The Golem: How He Came Into the World (1920)

The Golem: How He Came into the World (original German title: Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam) is a 1920 silent horror film co-directed by and starring Paul Wegener. The picture was directed by Carl Boese and Wegener, written by Wegener and Henrik Galeen, and stars Wegener as the golem. The script was adapted from the 1915 novel The Golem by Gustav Meyrink. The film was the third of three films that Wegener made featuring the golem, the other two being The Golem (1915) and the short comedy The Golem and the Dancing Girl (1917), in which Wegener dons the Golem make-up in order to frighten a young lady he is infatuated with. It is a prequel to The Golem and is the best known of the series, largely because it is the only one of the three films that has not been lost. One of the early horror films, the film was sensational upon its release and has left a lasting legacy within the movie industry, alongside another early German expressionist horror film, The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, also released in 1920.

Synopsis

Set in Jewish ghetto of medieval Prague, the film begins with Rabbi Loew, the head of the city's Jewish community, reading the stars. Loew predicts disaster for his people and brings his assistant to inform the elders of the community. The next day the Holy Roman Emperor signs a royal decree declaring that the Jews must leave the city before the new moon. The Emperor sends the knight Florian to deliver the decree. Loew meanwhile begins to devise a way of defending the Jews.

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