The Faustian Screen. Faust in the first fifty Years of Film History

This study follows Faust's path in film from its early stage to the mid-1940s. The cinematic appropriation and continuation of the Faust saga, in dialogue mainly with the first part of Goethe's tragedy, mobilizes the relations between literature and film in its broader spectrum. While directors in the period from Melies to Murnau explored the wide range of adaptation possibilities, important processes beyond adaptation emerged mostly in the period from Fritz Lang through Edwin Redslob to W. S. Van Dyke. They are described in the following as fusions, citations and documentations. In addition to scenarios and films, voices from cinema debate, film criticism and discussion on the theater stage must be taken into account since they have critically accompanied the symbolic generalization of the Faust tradition into a,Faustian screen'. In particular, Faust was used as a figure, reflecting overreaching ambitions, a theme which especially American films dealt thoroughly with.