version prepared by Murnau himself for MGM and the US market (July 1926). Restoration and versions known to exist The copy of the original German version lacks a number of scenes. With the copies available, a 106-minute reconstructed version has been released by Kino International with English intertitles on DVD. A commentary is also an optional extra on the DVD. The original intertitles have also been recovered. The US version includes titles and scenes filmed especially by Murnau, where for example the scene in which Aunt Marthe offers Mephisto a drink that he rejects as causing heartburn: in the US version, Mephisto rejects the drink for having had alcohol, an ironic reference to Prohibition in the United States; again in the US version, Mephisto offers Marta a necklace, from the Great Khan of the Tartars, rather than the cousin from Lombardy, as Murnau believed the US audience would not have heard of Lombardy. One scene was done with a text juxtaposition, as again, Murnau believed the American audience wouldn't grasp the imagery by itself. This is also the only version having the originally conceived finale of the ascension of Faust and Gretchen into Heaven. In all others, the scene is rather more conceptual. Books appearing in the film were labeled or any plans with text were shot twice, in German and in English. The bilingual version was prepared to be shown aboard trans-Atlantic ships traveling from Hamburg to New York City. Therefore, they catered to both American and German audiences. The French version is generally believed to represent the poorest choice of scenes, both including the largest number of filming errors (e.g., showing assistants holding doors, actors slipping, Gretchen stepping on her dress, showing the stage maquette). It does hold takes that do not exist in any other versions, however. Reception Faust was a "financial flop". German critics disliked the adaptation from its source texts and Gösta Ekman's performance. In later years, the film has been called one of seven "canonical examples of German Expressionist cinema". Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 94%, based on , with a rating average of 8.59/10. A 2006 review in The New York Times called it "one of the most astonishing visual experiences the silent cinema has to offer." Japanese film director Shinji Aoyama listed Faust as one of ten greatest films of all time in 2012. He said, "I