Lost Film Found?

[Jeff Wilson]

Nothing has actually been verified yet, but over in a thread at the Criterion Forum, there is someone who believes he has found a print of Murnau's long lost FOUR DEVILS, which would be a huge find for fans of silent film. Apparently the guy who owns the print owns a large collection of 20s and 30s material, so who knows what else could be there? If true, it's pretty exciting.

[Skylark]

Great news - Murnau's great - I wish they'd do some restoration on Faust.

[Roger Ryan]

Great news - Murnau's great - I wish they'd do some restoration on Faust.

Apparently there have been a couple of restorations done on this film. According to DVDBeaver, the Eureka-Masters of Cinema (Region 0) issue from last year is the best version available (the screenshots on their site look quite good).

I just watched "Faust" last night and was very impressed with the art direction/photography as well as the imaginative special effects, many of which hold up quite well. Unfortunately, the version Netflix has on file is a typical ultra-cheap "public domain" version with a pretty poor transfer. As an example of its quality, the chapter menu features only six chapters (for a two-hour film) accompanied by six thumbnail freeze-frames. The one "Extra" included is a photo gallery which contains the SAME six freeze-frames seen on the chapter menu page!

Here's hoping "4 Devils" gets preserved quickly before the print distintergrates.

[Skylark]

Wow - Great news - the reviews for the Eureka - MOC version sound amazing - I have the Kino version which sounds similar to what you've described - the main problem being the deterioration of the film print in several scenes - I thought the actual cut was fine - I wasn't aware that it was a fragmented export variant - can't wait to see this new print - thanks for pointing this out -

Apparently the Murnau version references Marlowe's Dr. Faustus - a play Welles has memorably staged, I believe...

[Glenn Anders]

Roger: If you can find it, Image Entertainment, as part of its laserdisc boxed set, The Golden Age of German Cinema, put out a very decent copy of F.W. Murnau's FAUST (1926, 116 minutes), with an original score played by Timothy Brock and the Olympia Orchestra. The film is on two sides of of a single disc, and is divided into 28 chapters. The other films contained in the box are as follows: G.W. Pabst's THE LOVE OF JEANNE NEY (1927, 105 minutes); Walter Ruttmann's pioneer urban documentary, BERLIN, SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY (1927, 62 minutes), and his experimental color short film, "Opus I" (1922, 10 minutes).

Glenn

[tonyw]

On FOUR DEVILS, suspicion has already arisen in the yahoo group "A Film By"...about the validity of this claim. I hope not.

[tadao]

re: 'Four Devils', here's hoping it's real, but like any such rumour, I'll believe it when I see it. Sadly, signs point to it being a hoax. Janet Bergstrom made an interesting documentary on 'Four Devils' called 'Traces of a Lost Film' which is on the Masters of Cinema (UK) DVD of 'Sunrise' (may be on other releases too), which left me itching to see the film. She's apparently involved in the recovery attempts, and I wish her every success, if there's anything to recover.

The best version of Faust currently available is indeed the version from Masters of Cinema, in a two disc set which includes the version previously released by Image/Kino/Eureka from the 'export negative'; PLUS a previously unknown German 'domestic' version made up of better takes, and sourced from higher photographic quality materials. It's stunning, and I'd highly recommend it. Great commentary, too, from David Ehrenstein and Bill Krohn, and the Timothy Brock score is a perfect fit.
http://www.dvdoutsider.co.uk/dvd/reviews/f/faust.html

Skylark: Murnau's 'Faust' is adapted, sometimes freely, from Goethe's 'Faust', which in turn derives from Marlowe's 'Dr Faustus' (and which in turn derives from various German 'Faust-books'). There's not that much Marlowe in the Murnau, or at least not much that can't be traced back to the German source materials. Goethe greatly expanded and reworked the material in line with Enlightenment sensibilities. Some of the knockabout comedy in the Murnau has been ascribed to Marlowe, but Goethe features his share of low comedy too. The Faust legend is pretty fascinating in all its forms and treatments.

[Roger Ryan]

[quote="Glenn Anders"]Roger: If you can find it, Image Entertainment, as part of its laserdisc boxed set, The Golden Age of German Cinema, put out a very decent copy of F.W. Murnau's FAUST (1926, 116 minutes), with an original score played by Timothy Brock and the Olympia Orchestra.[quote]

Thanks for the tip, Glenn. I believe the Timothy Brock score is present on all the currently available DVD versions of "Faust" and I was very impressed with it. The Eureka-MOC release features an alternative score as well.

In regards to "Four Devils", a poster on the Criterion site had this to add:

"...most of us have seen F For Fake and therefore (hopefully!) can get extremely excited over the possibility but at the same time be able to maintain a healthy scepticism as well!"

I like that.

[Glenn Anders]

And thank you, Roger, as always for that information.

Since I've helped waylay the discussion OT to Murnau's FAUST, I may be forgiven for adding the URL of a review I did of THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER, which shows the influence of Welles (or some say vice verse) on the director, William Dieterle.

In Murnau's FAUST, of course, Dieterle is a featured player.

Glenn

[Skylark]

Tadao :

The Faust legend is pretty fascinating in all its forms and treatments.

Nice DVD outsider review on Faust - I heard Stravinski's A Soldier's Tale' (with nice Jeremy Irons narration) recently which is a Russian variation on the Faust legend.

I came across an interesting article (except for the 6th paragraph), that starts off being about Scorcese's 'Aviator' but deals mainly with Welles.

American Faust

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20041226/ai_n12765250/pg_1