Doctor Faustus (1967)

Doctor Faustus is a 1967 film adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, written in 1588. The first theatrical film version of a Marlowe play, it starred and was directed by Richard Burton, (Nevill Coghill, Burton's mentor, is also given credit for directing), who played the title character Faustus. Elizabeth Taylor made a silent cameo appearance as Helen of Troy, an appearance at which critics of the day invariably sneered.

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 wouldn't appear onstage again until he took over the role of Martin Dysart in Equus on Broadway ten years later.

Synopsis

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. Faustus bargains his soul to Lucifer in exchange for 24 living years where Mephistopheles is his slave. Signing the pact in his own blood, Mephistopheles proceeds to reveal to Faustus the works and doings of the Devil.

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