FAUST AND MEPHISTOPHELES (1903)
aka Faust et Mephistopheles
Article 5210 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 7-21-2016
Directed by Alice Guy
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Two minutes of the story

Faust makes a deal with the devil that ends up doing little more than tormenting him. Can a woman with a cross save him?

Alice Guy didn’t try to emulate George Melies all that often, which is understandable, because she really didn’t seem to capture the sense of fun that Melies had with his work. She does, however, try to tell a variation of the Faust story… or as much of a variation as she can manage in a two-minute running time. It mostly consists of the signing of the pact, people being turned into other people and a sudden happy ending. It’s cute and moves fast, but it’s not really all that enjoyable and the story doesn’t amount to much. There’s no dancing ladies… but no tumbling imps, either.