The Golem (Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam, 1920)
To be honest, I approached The Golem: How He Came into the World (Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam, 1920) with some trepidation. From my early grade school days, I was fascinated with monsters. I used to pour through horror movie reference books at my local library, so I was very familiar with still images of the man-made clay creature. However, up until now, the actual film eluded me. I feared that it would be a museum piece—more like homework than actual entertainment. Still, when Kino Lorber announced that they would release a Blu-ray of the 4K restoration of the film, I felt it was my duty as a movie lover to finally give The Golem a chance. Happily, my fears were completely unfounded. The Golem is a fantastic film that plays as well for audiences today as it must have in 1920.
The story begins with a star-filled night sky over ancient Prague, as Rabbi Loew (Albert Steinrück) scans the firmament for portents of things to come. The Rabbi reads calamity for the Jewish people in the heavens, so he builds a Golem, a clay giant (director Paul Wegener in an impressive costume), to serve as their protector. The next day the Emperor sends Florian (Lothar Müthel), a foppish knight, to order the Jews to leave the city before the new moon. Florian delivers the message, but he’s more interested in eying up the Rabbi’s horny daughter (Lyda Salmonova). Through a dark magic ritual, the Rabbi, induces the demon Astaroth to reveal a mystical word that will bring his creation to life. The spell succeeds, and the animated Golem serves as a loyal servant… until he doesn’t. Had the Rabbi read ahead in his spell book, he would have discovered that when the stars realign, Astaroth will possess the Golem and induce it to attack its masters.
The film, conceived and directed by early horror auteur Paul Wegener, is a silent cinema masterpiece. It displays the very heights of storytelling circa 1920, and the narrative (based on Jewish legend and not on the novel by Gustav Meyrink, as is often erroneously listed) was to prove extremely influential on future horror films. Aspects of the story, such as the Golem’s fondness for children and the way the Rabbi’s assistant (The Third Man’s Ernst Deutsch) takes advantage of the monster, directly anticipate scenes in James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931). There is also a bit of King Kong (1933) in the monster’s attraction to the Rabbi’s daughter.
The technical aspects of the production, handled by assistant director Carl Boese, are also top notch for the time. Wegener didn’t want the architecture to resemble anything in real life, and set designer Hans Poelzig obliged with weird interiors, modeled after human organs. The costumes by Rochus Gliese, are also beautifully weird, including the costume for the Golem himself, which would not look out of place in The Wizard of Oz. Finally, the cinematography by future director Karl Freund and the uncredited special effects are masterfully inventive.
Don’t let the fact that The Golem: How He Came into the World is 100 years old keep you from experiencing this phenomenal film. It is a masterpiece of early cinema, and Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray is one of the best discs of the year.
Germany/B&W-79m./Dir: Paul Wegener (with assistance by Carl Boese)/Wr: Paul Wegener and Henrik Galeen/Cast: Paul Wegener, Albert Steinrück, Lyda Salmonova, Ernst Deutsch, Lothar Müthel, Otto Gebühr, Hans Stürm, Max Kronert, Greta Schröder, Loni Nest, Fritz Feld
For Fans of: If you love silent horror movies, such as Nosferatu (1922), or if you like early Frankenstein films, you’ll likely love this silent cinema masterpiece.
Video: Kino Lorber will release the 4K restoration of The Golem: How He Came into the World on Blu-ray on April 14th under their Kino Classics imprint. The restoration was performed by the F.W. Murnau Foundation in 2018 from the best available surviving elements.
There is no definitive version of the film. Multiple cameras filmed the action at different angles and the different negatives were used for the German version versus international releases. Most of the footage for this new restoration comes from what the technicians are calling the “A Negative,” and it is remarkably sharp, vibrant, and largely undamaged. Occasionally, a fragment that is missing from the “A Negative” is replaced with inferior elements, but overall the film looks amazingly good for a title that has just reached 100 years old.
The footage is tinted, as it would have been during its original release. The colors are quite beautiful, and they match the story elements (blue for night scenes, yellow for outdoor daylight, orange during a blazing fire). It should be noted that the tints never affect the clarity of the image.
You have your choice of three musical scores to accompany the film, which is a nice option. However, I found no reason to stray from the default score from Stephen Horne, which is very effective.
Special Features:
- 4K restoration of the German release version, with three musical scores
- Music by Stephen Horne
- Music by Admir Shkurtai
- Music by Lukasz “Wudec” Poleszak
- Audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas — This commentary is exceptionally well-researched and touches on the production of the film, themes within it, and the lasting influence it had on popular culture, as well as background on the filmmakers, actors, and the restoration.
- Alternate U.S. release version, with music by Cordula Heth
- Comparison of German and U.S. release versions
Streaming: At the time of this review, The Golem: How He Came into the World is streaming as part of a German Expressionism collection on The Criterion Channel.
More to Explore: If you want to explore more silent horror cinema, I recommend Nosferatu (1922), Haxan (1922), and The Man Who Laughs (1928). Of course, if you want more man-made monster meyhem, all of the classic Black & White Universal Frankenstein films are collected in the Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection Blu-ray set.
Trivia: The Golem: How He Came into the World (Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam, 1920) was actually the third Golem-themed film produced by director Paul Wegener. The first was the 1915 feature The Golem, of which only a few minutes of footage survive. That was followed by the short comedy The Golem and the Dancing Girl (1917), which is completely lost.
For More Info: The film work of Paul Wegener has been covered in Many Selves: The Horror and Fantasy Films of Paul Wegener by Henry Nicolella and John T. Soister. For information on silent horror cinema as a whole, check out Silent Screams: The History of the Silent Horror Film by Steve Haberman and Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era by Christopher Workman and Troy Howarth.
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