Emil Jennings as Mephistopheles is a joy to obseve in this silent film classic from Germany, Faust, directed by F. W. ÝMurnau of Nosferatu fame.

Faust is one of those Expressionist things with really powerful & exciting set design. It's often just so gorgeous to look at. This version of Faust's legend is taken from Goethe, & I wasn't expecting this ending, which is not the outcome in other versions.

Though not equal to Nosferatu or the incredibly beautiful Der Golem, Faust is even so a great film. Ater seeing such a brilliant silent film I get tempted to view a shitload of silent movies, & get all sentimental inside remembering The Admiral theater in West Seattle to which my great-grandparents used to take me to see silent Tarzan films & the like, & visit the gigantic organ in the loft, long since dismantled.

But all too often when I try to watch a couple silents, they are just so dreadful. Yet even as the conventions of the average silent film age so badly, the great exceptions certainly would include German Expressionist films which are going to stand as works of art forever.

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