Murnau's adaptation of Moliere is more sinister than witty, with
Jannings brilliantly cast as the exploitative and hypocritical
Tartuffe; his customary hamminess, repressed under his saintly
masquerade, re-emerges as his true nature is revealed. Murnau's
extraordinarily sophisticated lighting effects, compositions and
elaborate panning shots transform the plush sets into regions of
strange, shifting perspectives where the very topography is
treacherous. Topped off by an subversive homoerotic subtext,
surrounded by a Brechtian framing section, this is heady stuff.
