Rent Tartuffe (1925)
3.6 of 5 from 65 ratings
1h 4min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
F. W. Murnau made this film adaptation of Moliere's satire for UFA in 1925 and it was released in 1926, prior to Faust. By presenting the play as a film-within-a-film, Murnau takes the opportunity to place the material in a contemporary setting, sandwiched inside a morality lesson about greed and hypocrisy. A devious housekeeper convinces her master to cut his worthy grandson out of his will and to leave the riches to her instead. The grandson, disguised as the projectionist of a travelling cinema show, flatters his way into the home to project a film of Tartuffe in an attempt to open his grandfather's eyes. Emil Jannings plays Tartuffe with creepy panache in a tour-de-force turn alongside Lil Dagover and Werner Krauss. Unjustly neglected for decades, perhaps because of its low-key nature compared with Murnau's more grand masterpieces, this delightful curiosity is more than a mere trifle. Tartuffe affirms Murnau as a master of multifarious cinematic disciplines: from the set-based dreams of Faust and Sunrise, to the naturalist landscapes of Nosferatu, City Girl, and Tabu. In Tartuffe we find an intimate Murnau, relying on close-ups and the performances of his actors to create magic. Tartuffe was first released in the UK in 1928. - Actors:
- Hermann Picha, Rosa Valetti, André Mattoni, Werner Krauss, Lil Dagover, Lucie Höflich, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn
- Directors:
- F.W. Murnau
- Producers:
- Erich Pommer
- Writers:
- Molière, Carl Mayer
- Aka:
- Herr Tartüff
- Studio:
- Eureka
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- 100 Years of German Expressionism, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Éric Rohmer, The Last Laugh: The Film That Changed Cinema, What to Watch Next If You Liked Dracula
- Countries:
- Germany
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