This was FW Murnau’s last film made in Germany
before he went off to Hollywood to make Sunrise.
It’s a loose adaptation of Goethe’s dramatic poem,
incorporating
elements from the folk puppet plays,
that Goethe’s drew upon, which in their turn
took Marlowe's Doctor Faustus as a model.
Indeed,
there’s a distinct puppet like quality
to Camilla Horn movements as
Gretchen,
especially after she has been denounced
as a harlot, lurching
around in a trance.
Murnau spent six months filming it,
crafting a very
unreal yet elaborate
medieval world for his marionettes.
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