The Golem (film)
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| The Golem | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Paul Wegener Henrik Galeen |
| Produced by | Hanns Lippmann |
| Starring | Paul Wegener Rudolf Blümner Carl Ebert Henrik Galeen Lyda Salmonova |
| Release date(s) | January 15, 1915 |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Country |  Germany |
| Language | German |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Golem (original German name Der Golem, also known as The Monster of Fate) is a 1915 silent horror directed and written by Paul Wegener and Henrik Galeen. The film is based on the book The Golem by Gustav Meyrink, who is also credited as a writer for the film. The film is an early example of the German Expressionism school of filmmaking. It was seminal in the development of the horror film genre.
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[edit] Plot
In the modern times, an antique dealer (Henrik Galeen) finds a golem (Paul Wegener), a clay statue brought to life by a Rabbi four centuries earlier. The dealer resurrects the golem to use him as a servant, but the golem falls in love with the dealer's wife. As she does not return his love, the golem turns to a series of murders.
[edit] Other versions
Paul Wegener filmed three versions of the golem story, this 1915 film being the first. The series also includes:
- 1917 - The Golem and the Dancing Girl (Der Golem und die Tänzerin) is a comedy. Paul Wegener plays himself, as the actor of The Golem (1915). After seeing his 1915 movie in a cinema, Paul Wegener puts on the golem costume and goes to the hotel room of a dancer to seduce her.
- 1920 - The Golem: How He Came Into the World (Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam) is a horror prequel by Carl Boese and Paul Wegener dealing with the creation of the golem in the 16th century. This is the best known version of the film. Architect Hans Poelzig designed the sets.
The 1915 version of the film was lost until a print was found in the collection of a private owner[1].
A sequel to the Wegeners´s film has been made in France by Julien Duvivier:
- 1936 - Le Golem, France-Czechoslovakia, dir. Julien Duvivier, with Harry Baur and Germaine Aussey
[edit] Trivia
The film was parodied in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XVII with Richard Lewis as the voice of the Golem.
[edit] External links
- The Golem at the Internet Movie Database
- The Golem and the Dancing Girl at the Internet Movie Database
- The Golem: How He Came Into the World at the Internet Movie Database
- The Golem (1920). Retrieved on December 29, 2005. - free download from Internet Archive(broken link..)
- Filmschatten - The Golem: How He Came Into The World (1920) film online
