Dr Faustus (Columbia Pictures) (1967)

Mat IB; Still No. 28 Elizabeth Taylor is Helen of Troy in "Doctor Faustus,"’ which stars Richard Burton in the title role. The new Columbia Pictures release in Technicolor is the story of a man who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for youth, power and a woman. Richard Burton Richard Burton, one of the mostacclaimed stage and screen actors of our time, brings to the ...... Theatre the timeless story of “Doctor Faustus,” who sold his soul to the devil for knowledge, power and a woman. Th2 woman is co-star Elizabeth Taylor, appearing in the Columbia Pictures release as Helen of Troy. “Doctor Faustus” is the screen aftermath of a unique theatrical event, when the Burtons gave their services to Oxford University’s dramatic society for a two-week performance of the Christopher Marlowe play, to help raise funds for the Oxford University Theatre. Burton then decided to turn the play into a film. Oxford University professor Nevill Coghill, director of the dramatic society, adapted the play to the screen and co-directed it, in Rome, with 48 members of the Oxford University group playing their stage roles. Burton once was one of Dr. Coghill’s students. At the age of sixteen, Burton, whose real name is Jenkins, won a scholarship to Oxford University. While waiting to enter the school, he answered an advertisement for a Welsh boy to play in Emlyn Williams’ “The Druid’s Rest.” He read the part and was immediately hired. The twelfth of thirteen children, Burton was born in the small mining village of Pontrhydyfen in South Wales and was educated at Duffryn Grammer School in nearby Port Talbot, winning the Oxford scholarship under the tutorship of a schoolmaster named Philip Burton. When the young boy became a professional actor, he changed his name to Burton. After playing in “Druid’s Rest” for seven months, Burton went to Exeter College, Oxford, where he joined the O0.U.D.S., working with Professor Coghill. After a year, Burton joined the R.A.F. as a navigator, serving three and a half years during World War II. On the day he was demobilized, Burton was cast in the first of three West End plays and, in 1949, he made his motion picture debut. Composer Mario Nascimbene, one of the world’s most distinguished composers, composed and conducted the music for “Doctor Faustus,’ Columbia Pictures release of the Christopher Marlowe play, starring Richard Burton and also starring Elizabeth Taylor at the..... Theatre, in Technicolor. Nascimbene has scored almost 200 English, American and Italian films, including “Alexander the Great,” “Solomon and Sheba,” “Barabbas,” “Room At The Top,” “Sons and Lovers” and “One Million Years B.C.” He was awarded the Italian Oscar for his music to “Rome 11 O’Clock” and “The Violent Summer.” The Faust legend has always fascinated Nascimbene who recently wrote a one-act opera, “Faust in Manhattan,” which was performed on Italian television last year. “Doctor Faustus” stars Richard Burton as the scholar who sold his soul to the devil for knowledge, power and a woman, introduces The Oxford University Dramatic Society and also stars Elizabeth Taylor as Helen of Troy. A Burtons production, “Doctor Faustus” was directed by Richard Burton and Nevill Coghill, who also adapted the play to the screen. Burton and Richard McWhorter produced “Doctor Faustus.” Page 10 The Legend of ‘Doctor Faustus’ The legend of “Doctor Faustus,” or Faust, the scholar who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for youth, knowledge and a woman, had its origins in the 16th Century, in the time of an actual German conjuror of that name. Wow, a6 the... sus Theatre, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor bring “Doctor Faustus” to the ..... Theatre screen in Technicolor. The Columbia Pictures release stars Burton in the title role with Miss Taylor appearing as Helen of Troy, the beauty whom Faust summons from the ancient past after he has sold his soul. “Doctor Faustus,” the Burtons production, is based on the play by Christopher Marlowe, first presented in 1588, in the London of William Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre. This screen version of the Faust legend is not the first; there have been others. One of the earliest “color” films in motion picture history was a Frenchmade feature based on the story of Faust. Every frame in which the Devil appeared was carefully hand-painted so that underworld character appeared to audiences in his true color, a flaming red (which, with age and the heat of the projector lamps, gradually faded into a lovely pink!) The Faust legend has been the subject of several operas, the most famous being the Gounod masterwork based on the Goethe drama; this first was heard in Paris in 1859 and in London and New York in 1863. This is the opera which also was put on film in Italy as “Faust and the Devil,” with Italo Tajo, Nelly Corradi and Gina Mattera, by producer Gregor Rabino vitch and director Carmine Gallone. Faust operas also were written by Busoni, Berlioz, Spohr and d’Herve. Liszt wrote both the “Mephisto Waltz” and the “Faust Symphony.” Goethe’s play was only one of several by other European writers. And, of course, the Faust theme was adapted by writers and playwrights elsewhere, in other terms. Stephen Vincent Benet, the American poet and writer, made the Faust legend a piece of American literature with his story, “Devil and Daniel Webster.” When it was filmed, Walter Huston played Old Scratch and Edward Arnold the redoubtable Daniel Webster whose patriotic oratory won back the soul of James Craig, playing a young New England farmer trapped by greed and lust for Simone Simone. The film was released as “All That Money Can Buy,” as well as under its original title. “Doctor Faustus” adds to the legend of Faust. The play recently was staged in Oxford by the Oxford University Dramatic Society, with Richard Burton in the title role and Miss Taylor in the cast. The proceeds were turned over to the University Theatre where Burton himself had once been an undergraduate player. With the decision to make the film, almost 50 members of the Oxford University Dramatic Society were flown to Rome to re-enact their stage roles. Nevill Coghill, who shared directorial honors with Richard Burton, adapted the play to the screen. Burton and Richard McWhorter produced the film in Technicolor and Mario Nascimbene composed and conducted the music. Nerve ‘Cure’ As might be expected, members of the Oxford University Dramatic Society appearing with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in the Columbia Pictures film release of Christopher Marlowe’s “Doctor Faustus,” now at the Theatre in Technicolor, sometimes suffered from “camera nerves.” Burton had his own method of curing this. Two students, playing difficult scenes with him, began to shake when the camera turned. Burton stopped th2 action and began talking. “You may think,” he said, “that I am always calm when acting. But though I appear impassive, I wear out three pairs of socks a day by involuntarily wriggling my toes. When my brother Ivor first saw me at the Old Vic, I thought he’d congratulate me on my calm professionalism. Instead, he said, ‘Man, you never keep your toes still” Since then, I’ve never worn sandals while acting.” Burton gave the students invaluable tips on how to improve their appearances, how to move on mark, how to keep in the key light and how to pitch their voices. “I found no difficulty because they were newcomers to filming,” Burton said. “In fact, the reverse. They have so much enthusiasm and intelligence that I was extremely impressed.” A Burtons production, “Doctor Faustus” was directed by Richard Burton and Nevill Coghill, who also adapted the Christopher Marlowe play. Mat 2A;Still No. 65 Richard Burton as "Doctor Faustus" discovers he no longer is an aging scholar but a handsome, vigorous youth in this scene from the Columbia Pictures release in Technicolor. He has sold his soul to the devil whose agent, played by Andrea Teuber, studies Faustus' signature to the contract. Elizabeth Taylor as Helen of Troy stars with Burton in the film, which intreduces the Oxford University Dramatic Society. Mat IA; Still No. 4 Richard Burton stars as ‘Doctor Faustus," which also stars Elizabeth Taylor as Helen of Troy, in the new Columbia Pictures release in Technicolor. The Burtons production introduces to the screen the Oxford University Dramatic Society. Elizabeth Taylor “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships/And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?” The question is asked in “Doctor Faustus,” now on the screen of the Jereavntee Theatre in Technicolor. It is voiced by Richard Burton in the title role and he is speaking of co-star Elizabeth Taylor as Helen of Troy. Miss Taylor’s beauty is legendary. Beauty, however, is only one of Miss Talyor’s attributes. She is a superb actress who has won two Academy Awards, for her performances in “Butterfield 8” and “Who’s Afraid of Verginia Woolf?’, and she also received three successive Academy Award nominations, for her work in “Raintree Country,” “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof” and “Suddenly Last Summer.” In “Doctor Faustus,” Burton appears as the aging scholar who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge, power and a woman. Burton and Miss Taylor played their “Doctor Faustus” roles in one of the most unique theatrical events of recent times, when they volunteered their services to the Oxford University Dramatic Society for two weeks to help raise funds for the Oxford University Theatre. The success of the stage play, Miss Taylor’s first, led to the decision to make the film in Rome, with some 48 members of the 0.U.D.S. also appearing in the roles they originally played on stage. Elizabeth Taylor was born in London, England, daughter of Francis Taylor, an art dealer, and Sara Southern, an American actress who played on both the American and English stage. An older brother, Howard, makes up the rest of the family. Miss Taylor made her debut in the world of entertainment at the age of three, when she danced before the then Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret at a reception. She came to the United States at the outbreak of World War II. Elizabeth first appeared in movies with Roddy McDowell in “Lassie Come Home.” She was signed to a long-term contract and given roles in “The White Cliffs of Dover” and “Jane Eyre.”’ She played the little girl who rode a horse to victory in “National Velvet,” emerging as a full-fledged movie star even before she entered her teens. “Doctor Faustus” is the seventh film Elizabeth Taylor has made with Richard Burton, her husband. Others were “Cleopatra,” “The VIP’s,” “The Sandpiper,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ?”, “The Taming of the Shrew” and “The Comedians.”