The up-side to 1967's Doctor Faustus was that throughout the entire course of the film Elizabeth Taylor didn't utter one, single word. Whew! What a relief that was!
In Doctor Faustus, Elizabeth Taylor was strictly there as eye-candy, just an over made-up piece of very pretty decoration. That's all.
But, then, on the down-side of Doctor Faustus, actor Richard Burton, that loud, bellowing alcoholic, never shuts his trap for even 5 seconds. Sheesh! You can bet that Burton's incessant yattering all but made up for Taylor's ludicrous silence.
I won't tell you why Taylor never talked throughout the entire course of the film. All I'll say is that she played the character of "Helen of Troy" and that apparently had something to do with it. (You go figure)
In some ways Doctor Faustus was an interesting enough production. There were certainly plenty of fascinating and bizarre set designs. And the make-up effects were quite impressive. But, all in all, Doctor Faustus was a film that completely lacked any soul, which, is sort of ironic when you consider that its story was all about a man who actually sold his soul to the devil.
Set in 16th Century Germany, Doctor Faustus, a brilliant scholar at Wittenberg University, employs the magic of necromancy to conjure up the evil Mephistopheles from the absolute depths of Hell. Through the assistance of this wicked spirit, Faustus bargains away his soul to Lucifer in exchange for 24 years of youth, invincibility, and unlimited power at his complete disposal.
Faustus willingly signs this pact (with its exclusive "no-escape" clause) using his own blood and, soon enough, Mephistopheles reveals to him the works of the Devil, otherwise known as "The 7 Deadly Sins".
I think that you really need to be a completely devoted, die-hard "Taylor & Burton" fan to actually appreciate Doctor Faustus any more than I did.
