There's The Devil To Pay--"Bedazzled" (1967)

The great English playwright (and all-around Renaissance bad boy) Christopher Marlowe was one of several authors who wrote a dramatic treatment for the story of Dr. Faustus, a 15Th or 16Th Century German academic polymath who some say was a real dude. Anyway, and shades of 1930's delta guitarist Robert Johnson the guy had supposedly made a deal with the devil--the doctor gave a way his soul so he could have greater knowledge and whole lots of power (and get a good look at Helen of Troy.)

It's Marlowe's masterpiece, written around 1592, and a real full-blown tragedy cause even a jerk like Faustus doesn't deserve to lose his soul to the Devil , right? Anyway, you probably read it in college or seen the movie with Richard Burton and Liz Taylor as Helen of Schenectady (all right, Troy) so you know it doesn't end well and why didn't the guy listen to the Good Angel, oh well...

I should mention the fact that Goethe wrote a major poem in two major parts about Dr. Faustus and his situation. Some call this work his biggest masterpiece. I haven't read it, but there I mentioned it.

Now full ahead four hundred years and some change later, say 2000 AD, and you could rent the DVD and see how a otherwise good American/Buddhist/Jewish director named Harold Ramis, who did the admirable "Groundhog Day" (1993) with Bill Murray, and a oft-funny writer/producer named Larry Gelbart, made a tepid movie out of the same story roughly with Branden Fraser as a Faustus who basically doesn't want knowledge (wanting knowledge! how uncool for the average adolescent moviegoer) or even money but does want to score with a pretty lady who works in his office in a high-tech human cubicle farm in San Francisco. Elizabeth Hurley was the devil in this movie and to say she beautiful is an understatement. To say she's pretty but no great shakes as an actor--female or otherwise--is an understatement too. Hummm, maybe you don't need to rent that DVD after all.

OK, so what happened in 400 years that blew this story from great tragedy to a forgettable comedy? What the hell happened, pardon the pun, and couldn't somebody since that Goethe guy get the balance between drama and comedy on this story and give it a modern twist and do right by this great source material?

Well, yes, somebod(ies) did. Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Eleanor Bron and a director named Stanley Donen did in 1967. The result was Bedazzled (1967). While perhaps not a great film, its a very entertaining one and features three terrific comic performances. This is the one to see, folks. Frankly, blank verse is a bit hard to follow for the modern ear (sorry, Marlowe) and you can always look at Elizabeth Hurley on some Internet site or selling stuff on HSN or whatever she does when acting sort-of. This is the popular Faustus story for the modern age.

(more coming in part two)