Doctor Faustus Movie

While I’m usually one to enjoy cheesy movies, Dr. Faustus really rubbed me the wrong way for several reasons. Most of all, it suffers from the same problem as Roman Polanski’s version of Macbeth in that its greatest weakness is the script’s strict adherence to the original text. In order to keep from being nothing but a filmed performance of the play, it has to make itself as visual interesting as possible. Essentially, it is limited to having no identity beyond how it presents itself visually. However, while Macbeth succeeds in this regard by appropriately juxtaposing its more abstract visual elements with mundane ones, Dr. Faustus doesn’t have a single set that isn’t excessively dressed and garishly lit. In the scene at the graveyard, for example, there is no sense that this is an especially sinister place because the previous scene took place in a shadowy room decorated with skulls. There’s no sense of Faustus’ descent into his dealings with the demonic because every set from the very start is equally menacing.