::DEALS WITH THE DEVIL::
THE GIST OF THE LIST: Movies which feature a Faustian bargain - that is to say, a character who sells his soul to reap some sort of benefit or reward... but at a costly price!
Not to be confused with films that merely feature the devil as a character, this is a list which is very specific in its requirements - a character needs to make a deal with some sort of demonic figure, realize that such a deal was a terrible mistake, and finally attempt to escape the repercussions of the bargain.
Honorable mention to the films based upon Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey - it uses a similar plot device but it unfortunately has no specific demonic figure to make it eligible for this list.
[LISTED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER]
OTHER LISTS:
CAMMANDO (MEN-ON-A-MISSION) THRILLERS
CON THRILLERS
COURTROOM THRILLERS
CULT EUROPEAN SUPERHERO MOVIES
DARK COMEDIES WITH PESKY CORPSES, BOTCHED KIDNAPPINGS, MURDEROUS BLUNDERS & ACCIDENTAL DEATHS
DEALS WITH THE DEVIL
DINNER PARTIES FROM HELL
DON'T PERFORM THE AUTOPSY! I'M NOT DEAD!
GOTHIC HORROR
HEIST THRILLERS
HEROIC BLOODSHED + BULLET BALLET + GUN-FU
HOLLYWOOD GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
INNOCENT FUGITIVE ON-THE-RUN THRILLERS
ITALIAN GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
LOCKED ROOM MYSTERIES + IMPOSSIBLE CRIMES
LO-FI SCI-FI
ONE ROOM THRILLERS
PARALLEL UNIVERSES, ALTERNATE REALITIES, FEVERISH DREAMS
POLICE PROCEDURALS
PRISON ESCAPE THRILLERS
RURAL-COUNTRY THRILLERS
THEOLOGICAL FILMS
THRILLING SHORT FILMS
THRILLING TV EPISODES
THRILLING TV MOVIES
UNKNOWN + UNAVAILABLE THRILLERS
VANISHED PERSON THRILLERS
Not to be confused with films that merely feature the devil as a character, this is a list which is very specific in its requirements - a character needs to make a deal with some sort of demonic figure, realize that such a deal was a terrible mistake, and finally attempt to escape the repercussions of the bargain.
Honorable mention to the films based upon Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey - it uses a similar plot device but it unfortunately has no specific demonic figure to make it eligible for this list.
[LISTED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER]
OTHER LISTS:
CAMMANDO (MEN-ON-A-MISSION) THRILLERS
CON THRILLERS
COURTROOM THRILLERS
CULT EUROPEAN SUPERHERO MOVIES
DARK COMEDIES WITH PESKY CORPSES, BOTCHED KIDNAPPINGS, MURDEROUS BLUNDERS & ACCIDENTAL DEATHS
DEALS WITH THE DEVIL
DINNER PARTIES FROM HELL
DON'T PERFORM THE AUTOPSY! I'M NOT DEAD!
GOTHIC HORROR
HEIST THRILLERS
HEROIC BLOODSHED + BULLET BALLET + GUN-FU
HOLLYWOOD GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
INNOCENT FUGITIVE ON-THE-RUN THRILLERS
ITALIAN GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
LOCKED ROOM MYSTERIES + IMPOSSIBLE CRIMES
LO-FI SCI-FI
ONE ROOM THRILLERS
PARALLEL UNIVERSES, ALTERNATE REALITIES, FEVERISH DREAMS
POLICE PROCEDURALS
PRISON ESCAPE THRILLERS
RURAL-COUNTRY THRILLERS
THEOLOGICAL FILMS
THRILLING SHORT FILMS
THRILLING TV EPISODES
THRILLING TV MOVIES
UNKNOWN + UNAVAILABLE THRILLERS
VANISHED PERSON THRILLERS
List activity
68K views
• 17 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
112 titles
- DirectorHanns Heinz EwersStellan RyeStarsPaul WegenerGrete BergerLyda SalmonovaBalduin, a student of Prague, leaves his roystering companions in the beer garden, when he finds he has reached the end of his resources. He is scarcely seated in a quiet corner when a hideous, shriveled-up old man taps him upon the shoulder and whispers vaguely of a big inheritance for Prague's finest swordsman and wildest student if he will enter into a certain agreement. Balduin rebuffs him, satirically asking his weird companion to procure him "the luckiest ticket in a lottery or a doweried wife." The old man goes off chuckling and thence onward persistently shadows Balduin, exerting a sinister influence over him, while Balduin is still disconsolate under the frowns of fortune. The Countess Margit Schwarzenberg, hunting with her cousin, to whom her father has betrothed her, meets with an accident. She is thrown over her horse's head into a river, but Balduin, who has been directed to the spot by his evil genius, plunges in and rescues her. Subsequently Balduin calls to inquire as to her condition at the castle of her father, the count, but be makes a hurried departure when Baron Waldis arrives, the contrast in their appearance discrediting him. His desire to win the countess and to humiliate the baron becomes so pronounced that he readily accedes to the compact suggested by Scapinelli, the old man, who has so pertinaciously dogged his footsteps, particularly when he learns that untold wealth and power will be his when he assigns to the other the right to take from his room whatever he chooses for his own use as he desires. The agreement is signed. Balduin receives a shower of gold and notes as his portion; Scapinelli takes Balduin's soul exposed in concrete form by his shadow. Balduin prosecutes his love affair assiduously and with apparent success, till the baron is informed of it by a jealous gypsy girl. He challenges Balduin to a duel, and the latter, assured of his superiority as a fencer, readily agrees. Count Schwarzenberg learns of the impending duel and appeals to Balduin not to kill "my sister's child, my daughter's future husband, and my heir." Balduin gives his promise, but when he goes to the venue of the duel he meets, his own counterpart stalking away derisively wiping his gory sword on his cloak. Balduin turns and in the far distance sees the dying victim of the deed he swore he would not do. He rushes from the spot horror-stricken. When he regains sufficient composure he makes his way to the castle of the count, but is refused admission. Determined to explain that he had no complicity in the death of the baron, Balduin climbs into a room in which the countess is seated. She receives him coldly, but soon succumbs to his ardent wooing. Just as he seeks to leave her she notices he has no shadow and that the mirror gives no reflection of him; and she drops back affrighted, the ghastly apparition of himself which takes shape in the corner of the room sends Balduin scuttling away from the castle in a paroxysm of terror. He makes a frenzied flight through a woodland estate and the streets of Prague, but wherever he stops to recover his breath he is haunted by the counterpart of himself. He reaches his rooms and draws a murderous looking fire-arm from its case. As the phantasmagorical figure strides towards him with a sinister grin, he fires, and in a few minutes the blood gushes from his own side from a fatal wound.NOTES: Also known as A Bargain with Satan.
- DirectorHenrik GaleenStarsConrad VeidtElizza La PortaFritz AlbertiFor Balduin, going out to beer parties with his fellow students and fighting out disputes at the tip of the sword have lost their charms. He wants to find love; but how would he, a penniless student, ever dare looking up to any woman worth of loving? Absorbed in his dreary thoughts and indifferent to the advances of Lyduschka, Balduin is unexpectedly offered a fortune by the mysterious money-lender Scapinelli - but on a strange condition...NOTES: Remake of A Bargain with Satan (aka The Student of Prague), this time with the great Conrad Veidt in the lead role.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsGösta EkmanEmil JanningsCamilla HornThe demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.NOTES: F.W. Muranu's take on the Faust tale. Quite possibly the best example of this particular sub-genre. Beautiful to behold. A work of art. Highly recommended.
- DirectorArthur RobisonStarsAnton WalbrookTheodor LoosDorothea WieckPrague in the 1860s: Balduin is a popular, handsome student, the best fencer in town, in amicable rivalry with his friend Dahl for the affections of Lydia, the innkeeper's niece. While the students are celebrating Lydia's birthday, the opera singer Julia Stella arrives at the inn - and Balduin's life begins to unravel. He is immediately infatuated with the glamorous singer - but she is already kept by an admirer, the wealthy and foppish Baron Waldis. How can a poor student hope to compete? The mysterious Dr. Carpis, who also has ties to Julia and is jealous of the Baron, intervenes. But the price will be higher than Balduin can ever imagine. He risks his sanity and his life - perhaps his very soul - haunted by his own reflection.NOTES: Third remake of A Bargain with Satan (aka The Student of Prague).
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsEdward ArnoldWalter HustonJane DarwellA nineteenth-century New Hampshire farmer makes a pact with Satan for economic success, then enlists famed orator Daniel Webster to extract him from his contract.NOTES: An wonderful film adaptation of the titular story. Expressionistic visuals and a wonderful performance from Walter Huston as Mr. Scratch (aka The Devil). Highly recommended.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsArlettyMarie DéaFernand LedouxIn medieval France, the Devil intervenes when one of his two envoys, sent to seduce and deceive mortals, falls instead for a victim.NOTES: Terrific fantasy about the devil trying to claim souls and the souls in question trying to outsmart him...
- DirectorMaurice TourneurStarsPierre FresnayJosseline GaëlNoël RoquevertRoland Brissot bought for a nickel a talisman that gives him love, fame, and wealth. The talisman is a cut left hand, and it works perfectly. Of course, there is nothing free in this world, and after one year, the devil comes and asks for his due.NOTES: A man takes a talisman which grants him everything he desires... but soon the devil comes to collect his due!
- DirectorVincente MinnelliBusby BerkeleyStarsEthel WatersEddie 'Rochester' AndersonLena HorneA compulsive gambler dies during a shooting, but he'll receive a second chance to reform himself and to make up with his worried wife.NOTES: A man killed over some gambling debts gets six months to prove his worth for heaven or it's off to hell for some good ol' eternal damnation!
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsGene TierneyDon AmecheCharles CoburnAn old roué arrives in Hades to review his life with Satan, who will rule on his eligibility to enter the Underworld.NOTES: A man descends to the entrance of hell and begins to argue with the devil that he deserves eternal damnation despite the fact that he's not on the list and "his excellency" doesn't think his life warrants such a condemnation!
The only film on the list where the guy actually *wants* to get the short-end of the bargain and even the devil himself isn't too keen on the unfairness of it! - DirectorMiguel M. DelgadoStarsCantinflasMiguel ArenasSusana CoraA newspaper boy mistakenly goes to the army; after dying during a mission, he goes to visit the afterlife.NOTES: A man goes off to war and dies in battle... but the devil is willing to make a deal in his afterlife.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsPaul MuniAnne BaxterClaude RainsThe Devil arranges for a deceased gangster to return to Earth as a well-respected judge to make up for his previous life.NOTES: The reverse of Here Comes Mr. Jordan - a man goes to hell and makes a bargain with the devil to return to earth... at a cost, of course.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsRay MillandAudrey TotterThomas MitchellA district attorney rises to political success and the governorship but loses his sense of morality once he starts associating with the shadowy and perhaps diabolical Nick Beal.NOTES: Film Noir with a Faustian theme...
- DirectorThorold DickinsonStarsAnton WalbrookEdith EvansYvonne MitchellAn army officer becomes obsessed with learning the secret to a card game for which an elderly countess sold her soul years earlier.NOTES: A woman sells her soul to the devil to always win at cards...
- DirectorRené ClairStarsMichel SimonGérard PhilipeNicole BesnardThe Faust story retold, with an aged alchemist accepting the gift of renewed youth from the devilish Mephistopheles.NOTES: René Clair's take on the Faust legend.
- DirectorGeorge AbbottStanley DonenStarsTab HunterGwen VerdonRay WalstonA frustrated fan of the hopeless Washington Senators makes a pact with the Devil to help the baseball team win the league pennant.NOTES: Amusing comedy-musical about a Washington Senators fan who makes a pact with the devil to help his baseball team win the league pennant!
- DirectorRafael BaledónStarsEnrique RambalAbel SalazarMartha RothA failed pianist sells his soul to the devil in return for his becoming the greatest musician in the world. The catch: every time he plays he turns into a horrible monster.NOTES: A failed pianist sells his soul to the devil in return for becoming the greatest musician in the world. The catch: every time he plays he turns into a horrible monster.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsRod SerlingDavid WayneThomas GomezA hypochondriac man sells his soul to the devil, exchanging it for several thousand years of immortality.NOTES: An episode of The Twilight Zone where a hypochondriac man sells his soul to the devil, exchanging it for one million years of immortality... of course, it doesn't pan out quite as he expects it to.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsJarl KulleBibi AnderssonStig JärrelDon Juan is sent from Hell to Earth with a mission - to seduce a virgin in order to spoil her pure wedding. The mission becomes crazy when Don Juan falls in love for the first time in centuries.NOTES: Ingmar Bergman take on the Faustian bargain!
- DirectorPeter GorskiGustaf GründgensStarsWill QuadfliegGustaf GründgensElla BüchiThe aging scientist Faust is desperately in search of knowledge and insight, but without success. To escape from this ignorance, he dares the extreme: He joins forces with The Devil. Mephisto offers him eternal youth and the opportunity to seduce the virgin Gretchen.NOTES: Essentially a stage play version of Faust.
- DirectorJules BrickenStarsBoris KarloffMacdonald CareyPatricia MedinaAn artist "pawns" his soul to the devil and must retrieve it by painting a portrait of another person whose soul will be exchanged for his.NOTES: A person "pawns" his soul to the devil...
- DirectorAleksandr RouStarsAleksandr KhvylyaLyudmila MyznikovaYuri TavrovSurreal Soviet-era Christmas fantasy movie.NOTES: The devil tempts a farmer in the Russian country side...
- DirectorRalph SenenskyStarsRobert SterlingPat CrowleyBurgess MeredithA man sells his soul to the Devil to save his failing newspaper and gets more than he bargained for.NOTES: Another episode of The Twilight Zone where a man sells his soul to the devil to save his failing newspaper and gets more than he bargained for.
- 1959–196451mTV-147.2 (1.8K)TV EpisodeDirectorDavid Lowell RichStarsAlbert SalmiJohn AndersonWright KingAging tycoon William Feathersmith is bored with life and makes arrangements through a devilish travel agency to return to the Cliffordville of his youth and start all over again.NOTES: Yet Another episode of The Twilight Zone where aging tycoon William Feathersmith is bored with life and makes arrangements through a devilish travel agency to return to the Cliffordville of his youth and start all over again.
- DirectorGrigori KromanovJüri MüürStarsElmar SalulahtAnts EskolaAstrid LepaThe way Saint Peter explains it to the Devil who's knocking on Heaven's door to collect his share of souls: there will be no more souls, as God has come to doubt if humans are really meant to achieve salvation. If they aren't then how can they be punished posthumous and sent to Hell? There's only one way to make sure if sinning is the human nature, or is it that they simply don't want to better themselves - Devil himself must go down to Earth, in human form, and if he can achieve salvation then so can a human being... Based on A. H. Tammsaare's classic novel of the same name.NOTES: God won't give the devil any more souls as he's given up on the idea of sending people to hell as he believes no one truly can receive salvation so no punishment required.
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsPeter CookDudley MooreEleanor BronA hapless loser sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for seven wishes, but has trouble winning over the girl of his dreams.NOTES: Dudley Moore makes a deal with devil Peter Cook to get seven wishes... but none of the wishes come out they way he expects!