DER GOLEM (1920) B/W "silent" 91m dirs: Paul Wegener, Carl Boese

w/Paul Wegener, Albert Steinruck, Ernst Deutsch, Lyda Salmonova

"Silent" horror masterpiece about a 16th century Polish rabbi who makes a monster from clay to help his people fight the emperor's expulsion of Jews from the Prague ghetto. The film was written by Wegener and Henrik Galeen and photographed by Karl Freund [MAD LOVE] and Guido Seeber.

From Georges Sadoul's Dictionary of Films: "The character of the Golem bears close relationship to that of the monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein --- both having their origin in the Greek myth of Prometheus. ...

"For this version [the 1914 and first version used contemporary events mixed with the legend], Wegener returned to the legend, setting the film in medieval Prague: Rabbi Loew (Steinruck) gives life to the Golem (Wegener) who falls in love with the Rabbi's daughter (Salmonova) and brings fear to the emperor's court. ...

"Undoubtedly, this is the best version, notable for its extraordinary crowd scenes and the non-expressionistic sets by Hans Poelzig: 'Their angular, oblique outlines, their teetering bulk, their hollowed steps, seem the none too unreal ghetto where people actually live. ... The alternately terrified and exultant crowd at times recalls the flamboyant outlines and disjointed movement of a painting by El Greco.' (Lotte Eisner). Paul Wegener's performance as the inscrutable, enigmatic, hulking claylike figure of the Golem certainly influenced the depiction of the monster in Frankenstein."