Mephisto [DVD] [1983] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Mephisto (1981) is a Hungarian/German/Austrian coproduction of Klaus Mann's 1936 novel of the same name, directed by internationslly famous Hungarian director István Szabó. Klaus Maria Brandauer as Hendrik Höfgen (modelled after Gustav Gründgens) and Rolf Hoppe as the General, actually modelled after Hermann Goering, play the key roles and are the only German actors. The film is rich and lavish, concentrates on social life and the arts, has an unusual number of good looking women, and is generally the opposite of an(y) American adaptation of a German WWII topic like Valkyrie, the 2008 Stauffenberg epic played by Tom Cruise, where the body language and behaviour of most German generals had a totally unsuited Hollywood flavor. Here, it is all mitteleuropäisch, genuinly so.

Faust and Mephisto have been a German topic long before Goethe's (1749-1832) world famous two part drama, and the pact between the all-knowledgeable Faust and the devil Mephisto about the ultimate power has been varied over the years - not least by Thomas Mann, the famous author-father of Klaus Mann, who wrote Dr Faustus: The Life of the German composer Adrian Leverkühn, told by a friend, published in 1947. A lot also of Klaus Mann's 1936 biting novel is autobiographi-cal, since sister Erica, like Klaus himself a part time actor, member of the mostly politically left bohème, and also homosexual, was for a while married to Gründgens, who was alternatively playing Faust, but increasingly Mephisto after WWII in (West) German theatres to great public applause and fame.

Playing still in the plush Nazi pre-war years, to some extent full of ideals about national rejuvenation and war far away, Höfgen abandons his conscience; he continues to act and befriends himself with the Nazi Party, moving to the political right in order to keep and improve his job and social position. The performing arts in Germany had the biggest role of any country in the world, and the top posts were of high prestige and reward, something the film brings out very clearly, but which people not familiar with German arts may not realize to the full extent. The plot's irony is that Höfgen in reality is Faustus rather than the protagonist's most fond dream Mephisto - which goes to the General.

The film is an unconditional five star, but there have been complaints from the audience about sub-titling and a certain blurness/colloquia-lism of speech. I can confirm that this criticism is justified, but that not even knowing German does make you catch all in a first go. No American simplification at hand!

Don't let the 3 stars i gave this great movie let you off. It's for another criticism.
This glorious masterpiece ( Mephisto ) deserves 5 stars. It's a movie that mystifies evil emotions that can't be explained within the human soul. Klaus Maria Brandauer was magnificent in the role of an artist consumed with the idea of his Art and believing it's the base of his humanity. So he literally makes a deal with the devil ( Here personified in the Nazi regime ), so that he can live on and breath the fruits of his Art. Klaus Maria should have been nominated for an Oscar that year. His facial expressions alone are a joy to watch and absorb. What about the final expression we see on his face when the credits roll.
So why the 3 stars ?
It's of course because of the English subtitles !!
I don't understand why so many British companies specializing in distributing foreign films have a way of annoying the true fans of artistic cinema. In this case the English Hard Subs that cannot be removed, were so tiny to read and so white that you can't follow on white background, sometimes you need to rewind the DVD to understand an important conversation.
I bought so many foreign movies from Amazon and from different production companies.
Frankly, i became an expert on which companies provide the best English subtitles. And which ones allow for removable subs.
Anyways, ( Mephisto ) was only available as this copy. I watched it fine but the subtitles for me were a big hurdle.
Really a movie like this as many other masterpieces need to be remastered in the UK , as even the sound was Mono.
A final note : sometimes i feel the American companies take good care of this point regarding providing satisfactory subtitles to really preserve the true Art of cinema.

Hungarian director Istvan Szabo's tale of Klaus Maria Brandauer as an actor in Nazi Germany reminded me of the problem posed by Burt Lancaster in Judgment at Nuremburg. As a German lawyer indicted for enforcing Nazi ideology, he asked whether it was more moral to have fled the country the way others did in disgust, or to stay and try and moderate in a kind of passive protest. Brandauer faces the same dilema, though his predicament is given the added irony of him being an actor, a person assumed to lack an identity. However Szabo doesn't demonize the character, which may have something to do with Szabo continuing to make movies in Hungary after the Russians invaded, as evidence of the adjustment of the working artist. We may think that his decision to stay on is ill-advised since we know the Nazis to be fickle in their allegiance, but we don't admonish him for being an opportunist. And Brandauer lets us see this actor is more than just a performer, and particularly in one close-up where his contempt for the Nazi Prime Minister is hidden behind the mask of host. The material is taken from the novel by Klaus Mann, the son of Thomas Mann, and allegedly based on the marriage of Erika Mann (Klaus' sister) to the actor Gustav Grundgens, who appeared in Fritz Lang's M and toured Faust. As metaphor the Faust legend is apt, with a man who sells his soul to the devil, though the Hamlet analogy also used with Brandauer as the Nazi's Hamlet is less successful. Szabo creates an hypnotic mood of continuous dread. We are in constant fear for what will become of Mephisto, especially when he tries to protect friends, the horror of the Nazi's represented by the Goring-like Prime Minister. His fatness suggests both an over-ripe sensuality and a barbaric ignorance. At one point he even says "When I hear the word culture I reach for my revolver" which I think can be attributed to Goebbels. Szabo also gets a laugh from a montage of Brandaeur's entrances in various theatre roles, after he closes a curtain from an argument, and Brandaeur himself gets us on side with his first appearance howling in a jealous tantrum backstage.