"The reward for sin is death." Christopher Marlowe's Sixteenth Century play "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus" is brought to the big screen by Richard Burton who not only plays Faust but he also co-produced and directed it. His on/off wife, Hollywood goddess Elizabeth Taylor, plays his love interest in the form of Helen of Troy but she was obviously cast to LOOK good, she doesn't utter a single word. Much of the cast consist of Oxford University amateur actors though their performances are generally adequate. Visually the movie is very colourful and has some wonderful Gothic sets, skeletons, maggot ridden corpses, swirling mist, and so on, this would look great restored and on blu-ray. Some have criticised the soundtrack but I found it effective. The film employs 1960's colours and effects to produce a dreamlike/nightmarish look about it, masked characters and female nudity being nice additions. This was a passion project for Burton, he is in every scene and his recital in Elizabethan English does get hard going at times. I would only recommend this to people with an interest in Burton/Taylor or Satanic cinema, if you are just looking for a late night horror movie then give it a miss.
Review of Doctor Faustus
