The Golem

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Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (The Golem, How He Came Into The World) is a 1920 German silent horror film, co-written, co-directed, and starring Paul Wegener, about the origins of the Golem of Prague. It is one of the earliest and most influential Expressionist films and is considered a masterpiece of the German silent cinema. Wegener had produced two earlier films using the character, Der Golem (1915), a mostly lost film telling a somewhat similar story, and Der Golem und die Tänzerin (The Golem and the Dancing Girl) (1917), in which an actor (clearly Wegener playing an Expy of himself) puts on the make-up of his monster role as a prank on a dancing-girl whom he is interested in.

The film would influence later horror films profoundly, in particular James Whale's Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein (as, for instance, the monster's playing with an innocent little girl).

This film is in the public domain. It is currently available on YouTube here.

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The Golem, How He Came Into the World provides examples of:

• The Apprentice: The Famulus (As You Know, 'famulus' means 'apprentice').
• Artificial Human: Though in contrast to the source legend, the non-natural origin of the movie Golem is always obvious.
• Astro Babble: Some of the astrological instructions in the Rabbi's book ("When Uranus enters the house of the planets...") are nonsense (there is no "house of the planets").
• Bizarrchitecture: The Ghetto is a jumbled array of artificially crooked buildings.
• Blank Slate: The Golem.
• Celestial Deadline: The demon Astaroth can only be summoned when a certain astronomical configuration occurs. Another configuration is supposedly the reason for the Golem rebelling.
• Creating Life Is Bad ... or at least dangerous: "If you have brought the dead to life through magic, beware of that life."
• The Dandy: The foppish Knight Florian.
• The Dark Arts: The Rabbi is an all-arounder versed in Astrology, alchemy, and various kinds of Magic.
• Descending Ceiling: When the conjuring at the Emperor's palace goes awry.
• Dumb Muscle: The Golem. Demonstrated nicely when the Golem breaks the massive bar of the Ghetto gate to burst it open -- instead of just lifting it by the appropriate handle.
• The Emperor: Called Ludwig in the movie, a fictitious replacement for the real-life Rudolf II. Somewhat autocratic and unpredictable, but not really evil, though.
• Functional Magic: The Rabbi summons a demon, creates a Golem, conjures an illusion and magically stalls a fire.
• Gentle Giant: The Golem at the end, undergoing a (seemingly) spontaneous Heel Face Turn.
• Golem: Duh.
• How Do You Like Them Apples?: The little girl offers the Golem an apple.
• Language of Magic: Hebrew, apparently.
• Literal Genie: Implied -- the Golem follows orders, but little seems to grasp their sense.
• Load-Bearing Hero: The Golem's great moment.
• Love Triangle: Both Florian and the Famulus love -- or at least covet -- Miriam.
• Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Played with. The learned Rabbi's only child, beautiful Miriam, falls promptly in a forbidden love with the Christian knight Florian. However, Florian is not exactly a hero, and the romance is cut short by Florian's death. Also, the Rabbi is neither mad nor evil, even though his creation runs out of control.
• Mars Needs Women: The Golem appears momentarily enraptured by Miriam, but loses interest soon.
• Mundane Utility: The Rabbi claims that the Golem's aim is to save the Jews, but the first task we see that stupendous achievement of the occult arts do is chopping wood.
• Non-Malicious Monster: Even though the Rabbi's book purports that the Golem will inevitably turn evil, at closer watch he seems not so much evil but just misunderstood, clumsy, and unable to comprehend the world around him.
• Open Says Me: The Golem breaks open both the door to Miriam's room and in the end, the Ghetto gate.
• Pivotal Wakeup: Interestingly, the Golem does this when the Famulus wakes him (minus the coffin).
• Prequel: As the ending is ambiguous on whether the Golem gets destroyed or not, the movie can be seen as a prequel to Wegener's first Golem film.
• Reality Subtext: It's not too daring to assume the Golem mirrors the Jews' status as outsiders and their quest for societal acceptance.
• Red Herring Twist: The "romance" between Knight Florian and Miriam is more or less a deliberate misdirection of the audience's expectations.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: With his pointy hat and flowing robe, the Rabbi's appearance comes rather close to the textbook image of a wizard. He also has a different, even more magnificent hat specifically for summoning demons.
• Rooftop Confrontation: Between the Golem and Knight Florian.
• Shout-Out: Astaroth is Ars Goetia demon #29.
• Sliding Scale of Anti-Villains: The Golem is a type IV -- he is not actually evil, just dumb, misused, and resentful of being deactivated.
• Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot: The Famulus unwisely reviving the Golem.
• Speech Bubble: The magic word -- aemaet -- appears as a writing hovering in the air in front of the demon's mouth.
• The Speechless: The Golem, faithful to traditional Golem lore.
• Standard Royal Court: Complete with Requisite Royal Regalia, a Court Jester, and Knights In Shining Armor.
• Summoning Ritual: To conjure Astaroth. Magic Wand and Magical Gesturing required.
• Super Strength: The Golem again.
• Tomes Of Eldritch Lore: The books that teach the Rabbi how to create the Golem.
• Turned Against His Masters: The Golem does not like being deactivated.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The Rabbi never explained how the Golem was supposed to save the Jews, and the Golem eventually fulfilling this task appears more like a result of random events. This leaves room for three interpretations:
  • the Rabbi had no real plan in mind when he created the Golem;
  • the Rabbi knew that the Golem was destined by fate to somehow save the Jews; or
  • the Rabbi anticipated everything that would happen, including the Emperor wanting a magic show, and the court disregarding the Rabbi's warning to keep absolute silence. What speaks for the latter possibility is that the Golem during the magic show "accidentally" (or not) blocks the only exit from the throne room, preventing the court to flee and thus, gives the Rabbi opportunity to save the day.
• Urban Segregation: The Ghetto. The massive gate is always closed, and anyone passing in or out of the Ghetto is a cumbersome procedure each time. See Reality Subtext.
• What a Drag: Poor Miriam is dragged through the streets by her pigtails.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human? The Rabbi has no qualms about turning the Golem on and off at his will, and ultimately, destroying it. The Golem eventually takes offense at it.
• Wizard Beard: The Rabbi again. Also, his hair would pass as Einstein Hair, had the trope existed at the time.
• Words of Power: Aemaet.