Marlowe: Dr. Faustus by Richard Burton; Oxford University Dramatic Society Review by: J. R. S. The English Journal, Vol.

56, No. 2 (Feb., 1967), p. 323 Published by: National Council of Teachers of English Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/811718 . Accessed: 14/11/2013 23:13
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TEACHING
recent scholarship in cognitive abilities such as the work of J. P. Guilford ("Three Faces of Intellect," American Psychologist, 1959, 14, 469-479), B. S. Bloom (Taxonomy

MATERIALS

323

of Educational Objectives; Handbook I: Sanders (Classroom Questions: What

Kinds? Harper, 1965). Individual prints of the graphics can be purchased to give the students if the teacher intends to maintain the volumes for his own use. However, some teachers find it preferred practice to issue sets of the instructional materials to the students. Whatever the distribution of materials, the classroom teacher should find abundant wellwritten questions to better the teaching and learning of skills in composition. N.S.B. MACBETH. Shakespeare Recording Society. Caedmon, 505 8th Ave., New York City 10018. 3 records, $17.85. A recording of the complete text of the play, this performance restores the cuts made in the earlier two-record album (reviewed in March, 1961.) The players are the same, featuring Anthony Quayle in the title r61le and Gwen Ffrangcon Davies as Lady Macbeth, with a most impressive supporting cast, including Stanley Holloway as the joyously disreputable Porter, speaking his unbowdlerized lines with gusto. The performance as a whole is spirited, well-balanced, and powerful. Anthony Quayle brings out strongly the degeneration of the central character, and Gwen Ffrangcon Davies is a memorable Lady Macbeth. Although very slight omissions of text still occur, they would be noticed only by one reading the play as he listens. Recording quality is outstandingly good; even playing the records at high volume, as may be necessary for classroom use, produces no distortions of sound. J.R.S. MARLOWE: DR. FAUSTUS. Richard Burton and the Oxford University Dramatic Society. Angel. Capitol Records Distributing Corp., 1750 Vine St., Hollywood, Cal. 90028. School price, $2.99 mono; $3.62 stereo. Considerable cuts in the text have had to be made to compress the central action of Cognitive Domain, McKay, 1956), or N. M.

the play sufficiently to fit into a single recording. All of scenes 2 and 4, much of 5 and 6, and all of 8 through 12 have disappeared, as have other passages throughout. The Good Angel and Evil Angel have been jettisoned. What is left is almost pure Burton, with some help from Mephistopheles, a few of Faustus' friends, and the Seven Deadly Sins. It is enough, or nearly so: for one reason, the modern listener is more likely to be puzzled than entertained by the scenes of grotesque horseplay which have been omitted here; for another, the central tragedy emerges with a starkness which heightens its effect. Paradoxically, Burton brings out the fatuousness of Faustus without in the least weakening the power of the tremendous final scene in which the sinner awaits his doom in despair and self-torment. High school students may be amused by the apt self-characterizations of the Seven Deadly Sins, nowadays so unpopular in theory but still flourishing in practice. They can hardly be amused by the damnation of Faust, here made a situation of pure horror, as it was in Marlowe's day. J.R.S. FAULKNER'S MISSISSIPPI: LAND INTO LEGEND. Color film, running time 32 minutes. University of Mississippi. Here is Yoknapatawpha County as Faulkner described it, in scenery if not in characters. We see the stately homes of the well-to-do, including Faulkner's own home at Oxford with its well-kept grounds and outbuildings; we also see a Negro cabin dating back to Civil War days, and the rundown shanties of poor whites standing amid parched and treeless flatlands. The views of Oxford are picturesque and charming; not so the six-shack villages, each with its roadside gasoline pumps or run-down general store. Faulkner himself is seen through pictures from the family album and in later photographs taken after he had become famous. We are shown the living room of his house with the portraits painted by his mother, and the study in which he wrote, his typewriter still standing on the desk. Finally there are the Falkner plot in the cemetery (Faulkner himself added the u to the family name) and the author's grave.

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