THE GOLEM Movie Review

Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam

The legend of the Golem—a humanoid clay figure brought to life by Rabbi Loew in 16th-century Prague in order to defend the Jews against pogroms—has been the basis of a number of films from 1914 through the 1950s.The best of them, this 1920 silent German film directed by Paul Wegener, is a starkly stylized film filled with ominous shadows and disturbing, Gothic settings; much of the visual scheme is directly influenced by the theatrical work of Max Reinhardt. The Golem turns into a strange and nightmarish love story when the creature falls in love with the rabbi's daughter (Lyda Salmonova); but he later meets his end by the hand of an unwitting child. The figure of the Golem itself is an imposing visual design featuring huge eyes and a mammoth, bulky body, which in some scenes is made of stone and in others is played by Wegener. A clear precursor to James Whale's 1931 Frankenstein, The Golem was stunningly photographed by the legendary Karl Freund, who, in addition to shooting Fritz Lang's Metropolis in 1926, would, in his later Hollywood years, become director of photography for I Love Lucy.

NEXT STOP… The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu (1922), Frankenstein

1920 80m/B GE Paul Wegener, Albert Steinruck, Ernst Deutsch, Lyda Salmonava, Otto Gebuehr, Max Kronert, Loni Nest, Greta Schroder, Hans Sturm; D: Carl Boese, Paul Wegener; W: Henrik Galeen, Paul Wegener; C: Karl Freund; M: Hans Landberger. VHS VYY, SNC, MRV