The Golem (1920) Reviews

This might be one of those films which you watch as a completist, and nothing more. The Golem has a fantastic makeup job and a few standout sequences, but everything in-between is just painfully dull.

Other than Paul Wegener’s performance as the titular character, The Golem is filled to the brim with bad acting, the kind that makes people wary of silent films. Lyda Salmonova in particular seems half asleep much of the time, which I guess was supposed to suggest her being drunk on lust and erotic awakenings, but she just looks like she swallowed a Tylenol PM and is about to crash.

The sets and cinematography are first rate, but they’re not in the service of a great or interesting story. The film has a great setup, but then it quickly veers into a love triangle and unintentionally hilarious sequences of the Golem going about the town and running errands. I thought this was a creature brought to life to help protect the Jews, and instead he’s awkwardly buying groceries in a scene that goes on for way too long. Wegener’s makeup and costuming sell the illusion that this is a creature made from clay and brought to life through the dark arts, but the creature, and the film, never make much use of this nightmarish aspect until far late in the film, and by that time it doesn’t matter.

The only images which linger in my head are the ones in which the film cuts loose and embraces the more occult and pagan elements of the story. The fire, smoke and floating demonic head used to bring to life the Golem are employed effectively and creepily. If more of the film had embraced this energy and spirit, I would have loved it. But The Golem uses these maze-like sets, expressionistic cinematography, and a monster to tell a story of domestic squabbles and a melodramatic love triangle. Once the monster is allowed to run amok and cause mass havoc, he’s taken down by a playful child removing his Star of David power source.

If it sounds anti-climatic, yes, it completely is. The fits and starts of the plot are maddening, but, of course, it couldn’t merge its disparate elements together for a coherent ending. True love has to win in the end, even if that was never the most interesting aspect of the story. Or even the driving force. If the film had gotten in deeper touch with the mysticism at the root of the story, or done more with the demonic force that animates the Golem, it could have been great. It’s a decent enough introduction to Germany’s wealth of silent horror films but it’s no match for the haunting poetry of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

An excellent silent film made in Germany and making great use of the expressionist style of filmmaking from that era. Made by the same studio that produced The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari that same year. It was one of the first "monster" movies as well. This movie was a huge influence on James Whale when he made Frankenstein in 1931. It involves a Jewish community being persecuted by Christians. The Jewish rabbi uses "black magic" to bring a clay statue to life in order to protect them from the Christian emperor. The cinematographer, Karl Freund, would go on to lens Fritz Lang's Metropolis in 1927 and Tod Browning's Dracula in 1931; and in the 50's he was the director of photography for the "I Love Lucy" show.