When it comes to silent Expressionistic German horror, there are three movies people point towards: "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," "Nosferatu," and this one. Compare to those two, this can't help but pale. It doesn't feature the surreal sets of "Caligari," nor the heavy shadows of "Nosferatu." This film's main contribution to the Expressionism is its design of the Jewish's ghetto. The buildings rise up into the sky like melted candles.
For the majority of its run time, it isn't really a horror film. The Jews of Prague are under prosecution from the emperor because of the same old Anti-Semitic nonsense. In order to protect the ghetto, Rabbi Lew summons Astaroth to provide the word for creating life. The word is written on a piece of paper, shoved in a five-point star, and placed on the clay golem's chest. The inanimate statue comes to life. How does the Rabbi use the Golem to save his people? Um, by having it chop wood and go to the store. Eventually, the Rabbi and his creation are called to the emperor's castle, where the Golem saves every body from a contrived disaster. The town is protected but Lew quickly looses control of the Golem.
It's about a half an hour in before the golem is revived. Before that, the movie mostly occupies itself with a love triangle. The Rabbi's daughter, despite having a fiancé, attracts the attention of a foppish Christian knight. This storyline takes up a staggeringly amount of the film. Eventually, the two plots collide. Naturally, this doesn't go well for the lovers. This last act change leads to the film's best moments, such the Golem dropping a body off a roof, dragging the girl around by her pigtails and holding her in his arms in the classic Touch of the Monster pose.
The Golem is the most interesting character. His big painted face has a lot of expression. The way he slowly develops emotions is fascinating. The scene of him sniffing a flower and smiling is the first sign and, at the end, he picks up and plays with a little girl. You get the idea that he's just angry that people keep deactivating him. The movie honestly isn't as Anti-Semitic as you'd expect, considering it was made in 1920s Germany. The Jews are depicted as magical wizards, doing things like putting out a fire with a spell, but are never evil or stereotypical.
Notoriously, the movie is the third part of a trilogy. It explains the origin of the monster seen in the first film, where the Golem rampaged through then-modern Germany. That movie is lost, though a four-minute clip of it does survive. The second movie, "The Golem and the Dancing Girl," was apparently a comedic parody and is totally lost. "The Golem" isn't as essential as some of the other films I mentioned but is definitely of interest to classic horror fans, if just because the obvious debt "Frankenstein" owed to it.
For the majority of its run time, it isn't really a horror film. The Jews of Prague are under prosecution from the emperor because of the same old Anti-Semitic nonsense. In order to protect the ghetto, Rabbi Lew summons Astaroth to provide the word for creating life. The word is written on a piece of paper, shoved in a five-point star, and placed on the clay golem's chest. The inanimate statue comes to life. How does the Rabbi use the Golem to save his people? Um, by having it chop wood and go to the store. Eventually, the Rabbi and his creation are called to the emperor's castle, where the Golem saves every body from a contrived disaster. The town is protected but Lew quickly looses control of the Golem.
It's about a half an hour in before the golem is revived. Before that, the movie mostly occupies itself with a love triangle. The Rabbi's daughter, despite having a fiancé, attracts the attention of a foppish Christian knight. This storyline takes up a staggeringly amount of the film. Eventually, the two plots collide. Naturally, this doesn't go well for the lovers. This last act change leads to the film's best moments, such the Golem dropping a body off a roof, dragging the girl around by her pigtails and holding her in his arms in the classic Touch of the Monster pose.
The Golem is the most interesting character. His big painted face has a lot of expression. The way he slowly develops emotions is fascinating. The scene of him sniffing a flower and smiling is the first sign and, at the end, he picks up and plays with a little girl. You get the idea that he's just angry that people keep deactivating him. The movie honestly isn't as Anti-Semitic as you'd expect, considering it was made in 1920s Germany. The Jews are depicted as magical wizards, doing things like putting out a fire with a spell, but are never evil or stereotypical.
Notoriously, the movie is the third part of a trilogy. It explains the origin of the monster seen in the first film, where the Golem rampaged through then-modern Germany. That movie is lost, though a four-minute clip of it does survive. The second movie, "The Golem and the Dancing Girl," was apparently a comedic parody and is totally lost. "The Golem" isn't as essential as some of the other films I mentioned but is definitely of interest to classic horror fans, if just because the obvious debt "Frankenstein" owed to it.