06 December 2012

The Golem, or How He Came Into the World (Carl Boese & Paul Wegener, 1920)

7.5/10
I randomly downloaded this 1920 silent film from Paul Weneger years ago, and for some reason decided to watch it a couple of nights ago. It was pretty cool. It tells the story of a village elder/sorcerer in a Jewish ghetto in Poland who, reading the stars, foretells an impending disaster for the Jews. The sorcerer builds a golem out of clay in response, and various misadventures occur. It's interesting as an early example of horror, and some of the sets/towns/buildings look brilliantly gothic. The copy I watched was colored so certain scenes were "painted" a certain color (the sorcerer's lab is green, the town is yellow, blue at night, etc). Pretty neat all told.

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