Faust (1911)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1911
Running Times: 15 mins
Format: black and white
Ratio:
Sound: silent

CREDITS

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Hepworth

SCRIPT
Closet Drama: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

DIRECTION
Director: Cecil M. Hepworth

MUSIC
Music: Charles Gounod (from the opera Faust)

CAST
Hay Plumb (Faust)
Claire Pridelle (Marguerite)
Jack Hulcup (Mephistopheles)
Frank Wilson (Valentine)

NOTES

Hepworth's addition to the Faust canon, shot at his studio in Walton-on-Thames, boasted synchronised sound, using Hepworth's own Vivaphone system, and featured his perennial leading man Hay Plumb (a director in his own right from 1912) as Faust, with Claire Pridelle as Marguerite and Jack Hulcup as the demonic Mephistopheles. The narrative again owed more to the opera of Gounod than to Goethe's original, a precedent that had been set by Arthur Gilbert's synchronised sound versions and one which would, ironically, remain unbroken throughout the silent era.

UK
Theatrical Distributors: Hepworth

TIMELINE

1911
April
Day Unknown: UK - theatrical release

KEYWORDS

the devil, faust, opera

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008