StrictlyConfidential "Fee! Fye! Foe! Fum!"1920's "The Golem" was probably one of cinema's very first live-action superhero stories.In this despairing and overwrought tale of Jewish woe - It sure looked to me like "Wreck-It-Ralph" (aka. the Golem) was definitely having himself a very serious "bad-hair" day.Set in 16th century Prague (where religion and sorcery were joined together, hand-in-hand) - I found (much to my disappointment) that "Wreck-It-Ralph" only turned out to be just a mere errand-boy.And, as a result - "The Golem" (as a motion picture) did not even come close to delivering as satisfactory entertainment.

IMDBcinephile I have watched this 2 times; I got the Eureka DVD a few months ago. I decided to reinstate my thoughts about it today, as I did know it was a pretty good movie at first viewing, but I wanted to study what made it so goodThe story is relayed in 5 chapters; all of those can consist of intermissions.The first chapter is where Rabbi Low is reading books on how to emanate the Golem; they also tried to go to the revered Rabbi so that he can represent the Jewish Community, so all ready there is a Jewish Tone to the work. He looks through books of necromancers.The Second Chapter: He tries to call it without any caveat. He does interact with it now, although foreboding in the beginning, he is subservient to his master and obeys him at every lead. Even doing errands it can be deadly.Third Chapter: They go to the emperors place, and the Golem saves him from his temple being eroded; he was there to accompany him while they stare into another place which looks like Metropolis (1927) in the scene where Maria is preaching the construction of the Babel. One of the female character also bribed the guards.Fourth Chapter: The Golem becomes deceitful and disobeying; one of the counterproductive results to happen to itFifth Chapter: Golem opens the Gate.Albeit nobody is in a foray but rest assured, trouble was already going to be imminent; he protects them temporarily and then it all breaks loose - sort of James Whale's tantamount with Karloff's Frankenstein - a lonely, innocuous creature in a bad state, and always in trouble even though he's a delicate soul."Der Golem" was directed by Paul Weigner, who also plays the Golem. It does take time for him to be active, so throughout the first 33 minutes the foreground is taken by one of the scenes with a cat on a roof and the stars which already show The Golem, but this is the construction of him it centres on.The painted backgrounds must have been laborious work and it pays off; this is not as expressionistic as "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" but it has the paradigm of expressionism filtered through the clinical feel to the house and the painstakingly subjective feel that you have to embrace in the village of expressionism - it's small but welcoming and distorted. Ornate and exquisite; the face of the Golem is so emotive that when he smells the flower, he genuinely seems curious about it, when he picks up the little Girl, we wonder whether or not he was going to kill her or embrace her; its deliberate dithering still makes you wonder and we never get to know anywayIn the bit where he turns on his master in an unprecedented and unexpected way, the face tells us, not the words. Abaroth's book is the liveliness of Golem; the amulet powers the Golem, so it's pretty easy to dismantle him, but it's so hard to tame him. He is, by definition in horror, the indestructible and this movie gives you the sorcery element with the green tint for the house and even little niceties like red for the fire, which should represent it, but fails, and yet it still constitutes to that sense of fantastical worlds. Golem is to be kept a secret; when I seen that, I was like "No way - you can't hide that thing - it will not conform" and of course, it didn't. But the way it grinds you into believing this, always throws it in your other direction, as he veers from unsympathetic to really sympathetic.The romance element in the movie is sort of superficial but overall not bad.It's a great, great, great film and it's definitely one of the best movies ever made.

tomgillespie2002 The giant frame of Paul Wegener as the Golem is one of the best known characters from the silent era, and one of the first icons of horror. Der Golem is actually the third film to feature the character, the first being The Golem (1915), and the second The Golem And The Dancing Girl (1917), which is a short comedy with Wegener donning the costume to frighten a girl he is in love with. Tragically, those two films are now considered lost, and only fragments equalling about 14 minutes of the first film remain. This film is actually a prequel, and it's full title is Der Golem: Wie Er In Die Welt Kam (How He Came Into The World), but is now commonly know as simply Der Golem.The Jews of medieval Prague face persecution from the townsfolk. Terrified of their doomed fate, Rabbi Loew (Albert Steinruck) uses his skills in black magic to create The Golem, a mythical figure from Jewish folklore. He is made entirely from clay, and has an amulet in his chest that gives him power, and when removed turns him back into lifeless clay. He is initially used as a servant, and then to terrify the townsfolk who are threatening them. The Golem eventually gets tired of being used as a tool of fear and begins to turn on his creator, and starts to lay waste to the Ghetto.Like the majority of films made in Weimar Germany, the film has an expressionist tone, with lavish, artistic sets that dominate the frame. Similar in feel to the great Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari, it is however more subtle in its artistic flair, and lacks Caligari's rickety (although wonderful in its own way) sets. It is also quite terrifying in its realisation of a segregation that would occur in the country only a decade later, although it does portray the Jews as vengeful and as studying the dark arts.The Golem itself is a great movie monster. Tragic in the same way as Frankenstein's monster, he is brought into the world without having asked to be, and is expected to carry out terrible acts against his will. Paul Wagener portrays him with all silent intensity and uncontrollable rage, with his towering frame sending his enemies running for the hills. He also impressively co-wrote and co-directed the film. This is an enjoyable film that breezes by in its rather slight running time, and can be forgiven for some over-acting and the occasional tedious scene. It also has some interesting social comments, and is a frightening prelude to one of the most horrific periods in Europe's history.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Polaris_DiB Once again a real appreciation for the importance and influence of a classic can be tempered a bit by its portrayal and themes. Paul Wegener's The Golem is a masterful expressionistic film with obvious influences on Frankenstein and other imagery that has subsisted throughout film history. It's well-directed, the editing is especially amazing for the time, the acting is great (the method has gone out of style and is sometimes mocked and mugged, but at the period it came out it was a very good way to get the point across), and a very precise use of color tinting adds dimensionality.And it's also antisemitic. There's just no denying it, like as to appreciating the narrative influence of Birth of a Nation while not being able to ignore its racism. At least the Jews in this movie are not so animalistic and cannibalistic as in Birth of a Nation, but here they are portrayed as blackmailing sorcerers tampering with natural laws unto their own destruction. If anything has aged and dated poorly in this movie, making it laughably kitsch. it's not the expressionistic acting, it's not the silent film, it's not the film techniques, it's the portrayal of Jews.However, at least the Golem itself is an interesting character. Wegener's acting and the suit, arguably silly looking but definitely clay-like and picturesquely animated by his movements, are really quite engaging, and the movements again are both immediately haunting and echo through to portrayals of Frankenstein, zombies, and other horror film monsters throughout history.It's still a worthwhile film. Just take it with a grain of salt.--PolarisDiB