On D List of Movie Reviews

(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)


Doctor Faustus (1967)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 3/17

DrFaust
3/17: Based on Christopher Marlowe's play which is the first and perhaps the only to make it on screen, Doctor Faustus is a near one-man show with Richard Burton playing the eponymous character as he sells his soul in exchange for 24 years of knowing the works and doings of the Devil.

I read the play twice but never came away impressed. The language was stale, and the story never felt interesting. Hence, the movie is exactly how I imagined it to be but a bit better albeit the cheap theatrical production values. Yet the screenplay is surprisingly good and easy to follow.

However, Doctor Faustus feels like a 60's movie with many colorful lights and instances of Bacchanal behavior. Also, it can be tough to sit through some of the static scenes while listening to the monologue. In a way, it'll have been more enjoyable under the influence of drugs, most especially LSD.

At her most beautiful, replete with makeup, Elizabeth Taylor makes a silent cameo appearance from time to time through dreams to help break up the monotony. Or maybe the movie is about Richard Burton selling his soul for Elizabeth Taylor. Interestingly, he lived another seventeen years before dying from a brain hemorrhage in 1984. His ex-wife died in 2011.

One scene of Elizabeth Taylor being covered in silver paint reminds me of Goldfinger which was filmed a few years earlier. Probably the most perfect choice for the titular role, Richard Burton tries his best and can be either great or underwhelming. It's more of a "take it or leave it" proposal because there's not another example. I wonder if it would've been interesting had Yul Brynner played Mephistopheles.

All in all, if you're a serious fan of Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor's beauty, or 17th century plays, you'll like Doctor Faustus; otherwise, take a pass.