Golem

DVD Features:

• Region 0; Can be played worldwide
• Keep Case
• Full Frame - 1.33

Description by OLDIES.com:

In 16th century Prague, Rabbi Loew creates a terrifying giant golem from clay to protect his people from their persecutors. Employing sorcery, he brings the artificial man to life, endowing him with human emotions. Famulus, Loew's evil assistant, manages to take control of the golem, commanding it to perform sordid criminal acts culminating in the kidnapping of the Rabbi's beautiful daughter, Miriam. The monster, outraged by his vile misuse, rebels and a deadly rampage ensues. With high, angular sets by famed architect Hans Poelzig and full of wonderful imagery captured by the camera of Karl Freund, this silent classic captivates the eye. Masterfully combining terror and pathos, Wegener's stiff-limbed portrayal of the golem clearly influenced Boris Karloff's performance in Frankenstein. This 1920 version of The Golem is considered definitive among the film's many productions and is an unforgettable horror masterpiece.

Product Description:

With his third version of THE GOLEM, director, writer, and actor Paul Wegener is credited with creating the first horror movie series, and historians consider THE GOLEM AND THE DANCER (his 1917 follow-up to the 1914 original) to be the first sequel in cinema history. Based on a legend in Jewish mysticism, in 16th-century Prague community leader and astrologer Rabbi Loew (Albert Steinrück) foresees doom for the Jews. When the emperor decrees a pogrom of the Jewish ghetto, Loew molds a forbidding clay golem (Wegener) to save his people. Loew invokes a demon spirit to retrieve a magic word that he places in an amulet on the creature's chest. Once the word is positioned, the giant wedge-haired automaton lives. Danger ensues, however, when Loew's assistant, Famulus (Ernst Deutsch), uses the golem to settle a score with Florian (Lothar Müthel), a knight who has stolen his sweetheart, Miriam (Lyda Salmonova). THE GOLEM's influence on future horror films was significant, particularly James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN. Wegener's distorted sets and chiaroscuro lighting, complemented by Karl Freund's expert photography, make the film an excellent example of German Expressionism and an important contribution by German mega studio UFA to the golden age of Weimar cinema.

Plot Keywords:

Fantasy | Horror Classic | Medieval | Monsters | Silent | Vintage

Production Notes:

• Theatrical release: June 19, 1921.
• Director of photography Karl Freund is closely associated with creating the look of German Expressionist films--in addition to Wegener's THE GOLEM, Freund shot F.W. Murnau's THE LAST LAUGH and Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS. After immigrating to the U.S., Freund made a stunning directorial debut with the horror classic THE MUMMY.
  Coscreenwriter Henrik Galeen also cowrote, codirected, and acted in the first version of THE GOLEM with Wegener. In addition, Galeen directed and cowrote the 1926 remake of Wegener's THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE.
• Director Edgar G. Ulmer's (THE BLACK CAT, DETOUR) first job in film was as a silhouette cutter and set builder for THE GOLEM.
• In the original New York Times review of the film (June 20, 1921), the writer praises the "pantomimic quality" of the actors, none of whom are "simply a silenced chatter-box, as are so many supposed screen actors in this country."

Cast and Crew: