Mephisto [Blu-ray]

Overview

A Hungarian update of the Faustian legend, Istvan Szabo's Mephisto stars Klaus Maria Brandauer as Hendrik Hofgen, a successful theatrical performer who has grown bored with the accepted confines of the dramatic form. Yearning for something more innovative, his groundbreaking ideas are met with commercial indifference; in an act of desperation, Hofgen sells his soul. The twist is that he sells it not to the Devil, but to the Nazis.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/21/2020
UPC:	0738329248703
Original Release:	1981
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kino Classics
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	2:26:00
Sales rank:	25,438

Special Features

Audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan; The Central Europe of István Szabó; Remembrance of production designer József Romvári; Trailer; New 4K restoration; 1920x1080p

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Klaus Maria Brandauer	Hendrik Hoefgen
Krystyna Janda	Barbara Bruckner
Ildiko Bansagi	Nicoletta von Niebuhr
Karin Boyd	Juliette Martens
Rolf Hoppe	The General
Christine Harbort	Lotte Lindenthal
Gyorgy Cserhalmi	Hans Miklas
Christiane Graskoff	Cesar Von Muck
Peter Andorai	Otto Ulrichs
Ildiko Kishonti	Dora Martin
Tamas Major	Oskar H. Kroge
Maria Bisztrai	Motzné, tragika
Sandor Lukacs	Rolf Bonetti, bonviván
Agnes Banfalvi	Actor
Judit Hernadi	Rachel Mohrenwitz, drámai szende
Vilmos Kun	Ügyelõ
Ida Versenyi	Súgó
Istvan Komlos	Kis Böck, Öltöztetõ
Sari Gencsy	Bella Hilfgrin
Zdzislaw Mrozewski	Bruckner, tanácsos
Stanislava Strobachova	Tábornokné
Karoly Ujlaky	Sebastian
Martin Hellberg	Professor,Actor,Actor
Katalin Solyom	Actor
Gyorgy Banffy	Actor
Josef Csor	Actor,Joachim
Hedi Temessy	Actor
David Robinson	Davidson
Geza Kovacs	Actor
Teri Tordai	Actor
Hans Ulrich Laufer	Actor
Irén Bordán	Actor
Christian Grashof	Cesar von Muck
Zdenkó Tamássy	Composer

Technical Credits

Péter Dobai

István Szabó

Istvan Szabo	Director
Péter Dobai	Screenwriter
István Szabó	Screenwriter
Manfred Durniok	Producer

Editorial Reviews

In films about wartime collaboration, Mephisto earns a special niche, because it also manages to include so many acute observations about the world of the theater, and, in particular, the delusions under which some artists operate. Hendrik Hofgen is an actor of some talent and even greater ambition. That ambition, to work on the best stages in Berlin after an apprenticeship in regional theater, also serves to blind him to the rise of Nazism and what it means to freedom-loving artists such as himself. Dismissing the Nazis as mere thugs, Hofgen believes that his status as a stage performer exempts him from dealing with them. If his wife's leaving Germany for France, where she works to undermine Hitler's regime, isn't enough of a signal, then the treatment accorded to his black mistress by the Nazis should be. Hofgen keeps living in denial until it is too late to back off from a cozy relationship with the regime. Klaus-Maria Brandauer's performance is flamboyant in all the best ways, and István Szabó's direction guides us without a misstep into Hofgen's dilemma.