FAUSTINA (1957)
Article 2311 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-24-2007
Posting Date: 12-10-2007
Directed by Jose Luis Saenz de Heredia
Featuring Maria Felix, Juan de Landa, Jose Isbert

Mephistopheles gets an old woman to sell her soul to the devil, and then tries to foil her plans for power, but finds himself outwitted by her at every turn.

I had to get this plot description from other sources than the movie itself. it’s a Mexican comedy/drama/fantasy modeled somewhat off the Faust story, and that’s about all I really got out of it. It is in unsubtitled Spanish, and it’s one of those movies where you really have to understand the dialog to follow the story. Nonetheless, there are a few sequences that can be appreciated; I like the scenes in hell, which look like a corporate office only with flames burning everywhere, and the devils swat flies and light cigars with their tails. There’s an obviously comic sequence where the somewhat inept Mephistopheles accidentally turns his client into a baby in his attempt to restore her youth, and there’s a scene with a car caught on the railroad tracks. Outside of that, I’m afraid this one is largely impenetrable unless you know Spanish. Its rating of 5.3 on IMDB seems to indicate that it is not a particularly good movie, and I must admit that I got that impression from what I did see. Still, it’s another one I can cross off my list.