not live to see the premiere of “Tabu” on March 18, 1931, due to a fatal car accident. His legacy endures as a pioneering figure in cinema, remembered for his artistic innovation and profound impact on film aesthetics.
Here are some films by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau that were performed as live concerts with music by Wilfried Kaets in the past:
• 1921: The Haunted Castle / Castle Vogeloed
• 1922: The Burning Soil
• 1922: Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror
• 1922: Phantom
• 1924: The Finances of the Grand Duke
• 1924: The Last Laugh
• 1926: Tartuffe
• 1926: Faust
• 1927: Sunrise – A Song of Two Humans
• 1930: City Girl
• 1931: Tabu a Story of the South Seas