Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Connianatu How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

ironhorse_iv Yes this movie is precursor to the amazing 1931 Frankenstein. Everything you love about Frankenstein; first came from this movie. The way that Paul Wegener as the Golem move is similar to Boris Karloff's monster. The way, the clay monster is unsure what to do with the child is the same as Frankenstein's monster when meeting the girl at the lake. There are countless influences from the Golem that help how James Whale's Frankenstein's monster come alive on film. Even the old Golem Jewish legend would be used by Mary Shelley in her novel, Frankenstein. Paul Wegener was great in the role. His great facial expressions, Paul use is just awesome. The costume may looks funny because it looks like something that the star burst berries and cream little lad would wear, but Paul Wegener makes the Dutch-boy look scary with his astonishing make up. In my opinion, the Golem with its' forehead is written the Jewish word EMETH, which means "truth" looks scarier than this. The film was the last of three films about the Golem that Wegener made. It's the only one of three movies not to be lost due to time. The other two movies are The Golem (1915) and the short comedy The Golem and the Dancing Girl (1917), in which Wegener dons the Golem make-up in order to frighten a young lady he is infatuated with. This movie is a prequel to The Golem and is the best known of the series. This silent horror film by Paul Wegener serves as a great example of German Expressionism. German cinema was amazing in those silent era times with such hits like Nosferatu, Caligari, and the Golem is no exception! The Golem works well as a silence film character. The story goes like this, in 16th-century Prague, Jewish Rabbi Loew (Albert Steinruck) creates a giant creature from clay, called the Golem, and using sorcery, brings the creature to life in order to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution from the Holy Roman Emperor. However, the rabbi's assistant, Famulus (Ernst Deutsch) takes control of the golem and sends it forth to do his nefarious bidding, which includes abducting the beautiful Miriam (Lyda Salmonova), the Rabbi's beloved daughter. So the creature turns against its creator, and become loose in the city creating havoc. The script was adapted from the 1915 novel The Golem by Gustav Meyrink. That novel is based on Jewish folklore based on real-life person of Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late-16th-century rabbi of Prague who is believed to have made a real-life golem at the time. I love the flickering images, the "Brandenburg Concerto" soundtrack, and the film's angular sets I like the newer DVD version, that had the newly composed soundtrack by Aljoscha Zimmermann incorporates Jewish melodies with folk dance material and is very actual. Here are the faults of the film. First off, the name is 'Golem' which means in Modern Hebrew as dumb or helpless. It's doesn't have that ringing of powerful creature. I miss the old bible meaning of 'my unshaped form', which makes more sense than the Modern Hebrew or Yiddish meaning. The film ending is a bit disappointing. Who knew a little girl can do that to a powerful monster? Even the restored print of the film, there are some cracks and imperfections still there. As a result, brightness varies moment to moment and the edges of the screen are generally quite muddy. The movie is a bit anti-Semitic, while it's somewhat portray the Jewish right, it's kinda doesn't. While they don't portray these characters are big-nosed money-grubbing Shylocks, but they do portray them as Wizards and witches that practicing the black arts, hints why the Emperor wanted the eviction of the ghetto Jews. Just think about this: this movie is made in 1920 Germany after it's defeat in 1918 in WWII. It's foreshadow a lot of what will happen in less than 15 years later. It is said that the house having that Golem was boarded up. Also that when Hitler invaded Prague, he ordered that that house be left alone. And, that it is still boarded up today. Something scared the people back then. Overall: for any silent era horror fan, it's a must watch. If not a silent era fan, it's not too hard to watch. It's very interesting. If the story doesn't get you, the music will. Give it a try as well.

valbrazon I watched it because the design and the story seemed to be nice, i wasn't disappointed about that. You can be sure when you watch this film, to see a beautiful golem and decorations. The others characters are also great, mostly Lyda Salmonova with her role of the Rabbi's daughter. I was also impressed by the soundtrack which fit nice with the pictures. The ending was pretty sad but it's how the movie finish and there were no alternative ending at this time. The directors aren't famous and "The Golem" is their only famous film, it's a bit sad because it's a nice movie. The theme of the Golem already have been done in cinema twice before this movie, an lost film released in 1915 and a comedy in 197 named "The Golem and the dancer".

poe426 Most of what we see here we saw first in DER GOLEM, the initial entry in this series ("History's first horror series!"). That's not a criticism, per se, just an observation. The true marvel of this movie (aside from the Golem himself, of course) is the fidelity to the illustrations in the book: the sets are literally three-dimensional representations of the artwork therein. For those who feel that the tale here told is almost prescient, consider this cold, hard fact: the Nachtmare to come might not have occurred at all without the anti-semitism festering in this country during the early part of the 20th century. I refer those interested to the book THE NAZI NEXUS. As for this movie, see it for the stunning sets if nothing else.

Karl Self Imagine shooting a feature-length horror movie with the camera built into your mobile phone. Now imagine disabling sound and colour on your phonecam, only being able to shoot a few seconds at a time, each minute costing a small fortune in recording material, imagine that phonecam being large and unwieldy and kind of knackered so that the already low-resolution image is flickery and erratically exposed, and it plays back too fast so that people look like wound-up dolls. It also exposes blueish light more than reddish light, so each shoot is unpredictable, but of course you'll only know that the next day when the film has been processed.Welcome to movie-making in the year 1920 AD.Now go shoot a masterpiece that will still be watched, talked about and revered in a hundred years.I watched this out of historic interest and expected to be colossally bored. But far from it, this is actually a gripping horror flick, and one with a deep side to it to boot. The Golem himself is an immensely scary horror figure en par with Freddy Kruger or the Alien, kind of a proto-Frankenstein's monster -- and he's actually played by director Paul Wegener himself!. I'd like to know how they made his eyes so scary.Anyway, what can I say, a stupendous film. Watch it from the edge of your seat.