Sick Of The Vocal Minority - Faust: Eine deutsche Volkssage (1926) Discussion

So uhh...you don't like Faust then?

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[–] The_Silence_The_Silence 19 years ago

I don't really understand what is being said here? If five people love this film and you don't, it's not a "great" movie? But, if a lot of people get together and like a film that's okay?
10 people who know a lot about a "genre" of film love this and 100 people who really only see what is "big" don't like it, suddenly those 100 and their opinion are more important?
Maybe I am confusing this comment but, it really doesn't make a lot of sense. That's like saying the Oscar winning movies are the only good ones each year...?
" technology...an extension of the human body...It's inevitable that it should come home to roost."

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[–] Guildenstern 19 years ago

I think you're being trolled, chaps!

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[–] TheWanderingFish 19 years ago

Wow what wonderfully terrific logic! If the general public hasn't heard of it - at least not as much as they've heard about "Alien" or "The Shining," than it must not be good! Forget the past! The 726 voters who gave this film a high rating are just "bullies" obsessed with seeing the film make its way to the top of an internet movie site.

Of course, who knows, maybe if another 10,000 people voted for the film it would still maintain a high score. But that's not the point.

Or maybe, just maybe, this is actually a great film. It was just added to Roger Ebert's list of "Great Movies," and is a highly regarded film in many circles.

There aren't a lot of people out there who watch very many old films - I happen to be someone who does and I'm glad to see films like this get the respect they deserve.

Murnau is widely considered one of the greatest silent directors, making such masterpieces as "Sunrise," "The Last Laugh," and "Nosferatu." I don't have a hard time believing this isn't another one - even if it is not that well known. After all, the general public probably couldn't name a film by Truffaut or Lubitsch or Godard if their life depended on it - that doesn't make any of their films inferior. Just because people don't recognize the wide influences such directors have had (and Murnau has had) doesn't make them any less important. I also doubt that most people could name a single silent film.

I would say that "Faust" is probably one of the most influential films of its genre - of all time. Whether a lot of people recognize that or not doesn't really matter.

Note: The above comments are exclusively my opinion.

---Respect---

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[–] nimrod_18037 19 years ago

I think you're a moron. The film HAS cast a great influence, even though not many people living now have seen it. By your standards, the better publicity and advertising a money gets, the 'greater' it is. So then Shrek 2 (a peice of crap in my opinion) is one of the five greatest movies ever made.

What would Jesus do? Certainly not lead the right on its current agenda.

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[–] hespawn 19 years ago

Look I am not going to sit here and see a tit for tat battle of who will respond to trolls such as this one. What I will stand by and do is defend a great Kids movie. It is some thing akin to "The Princess Bride" even though Shrek seems like a rip off of such a movie. Now as far as Faust goes I believe for its day it must have been a wonder to watch and behold by critics alike as well as it is today. It deserves its credits and of course there will always be those few rebels who don't like the populartiy of films because they like to be that way, blame it on the ever so intresting punk movement :P. Now it dosen't mean you have to trash a movie in a rude demining manner, and after all this is art, as we all know art can be very contriversial. I am going to get this film and watch it I will more then likely love it because I love this type of fantasy and horror. I also like films that convay a human Horror such as Star Wars, Apocolypse Now, or Terminator. Those are big budget films I know, and there may be other films which are much better then these in the independant side of things. However, I do believe in everyones point of view being heard. I will not blast a critic for saying "(Blank movie) is like sand paper to ones visial lenses" because this is that persons point of view. I relise though I will be flamed and I do not mind that is the critics heart beating in every persons chest that fires back at me. I will not blast these people back, nor will I make a comment for or against there veiws. I believe that my words clearly make the statment I make for myself for whom ever does fire back at my post. That is of course without knowledge of ones own experiences one shouldn't judge things for which they do not or chose not to understand, it only shows ignorance.

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[–] jerkyshaw 19 years ago

What makes a great movie is a matter of a opinion. There is no one movie that everyone likes. So, instead of asking how many people liked it we should really ask who likes? Most people will probably not enjoy this. Not because it is bad, but because of their own ignorance. It isn't fair to compare a silent movie with sound movies if you don't have a certain set of rules to go by. Faust whas made for a different audience. This movie should be judged on it's artistic marret and how good it whas at the time of it's release. A movie that can entertain people in the 20s and 80s and 90s is a great movie. Most great movies are not widley known, because most people only care about movies released in the past two years. True film lovers will enjoy this movie. It is highly regarded in the film community. People who know nothing about film or care very little about film will probably not be interested. Just like people who aren't all that interested in art will care much about the paintings of Monet. There is a small group of people who are considered the movie know it alls and they are the ones who know what makes a great film.

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[–] Red-Barracuda 19 years ago

I don't believe I've read such nonsense in a while.

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[–] halloweenjack74 19 years ago

So if according to that person what makes a movie "GREAT" is how widely known it is and how influencial it is perhaps it would pay to note how popular this film was on release (the fact that it is on DVD 80 years after release is testament to its popularity, will anyone care about say the shawshank redemption in 80 years? no, not for one second because it isn;t a transendental piece of high art it's popularist trash) it was a prime example of a popular film being a beautifully made art work. Also perhaps it would pay to note how influencial German expressionism as a whole and this film in partcular is. Check the gothic puppets at the beginning and think of Tim Burton, look at the light and shadow and religious imagery and think of Bergman. Of course whoever wrote that piece probably can't do that as they don't appear to have seen the film and probably don;t consider Bergman important either s not as many people rented Wild Strawberries as Dude Where's My Car in one state of America last year who which seems to be the extent of his well know criteria. I for what it's worth am sick of genuine cinema fans being marginalised by orons who clearly don;t give two hoots fro a decent film, look at the fact that Barry Lyndon languishes long beneath the aforementioned shawshank or forest gump and you'll see the power of a few lowly intellectuals against the army of plebs, none at all. sadly.

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[–] ichigo_chan_ssj5 18 years ago

"the fact that it is on DVD 80 years after release is testament to its popularity, will anyone care about say the shawshank redemption in 80 years? no, not for one second because it isn;t a transendental piece of high art it's popularist trash"

Very true... and it wasn't that there were a lot less movies made back in the day, its just only a some were worth perserving... and Faust is one of the movies was saved... that must mean something?

Isn't it logical to assume that these older, lesser known films are seen by people who have a lot of experience with films in the first place, and thus know more about films than you? This would make their praise of the film more weighty wouldn't it?

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[–] kwiggins 19 years ago

I haven't even seen this movie (although I have several Murnau movies on DVD) but I do know it's considered a great movie by many film critics, silent movie buffs and by many cinematographers and movie directors. Murnau is considered by many to be the greatest director of the silent era and his influence lives on in directors such as Werner Herzog. Murnau was way ahead of his time. On the flip side, I'm tired of the "vocal majority" putting movies like Fight Club on the list of top movies of all time. It's entertaining crap at best.

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[–] Laven-1 19 years ago

I liked Fight Club, however I enjoyed Faust much more.

"Keep your fingers clear of his mouth, he's a nibbler."- Dr. Byron Orpheus,(Trail of the Monarch)

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[–] enbilal 18 years ago

I have a theory that Lynch's Lost Highway is a retelling of this movie.

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[–] dmongelli4 18 years ago

You mean Lynch's film is built on goethe's faust? sounds interesting: explaination?

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[–] enbilal 18 years ago

It is about a man who closes a pact with a sinister "mystery man", who puts him in body of a young man and helps him, defeat his enemies, and get a girl, who he does not get at the end, but continues to eternaly search. The movie is hard to explain, actually, which is what makes Lynch movies what they are, but there are many hints and visual references to Murnau's Faust. And the story line is similar.
Here is the thread where I explain it in more details:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116922/board/thread/30363049?d=30363049#30363049

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[–] casegarver 18 years ago

I haven't seen the film versions of the movies you're talking about, so take this with a grain of salt, but your Lynch films sounds strongly like Lord Byron's play titled The Deformed Transformed. This also deals with the character making a pact with satan, he gives him the body of anyone from history of his choosing, they conquest together, good times.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] srinath_r_htanirs 12 years ago

I also have a feeling it influenced The Seventh Seal.. I could certainly see some Bergman in this movie(I'm more familiar with Bergman than Murnau and hence this way of putting it). Apart from that The Seventh Seal raised similar debates on Good vs Evil, God vs Devil, not to mention the plague too :)

And I feel you are spot on. It never struck me about Lost Highway before reading this. I do believe it, as it does come close.

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[–] nervmeister 18 years ago

you make a strong argument. True, this film's cult status has given it quite some leverage, but try not to be too judgmental about it. After all, IMDB understood what was going on and withheld it from the top 250 for now.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] mlevans 18 years ago

This is a rather absurd assertion. Actually, I almost wish some of us who love certain important, but lesser known (today) films COULD get together and sort of "stuff the ballot box" for these films! That would only be fair, when one looks at some of the present-day movie that apparently are being boosted to the top of the polls by the middle school vote! Aren't these 12-year-olds who vote for Harry Potter & the latest LOTR sequel also "finatics," as you put it?

(If that were the only misspelling, I would give the author credit with a really clever word combination, perhaps combining "fanatics" with "fine art" to produce "finatics," or people obsessed with promoting fine art (like Faust) over more popular crap. Actually, by that definition, most of us who love Faust would probably be proud to be called "FINatics!"

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[–] user-469 18 years ago

I love the logic of the original poster. Going on that sensible argument Police Academy is a better film than Metropolis because more people have seen that. Good one. This is a fantastic and influential film that deserves its place in the top rankings for horror in my opinion though you're obviously entitled to your own opinion.

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