Mr. Neville Judson Coghill
Wrote a deal of dangerous doggerill.
Practical, progressive men
Called him Little Poison-pen.
— J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 275 in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. ed. Humphrey Carpenter (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981).
A man of no small influence himself, Nevill Coghill was a medievalist, famous for his translations of Chaucer and Langland made for the BBC, but also for his work as a director for the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS). Moreover, as one of many who made a profound influence on C.S. Lewis, he was to become one of that band of friends known as the Inklings. It was therefore of much interest to me that I happened to find out he wrote and co-directed a movie based upon Christopher Marlowe’s drama, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.
Starring Richard Burton as Faust, and featuring Elizabeth Taylor as Helen of Troy, Coghill’s Doctor Faustus is a rather interesting retelling of the Faust legend. Outside of the two headliners, the movie had for its cast actors from the OUDS, such as Ian Marter. The film tried to exist as something more than a stage play but less than a normal movie; indeed, one can tell it was inspired and within the tradition of theatrical productions, except no play could have had the special effects that are seen throughout Doctor Faustus.
Posted by Henry Karlson 
