Dr. Faustus

Burton's "Doctor Faustus" was not exactly how I had pictured the play, but I did like some of the aspects of the movie. Although it had some wacky scenes, the movie's use of special effects added to the visual portrayal of the production. In particular, I found the scene that depicted Faustus's descent into hell very interesting. The reddish fog and Elizabeth Taylor's evil laugh made the scene a little more comical than I had imagined. Also, the scene with the 7 deadly sins was much more theatrical than I had imagined. The "study" that Faustus works in for the majority of the movie was much more dark and evil than I had pictured. I thought that this created a more sinister portrayal of Faustus throughout the film. Although Elizabeth Taylor is beautiful and undoubtably helped the overall production, I could have lived without the annoying music that accompanied her appearance. Overall, I thought that the movie did well in portraying a visual depiction of the dark and evil character, but it did not create the same character advancement throughout the production. You can sense Faustus's evil, but I had trouble depicting his transformation. If the movie could have been a little more on par with the text, it may have been better overall. All in all, I thought it was a well made movie for the time period.