The Golem; How He Came Into the World Review
Paul Wegener Directs in this Silent-Era Masterpiece
Nov 3, 2008
In 16th century Prague the learned Rabbi Loew (Albert Steinruck) reads in the stars that misfortune threatens the Jews. The following day it is decreed by Emperor Rudolf II (Otto Gebuhr) that the Jewish population of Prague must leave, as they practice black magic and despise holy Christian ceremonies.
The edict is delivered in the ghetto by the knight Florian (Lothar Muthel), while Rabbi Loew constructs the clay Golem and ponders over volumes in a bid to contact the dread spirit of Astaroth and compel him to reveal a magic word that would bring it to life. Only then would the Jews be saved.
Before that, Loew meets with Florian to implore an audience with the Emperor. Loew’s daughter Miriam (Lyda Salmonova) and the knight Florian are meanwhile beguiled by each other.
That night, Loew and his assistant, Rabbi Famulus (Ernst Deutsch), summon Astaroth and are given the word of life: Aemaet. The Golem is soon animated and taken by Loew to the Rose festival on the Emperor’s acceptance of an audience.
When a magical display at the castle goes wrong and the roof threatens to crush all in attendance, the Golem saves the crowd and earns the Jews their pardon. His task complete, Loew later removes the pentagram that bears the word of life from Golem’s chest, but when Rabbi Famulus learns that Miriam – who he desires for himself – has spent the night with Florian in a secret tryst, he replaces the pentagram and orders Golem to seize the knight, unaware that the brute will soon be rampaging through the streets.
The Golem Summary
The Golem is based on a Jewish legend about a clay figure that is given life to serve as protector of the Jews of Prague in 1580. It was amongst the first of German Expressionist films made at the time and this in particular casts a very real shadow given the anti-semitic message on which the story is based and the political rise of Nazi Germany after the first World War.
As a film, The Golem is astonishing for it’s era. Two previous classics covered here – Frankenstein (1910) and The Wolf Man (1941) – make for interesting comparisons. On the one hand is seen how far films have come in just a decade from the 9-scene Frankenstein to this feature-length production, while Universal’s Wolf Man, despite two decades of enhanced photographic technology and, of course, sound, is simple and cheap in the creative stakes when placed alongside The Golem.
This film was decades ahead of it’s time, with subtleties in the story-telling that many modern films fail to use. A huge cast of extras – outfitted in periodic costumes – and incredible sets, which portray the distorted vision of a shadow-ridden Prague, may be along the standards for many German Expressionist films, but is vastly superior to Hollywood’s usual fare over the next three decades.
There are also some well accomplished special effects in the summoning of Astaroth, when a circle of fire is created and the beastly head of the demon speaks the word Aemaet by the smoke pouring from it’s mouth.
The music by Mark Rubin is also a great asset to the film, as is the photographic work of Karl Freund, who would also work on Fritz Lang's Metropolis and F.W. Murnau's The Last Laugh.
There are several minor points in which the film strays from the original legend, namely in the use of the animating word Aemaet and the eventual deactivation of the Golem (where the word without ‘Ae’ becomes Maet, meaning death), but this is easily forgiven.
The Golem Director Paul Wegener (1874-1948)
Wegener made his acting debut in the 1913 film The Student of Prague, only afterward turning his hand to writing and directing.
He would make three versions of the Golem legend, one in 1915 and a parody in 1917 called The Golem and the Dancer. Though there are no existing copies of these first two versions, it is undoubtedly his third in 1920 that was his masterpiece.
The film is often credited with the additional direction of Carl Boese, most likely because Wegener himself appears in the film as the Golem. His performance pre-empts those of Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Jr and Boris Karloff, who all later appeared as incarnations of Frankenstein’s monster.
The Golem Cast
Albert Steinrück had a distinguished career in films, starting in 1910 and ending in 1930, having died in 1929. His role as Rabbi Loew is perfectly suited and he carries much of the film extremely well, offering a wide display of the visual posturing that was so necessary for this era.
Lyda Salmonova – who would twice marry director Paul Wegener – has less required of her, spending most of the first hour looking dainty, smiling and posing demurely, braiding her long hair. Only later is her role expanded to include her passion for the knight Florian and apprehension-turn-horror at the hands of the Golem.
The Czech actress is credited with having appeared in the original Golem of 1915 as well as several of Wegener’s other films, including The Student of Prague. Despite the frequently limited roles of women in early films, she nevertheless brings a certain charisma to the part and would build a successful career through the silent era.
Other roles are more limited; the effeminate knight Florian is adequately filled by Lothar Müthel, as is that of the ‘Emperor’ (put in parenthesis because, as french philospher Voltaire famously suggested, the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire).
The most notable part besides that of Loew, the Golem, and Miriam, is that of Ernst Deutsch, who gives the character of Rabbi Famulus a brilliantly creepy, Mephistophelian posture and cunning.
* * * * *
For more on German Expressionist films, read Here from the Foreign section and click Here to watch the movie online.
- Producer: Paul Davidson
- Director: Paul Wegener
- Screenplay: Paul Wenger and Henrik Galeen
- Starring: Albert Steinrück, Lyda Salmonova, Paul Wegener, Ernst Deutsch
- Released: 1920 by Rubinchik Recordings
- Running Time: 100 mins approx.
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