Universum Film
Ever since I was a child, I’ve been a fan of horror movies. I grew up watching the classic Universal monsters usually on the local afternoon movie presentation that played after school (in my area it was ‘The 4 O’Clock Movie’). I saw some Hammer films there and Japanese kaiju films as well. I read Famous Monsters of Filmland, and my favorite book was an over-sized book all about classic horror films with images of Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, the Wolf Man and more. One of the images that always stuck with me was from the film The Golem, a man made from clay and brought to life. Back before the advent of home video, Turner Classics and 24-hour streaming services, there really was no way to see a movie unless your local TV station happened to play it. And if it was a silent film, you could forget seeing it on TV. It wasn’t until I could drive that I was able to go into the city to the ‘art cinema’ which played a wide variety of films on a dizzyingly rotating schedule. And it was wonderful. But … The Golem was that elusive film that never got a screening.
Reading more on the film, it started to become clear that perhaps I’d never get a chance to see the film as the original negative no longer existed, and what prints did exist were badly damaged, deteriorated and edited far beyond what the director originally intended. I felt that I was just going to have to settle for the few stills that existed as my only exposure to The Golem. And then … Kino Lorber comes along and makes my dream come true by releasing a beautifully restored version of the film from the best existing elements and as close to director and star Paul Wegener’s vision as possible.
If you’re unfamiliar with the story of The Golem — and let’s be honest, there aren’t a whole lot of people out there who have an inkling of this 100 year old silent film — it’s based on a Hebrew legend, set in 16th century Prague, under the tyrannical rule of Rudolf II.
A Talmudic rabbi sees a prophecy in the stars that a great disaster is about to befall them, so he creates a man from clay, a golem, to protect his people, invoking the spirits to reveal to him the mystical word that will bring the creature to life. The Rbbi’s assistant used the Golem for his own personal gain which leads to the creature running amok, abducting the Rabbi’s daughter and setting fire to the town before the rampage ends. If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because the legend has been widely recognized as the source for the Frankenstein myth. So was the wait of 40+ years, in my case, worth it?
REVIEW
I wouldn’t really call The Golem a horror film. No one really seems to be that terrified of a large clay man roaming the streets. It may have the element of horror of bringing something inanimate to life, but even then it’s more fantastical than frightening especially during the scene in which the Rabbi and his assistant invoke the spirits to reveal the word that will bring the Golem to life. That sequence alone is an amazing feat of special effects wizardry that is worth the price. There is also a scene of near disaster that is also impressive to behold. As for the acting, as is the case with most silent films, the cast vamps it up a plays very broadly ‘to the back row’ as they say, as if this were a live stage production. There are a few subtleties and nuances, and Wegener makes the most with his expressive face and body language in a role without dialogue or emoting. Wegener’s direction is impressive as well, an example of the 1920’s Expressionism movement in German cinema (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was also released in 1920, followed by Nosferatu in 1922). Seeing the film for the first time 100 years after it was first released makes one wonder at the grand scale and spectacle that was achieved at that time.
VIDEO
The video presentation of The Golem is spectacular. Wegener shot the film from two different angles and elements from both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ version exist and the best elements from each were used to assemble a film as closely resembling Wegener’s original as possible, which was made even more difficult as the ‘A’ negative was the considerably shortened 1921 US release. With the shortened ‘A’ negative preserved at the George Eastman House, missing shots from the German original were inserted from the preserved ‘B’ negative held by the Cinémathèque Française. Most of the original intertitles survive in the ‘A’ print with additional titles coming from Gosfilmofond of Russia, and the main title sequence coming from the Museum of Modern Art. Missing intertitles were derived from original censor records and are presented in the video with a neutral font to distinguish them from the original elements. The film is also color tinted as closely to the original version based on an Italian distribution print from the Fondazione Cineteca Italiana.
The opening blue-tinted nighttime scene with the starry background is simply breathtaking. Different color tinting is used for various scenes from a green tint for the interior of the Rabbi’s home to a rose tint for the palace of Rudolf II. The image itself is spotless without a grain of dust or any noticeable scratches, quite a remarkable presentation for a film of this vintage and history of edits. This video presentation is probably the best the film has ever looked.
AUDIO
The Blu-ray contains four audio tracks, three of which feature music scored for the film. The first by Stephen Horne is a more traditional sounding silent film score and may be the preferred listening experience. The second track by Admir Shkurtaj is a bit too ‘experimental’ and abstract for my tastes. The third by Lukasc ‘Wudec’ Poleszak is a bit more modern but I enjoyed some of the more ominous tones of this one. The fourth track is an audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas, who offers quite a bit of insight into the making of the film, interjecting commentary on what’s taking place on screen with subjects that may or may not be relevant such as the ‘possible’ influence of The Golem on Stan Lee when creating The Hulk and Iron Man, both of which began as hulking grey creatures. It is an informative and interesting track even if it does tend to wander off topic from time to time.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Comparison of German and US release versions (22:16) – A side-by-side comparison of selected scenes from the film demonstrating how two cameras were used at the time of production to create one version of the film for the German market and a second for international release. The left image shows the highly contrasty US version, which obliterates a lot of detail seen in the restoration, with different camera angles than the right image which is from the restored German release. Tim Lucas also provides commentary and context.
- US release version (59:49) – An unrestored US version of the film from the George Eastman House archives which is about 15 minutes shorter than the German restoration, with no color tinting. It features a score by Cordula Heth.
OVERVIEW
The restoration of The Golem really brings a new life to the film and certainly sheds a light on why film preservation is so important. It’s a fascinating film to watch a century after it was first made — even that in itself is a mind-boggling thing to consider — and seeing it in such pristine condition is breathtaking. The addition of the different soundtracks, the audio commentary, the US version and the comparisons between the two is more than enough added value for a film of this vintage. Viewers will certainly see the connections to Universal’s Frankenstein, which was obviously influenced by German expressionism, but also to the visual style of Dracula, as both that film and The Golem share the same cinematographer, Karl Freund. Any fan of classic silent films or just film as an art form should not hesitate to add Kino Lorber’s The Golem to their collection.
Kino Lorber generously provided Hotchka with the Blu-ray for reviewing purposes.
The Golem (German release) has a running time of 1 hour 15 minutes and is not rated.
Universum Film
Share this post
