The Beauty of the Devil

René Clair's playful take on the Faust legend stirs whimsy into the classic tragic tale of an academic who sells his soul to the Devil. Michel Simon plays frumpy old Professor Henri Faust, a sheepdog of a scholar who is about to retire without leaving his mark on the world. Young and handsome Gérard Philipe costars as the seductive Mephistopheles. And then the actors swap roles, with Philipe's young Faust the rejuvenated romantic discovering everything he's missed in a life of scholarship, and Simon as the devilish clown, scheming to compromise and corrupt Faust at every turn with a twisted grin and a gleam in his eye. Clair and co-writer Armand Salacrou concoct some deviously clever machinations in the ensuing battle of wills, while Simon turns Mephistopheles into a black-hearted trickster, taking pleasure in corrupting what was once a soul dedicated to truth and discovery. But there's little tragedy here because Philipe's swaggering younger iteration of Faust carries no sense of history or yearning. So while Clair's mischievous sense of humor and snappy energy keep the film bouncing along with fantastic twists and swashbuckling flair, ultimately Faust's odyssey comes across as nothing more than a lark. Newly remastered for DVD and a Blu-ray debut, extras include a 2010 featurette on Clair. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)