The Golem (also known by the name The Golem: How He Came Into the World) tells the story of the struggling Jewish community in Prague as their very existence is threatened. As the tight-knit community contemplates what needs to be done in order to save themselves, Rabbi Loew (Albert Steinrück) summons a clay creature known simply as “The Golem” in order to save them. However, as the creature comes to life he promises to cause more issues than they had intended, and Rabbi Loew and his closest confidants must do all they can to save their people.
The Jewish folklore regarding The Golem dates back to the 16th century, pre-dating Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein meaning that it’s likely an inspiration for the 1818 horror novel. The history of this folklore alone is enough to provide it merritt, but having influence on one of the greatest pieces of British literature makes it all the more important in the history of both literature and film. While the film itself may fail to entertain modern audiences, it’s clear that the impression that Frankenstein has made on the world is somewhat derived from this story, making it immensely more interesting. There is a solid history that lies behind The Golem and that history alone adds a dimension to the film, allowing it to entertain some niche groups of individuals.
With a great amount of downtime and a series of unnecessary content, The Golem struggles to entertain for the better part of an hour, but somewhere around the one hour mark, the clay creature begins his reign of treachery and the audience understands that all of the build up is worth it. In the 2020’s the horror aspect of The Golem is lost to a degree, but it’s obvious that there is value in what was done here in the 1920’s. Without a shadow of a doubt the monster would have frightened viewers, and the terror that Directors Carl Boese and Paul Wegener had hoped for plays out nicely.
The Golem is completely without spoken dialogue, and relies heavily (and I do not use this term lightly) on on-screen text to help deliver the story and establish the context of what is transpiring. This should be helpful and add to the thrills, the horror, and the understanding of the film as a whole, but the issue is that this on-screen text is used entirely too much. Just as The Golem begins to establish some rhythm the entire screen fills with text, breaking up the cohesion that had slowly been developing, taking away from the plot, the characters, and the potential horror. In these moments the film falls flat, and it’s simply as a result of Boese and Wegener being overzealous with the text and not allowing their film to develop as needed.
The Golem is not a film that has stood the test of time. The scare factor that would have been there one-hundred years ago has all but vanished, and the fact that it has been in public domain for so long has caused the quality of the film to diminish as well (while this is obviously not a fault of the filmmakers, it takes away from the product nonetheless). The Golem, however, possesses solid cinematography, unique, but effective acting, and a story that is sure to entertain. While the film can’t hope to entertain the way it did when it was first released, there is value in the valiant effort put forth by Boese, Wegener, and the rest of the cast and crew.
Directed by Carl Boese & Paul Wegener.
Written by Henrik Galeen & Paul Wegener.
Starring Paul Wegener, Albert Steinrück, Lyda Salmonova, Ernst Deutsch, Hans Stürm, Max Kronert, Otto Gebühr, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
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