Doctor Faustus (1967 film)

Last updated

Doctor Faustus
Doctor Faustas movie poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Richard Burton
Nevill Coghill
Screenplay byNevill Coghill
Based on The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
by Christopher Marlowe
Produced byRichard Burton
Richard McWhorter
Starring
CinematographyGábor Pogány
Edited by John Shirley
Music by Mario Nascimbene
Color process Technicolor
Production
companies
  • Nassau Films
  • Oxford University Screen Productions
  • Venfilms
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • 19 October 1967 (1967-10-19)(United Kingdom)
  • 6 February 1968 (1968-02-06)(United States)
Running time
93 minutes [1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguagesEnglish
Latin

Doctor Faustus is a 1967 British horror film adaptation of the 1588 Christopher Marlowe play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus directed by Richard Burton and Nevill Coghill. The first theatrical film version of a Marlowe play, it was the only film directed by Burton or Coghill, Burton's Oxford University mentor. [2] It starred Burton as the title character Faustus, with Elizabeth Taylor appearing in a silent role as Helen of Troy. The film is a permanent record of a stage production that Burton starred in and staged with Coghill at the Oxford University Dramatic Society in 1966. Burton would not appear on stage again until he took over the role of Martin Dysart in Equus on Broadway ten years later.

Contents

Plot

University of Wittenberg scholar Faustus earns his doctorate, but his insatiable craving for knowledge and power leads Faustus to try his hand at necromancy in an attempt to conjure Mephistopheles out of hell. Signing the pact in his own blood, Faustus bargains his soul to Lucifer in exchange for 24 living years with Mephistopheles as his slave. Mephistopheles proceeds to reveal to Faustus the works and doings of the Devil.

Cast

Of the Oxford University Dramatic Society, Queen's College, Oxford, England:

With:

Reception

Reviews of the staged version in the British press were "less than enthusiastic", with critics commenting "a sad example of university drama at its worst", with an uninspired Burton "walking through the part". Taylor was "undeniably decorative, but there was nothing much to say about her acting ability". [3] The movie received a terribly negative review in The New York Times , Renata Adler criticizing the adaptation of the text ("the play has been quite badly cut"), Burton's performance ("he seems happiest shouting in Latin, or in Ms. Taylor's ear"), the score ("some horrible electronic Wagnerian theme music"), and Taylor's role ("in this last role [Alexander's paramour], she is, for some reason, frosted all over with silver—like a pastry, or a devaluated refugee from Goldfinger [4] "), reserving praise only for Teuber's performance ("one fine, very pious performance"). [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Marlowe</span> 16th-century English dramatist, poet, and translator

Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the "many imitations" of his play Tamburlaine, modern scholars consider him to have been the foremost dramatist in London in the years just before his mysterious early death. Some scholars also believe that he greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was baptised in the same year as Marlowe and later succeeded him as the preeminent Elizabethan playwright. Marlowe was the first to achieve critical reputation for his use of blank verse, which became the standard for the era. His plays are distinguished by their overreaching protagonists. Themes found within Marlowe's literary works have been noted as humanistic with realistic emotions, which some scholars find difficult to reconcile with Marlowe's "anti-intellectualism" and his catering to the prurient tastes of his Elizabethan audiences for generous displays of extreme physical violence, cruelty, and bloodshed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Taylor</span> British and American actress (1932–2011)

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was a British and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She then became the world's highest paid movie star in the 1960s, remaining a well-known public figure for the rest of her life. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her seventh on its greatest female screen legends list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Burton</span> Welsh actor (1925–1984)

Richard Burton was a Welsh actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faust</span> Protagonist of a classic German legend

Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mephistopheles</span> Demon in German folklore

Mephistopheles, also known as Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore. He originally appeared in literature as the demon in the Faust legend and has since become a stock character appearing in other works of arts and popular culture.

<i>Doctor Faustus</i> (play) Play by Christopher Marlowe

The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about the title character Faust. It was probably written in 1592 or 1593, shortly before Marlowe's death. Two different versions of the play were published in the Jacobean era several years later.

Doctor Faustus may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Murray (actor)</span> British actor

Stephen Umfreville Hay Murray was an English cinema, radio, theatre and television actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trojan War in literature and the arts</span>

There are a wide range of ways in which people have represented the Trojan War in literature and the arts.

Historia von D. Johann Fausten is an opera by the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke (1934–1998) in three acts, with introduction and epilogue to the German libretto by Jörg Morgener and Alfred Schnittke after the anonymous prose book of the same name.

Faust has inspired artistic and cultural works for over four centuries. The following lists cover various media to include items of historic interest, enduring works of high art, and recent representations in popular culture. The entries represent works that a reader has a reasonable chance of encountering rather than a complete catalog.

Andreas Teuber was an American academic and actor. He was an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis University.

This article lists cultural references to Mephistopheles, the fictional devil from Faust and Doctor Faustus who has been used in other pieces of literature, film, comics and music.

Kevin Trainor is an Irish actor of stage and screen.

Ken Bones is an English actor. He is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Paul Hilton is an English actor on stage, radio, and TV. He trained at the Welsh College of Music & Drama.

Patrick O'Kane is an Irish actor who was born in 1965 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has been part of the companies of the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. He has appeared in London's West End and at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. In addition to his extensive stage work, O'Kane has appeared in movies and on television in many parts.

Frank Hauser CBE was a British theatre director.

<i>Faustus, the Last Night</i> Opera by Pascal Dusapin

Faustus, the Last Night is an opera in English by French composer Pascal Dusapin, inspired by Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. The work was premiered on 21 January 2006 by the Berlin State Opera, a coproduction with the Opéra de Lyon. It was first staged in the United States at the Spoleto Festival USA 2007.

Doctor Faustus is a 2021 film based on the Christopher Marlowe play Doctor Faustus. According to Lu Lacerda, Doctor Faustus received Best Actress for Mariana Lewis at British Web Awards 2021 The film was distributed by Canal Demais on streaming platforms. The film was produced in United Kingdom and received awards for Best Original Ideia at Tuscany Webfest and Best Original soundtrack at Nouvelle Vague Awards in France. Production took place in 2021 in Canterbury, United Kingdom, the city where Marlowe wrote the original play in 1589. The film received 11 award nominations and an award for Best Actress at Asia Web Awards 2021 and was included in T.O. Webfest 2021. The film was directed by Mariana Lewis. Doctor Faustus was the 10th most awarded Web Series in the world in 2022 according to Web Series World Cup. The Web Series World Cup 2022 included 692 productions from around the world.

References

  1. "DOCTOR FAUSTUS (X)". British Board of Film Classification . 26 July 1967. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  2. Bevington, David (2010). "The Performance History". In Sara Munson Deats (ed.). Doctor Faustus: A Critical Guide. A&C Black. pp. 41–71. ISBN   9781847061386.
  3. Lewis, Anthony (16 February 1966). "Dr. Faustus Gets Cool a Welcome: British Reviewers Criticize the Burtons and the Play". The New York Times . p. 49.
  4. One of the memorable visual images in the James Bond film Goldfinger , produced three years before Doctor Faustus, was the film villain's habit of covering women with gold.
  5. Adler, Renata (7 February 1968). "Screen: Faustus Sells His Soul Again: Burtons and Oxford Do the Devil's Work; Adaptation of Marlowe Play at 2 Theaters". The New York Times . p. 38.