German Espressionism. Expressionism is a modernist movement which begins in Germany at the start of the 20th century. The movement is marked by presenting the world in a subjective perspective altering reality markedly for the purpose of evoking mood or ideas. Meaning comes from experience that than the physical world. The German expressionists have an enormous impact on American cinema since many of the expressionists fled Germany before WWII and brought the expressionist approach with them when they began working in Hollywood. It is evident in many films including (and perhaps especially) those called "film noir". This can be seen as a reaction to "positivism" which holds that knowledge comes from logical and mathematical treatments and reports of sensory data. Truth is knowable and is gotten from empirical data,
Murnau is know for many films - Der Letzte Mann (He Who Laughs). Nosferatu, and the American film Sunrise. Other examples of expressionism can be found in films like Robert Wiene's Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) (1920) Faust is based on an old German Volk story, more than it is on the famous Goethe play Faust.
The film was made by UFa (Universum Film AG) the major studio in Germany during the Weimar Republic (a fairly democratic government which operated in Germany from the end of WWI until about 1933. At that point Hindenberg took power and began to terminate the democratic government, becoming more dictatorial. Hinderberg's reign is followed shortly by a National Socialist Party (Nazi) leader named Hitler) The film has an international cast and was released world wide and a major film. As a result it was shot with 2 cameras simultaneously with many takes of each scene to insure enough negative, that multitudinous prints would be made. Differences between camera placements and takes can be seen in various releases.
Murnau was invited to the US to make an "art" film by Fox Corp. His first film in America was Sunrise There is a striking use of light, often associated with Murnau and expressionist ilms. The sets are similarly meant to be expressionist and not realistic.
The film has remarkable camera movement and use of special effect - see the appearance of Mephistopheles and the flght to Italy as well as the use of superimpositions that occur when for example, Gretchen calls to Faust across the distance.
The film had a great influence on other film makers - compare the burning of Gretchen with Dreyer's Joan of Arc burning sequence. Like many directors, Murnau drew inspiration from paintings.
Of note: Wilhelm Dieterle who plays Valentin comes to America as a director and directs such films as