The Golem | Rotten Tomatoes

The Golem

1920

1h 31m

Horror

List

100%

32 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

In 16th century Prague, Rabbi Loew (Albert Steinruck) interprets an alignment of stars as a sign that disaster is about to befall the city's Jews. The following day, Emperor Luhois (Otto Gebühr) bans Loew's people from Prague, prompting the rabbi to build a statue, known as the Golem (Paul Wegener), that he hopes to animate as a savior. Brought to life by an evil spirit, Astaroth, the creature is, at first, gentle and compassionate. That, however, quickly changes as the creature goes insane.

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Matthew B

The Golem was arguably one of the first truly cinematic movies, where story, sets, camerawork and direction were all integrated together to create a fully cohesive story. The images may seem flickering and grainy now, but there is still something compelling and awe-inspiring about them. An early example of cinematic German Expressionism, the movie makes effective use of light and shadow to build atmosphere, and this is enhanced by the fantastical sets. The angles and buildings are crooked. An early image of stars and buildings is shot eerily, making it look like the shadow of a creature. The film's influence over later cinema is overlooked, since many of its imitators had not seen the original movie, and were choosing instead to take their ideas from other movies that had been influenced by The Golem. Certainly Paul Wegener's movie must have been one of the first to introduce filmgoers to images that would soon become familiar – the monster who carries off the girl in his arms, and the monster who is disarmed by an innocent child. The standing of The Golem is not as high as a number of other German horror movies of the time, such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari or Nosferatu. However it is a film that will be remembered by anyone who wishes to study silent cinema, and its images continued to stay with me long after watching it. I wrote a longer appreciation of The Golem on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2018/06/10/the-golem-1920/

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

08/24/23

Full Review

Monsol E

Absolutely fantastic! A great monster movie to watch, even over a century later.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Alvise F

I saw this film restored and scored with original music performed live during the Pre-opening event of the 75th Venice International Film Festival and I was literally astonished by the grotesque expressiveness of "The Golem". Cupafon, cellos and electronic instruments such as synthesizers helped to increase the creepiness and frightened the audience almost a hundred years after Wegener's work was made.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/22/22

Full Review

Audience Member

When I was in Prague, I visited an alchemical museum where the tour guide told us the story of the golem. This is an adaption of that story. While not particularly scary, the film contains a lot of DNA that later Frankenstein films would seize upon, such as the way it makes you empathize with the monster who begins to gain consciousness of itself. The monster is only on a rampage because he wants to hold onto the life he has been given. scene where he smells the flower and holds the child are aching and powerful. It has great music. The social attitudes are certainly outdated; the main female character does nothing but swoon and scream, and the Jews are portrayed in a way that adheres to anti-semitic stereotypes, which is very troubling considering what would occur in Germany two decades later.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Henrik Galeen has a striking face and adds intensity to the Golem. A perfect character to represent this era. The story is a little slow

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

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Audience Member

Well, first of all, there aren't too many screams, but this Expressionistic film featured Paul Wegener (pronounced: Vayg-en-nar) both as the Golem and as co-director. The director of photography was Karl Freund, who would go to Hollywood to film so many classic movies, including Dracula and The Mummy (which he also directed). There were two other Golem films that Wegener made, but both are lost, except for brief portions of The Golem from 1915. Wegener appeared in many films with horror overtones, including one in Hollywood (The Magician), and the 1932 remake of Unheimliche Geschichten. Later, he became an actor of the Nazi state and appeared in propaganda films. However, he donated money to anti-Nazi resistance groups and even hid vulnerable individuals in his apartment. At the end of World War II, he helped in the rebuilding of Berlin. He was married six times, but his third (and also sixth) wife was Lyda Salmonova, who played the daughter of Rabbi Loew in this film. His fourth wife was Greta Schroder, who would be the female lead of Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens. She also appeared in this film as one of the ladies of the court of the Emperor. The Golem: How He Came Into the World was shot at Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. It is extremely well-photographed, hinting at Karl Freund's future work.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Carl Boese

Director

Paul Wegener

Director

Paul Wegener

Der Golem

Albert Steinruck

Der Rabbi Löw

Ernst Deutsch

Der Rabbi Famulus

Lydia Salmonova

Miriam

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Perceval F. Reniers

New York Post

Wegener is the Golem, and he is uncanny in the suggestion of the supernatural in his face and movements.

Oct 13, 2020

Full Review

Joshua Lowe

Variety

The production is an impressively dignified one and the scenes of medieval limes are well visualized, with some magnificent mob scenes. The cast has been carefully selected with a view to the depiction of ancient types and are all excellent.

Oct 13, 2020

Full Review

NYT Staff

New York Times

Fascinating, exciting to the imagination, and yet so unfamiliar in all of its aspects that it always seems remote, elusive even, when one would like to get closer to its meaning.

Oct 13, 2020

Full Review

Carl Sandburg

Chicago Daily News

The art, the play spirit, the mummery, craft and workmanship which lie back of the production of The Golem are of the stuff out of which the future of the movies is to root and establish a cinema art surpassing that of the present hour.

Mar 28, 2022

Full Review

Robert E. Sherwood

LIFE

It is a stark, brutal drama, enacted with terrific vigor, against backgrounds that are considerably more coherent than those in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and, for the most part, much more skilfully composed.

Oct 5, 2021

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Harriette Underhill

New York Tribune

Paul Wegener directed the picture, and he also play the title role and it is a marvelous piece of work. The story is beautifully done.

Oct 13, 2020

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Synopsis

In 16th century Prague, Rabbi Loew (Albert Steinruck) interprets an alignment of stars as a sign that disaster is about to befall the city's Jews. The following day, Emperor Luhois (Otto Gebühr) bans Loew's people from Prague, prompting the rabbi to build a statue, known as the Golem (Paul Wegener), that he hopes to animate as a savior. Brought to life by an evil spirit, Astaroth, the creature is, at first, gentle and compassionate. That, however, quickly changes as the creature goes insane.

Director: Carl Boese, Paul Wegener
Screenwriter: Henrik Galeen, Paul Wegener
Genre: Horror
Runtime: 1h 31m

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