The Golem (1920) REVIEW

Another silent expressionist flick! “The Golem or How He Came into the World” was released in 1920, the same year as “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”. It was co-directed and starred by german pioneer film maker Paul Wegener. He portrays a monster-man of clay brought to life by a rabbi to defend the Jews from trouble in medieval Prague.

 This was not the first time Wegener put on the role of the Golem, as this is the third installment in a trilogy featuring the monster. Why would I review the final one first, instead of the other two? Well, sadly the other two are lost. However information about them has been found and also scraps of footage, but nothing more than a few minutes. The first one, titled simply “The Golem” was released in 1915 and it drew its story from the Jewish myth of a rabbi named Judah Loew that brought a man made of clay to life through magic, in order to protect the Jewish ghetto of medieval Prague. The film was centered around an antique shop owner who found the Golem in the present day (present day in the 1910’s) and brought him back to life. The Golem turns evil and goes on a killing spree, also kidnapping the shop owner’s daughter. The second one was titled “The Golem and the Dancing Girl” and was released in 1917. Very little is known about this one except that it was a parody shown in army bases in World War 1 to cheer up german soldiers. And lastly the third one, which is actually a prequel to the 1915 “The Golem”, tells the events that happened centuries earlier with the man of clay. It was titled “The Golem or How He Came into the World” and was released in 1920. At the time of its release these three films encompassed the first horror trilogy in the history of cinema!

 Even since its first image, Rabbi Loew looking at the stars, you feel the mysticism Wegener tried to capture, it being intensified by the expressionist look. Unlike Caligari, this movie does not use its art style to represent the sanity of someone, but instead uses it to envelop itself in a surreal, dreamy mood that fits perfectly the story of dark magic it is about. Although it came in between world wars in Germany and most of its characters are Jews or Jew-related, this film is not anti-Semitic, as Paul Wegener was not politically driven and he simply borrowed inspiration from a Jewish myth.

 “The Golem” as it is famously known by just the first part of the name, has left a tremendous legacy. Every time you’ve seen a big, super strong brute in a horror movie, it came from here, this is the first one. And what does that make you think of? My guess is Frankenstein’s Monster. Universal’s Frankenstein was made in the shoulders of the Golem, and then every big, strong brute since. It’s a legacy of playing God and then having your creation turn against you. Recommended for the same reasons as “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, anyone interested in horror movie history or german expressionism this is for you. It’s not the best but it sure delivers. 7/10.

The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (1920) REVIEW

“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” is a german silent horror film from 1920. This movie is famous for its visually striking, twisted/distorted art style characteristic of the german expressionism movement of the 1920’s, also as well for being one of the first true horror movies ever. It is also the first to include a twist ending in its story, something pretty groundbreaking for the time of its release. It was directed by Robert Wiene, and starred Werner Krauss as the mysterious Dr. Caligari and prominent actor Conrad Veidt as Cesare the somnambulist.

The film starts with a man named Francis telling another man about some dreadful events that happened on his hometown. He tells of how things turned eerie when a so called Dr. Caligari arrives to perform in the town fair. His act is fortune telling and is led by himself, who uses a somnambulist named Cesare (who lives in a cabinet, mind you) to tell the future of the people who ask. Francis and a friend, Alan go to the fair and enter Dr. Caligari’s tent. Alan has his fortune read and is told he’ll die the next day. The prophecy comes true as Alan is murdered in his bed. Francis wants to get to the bottom of it all, thinking that Dr. Caligari and Cesare are the ones responsible for the crime. He stops at nothing to discover what is going on as bad stuff keeps happening all around. Then the story takes a slightly different course. What we see gets somewhat confusing as the story unfolds, and you start to doubt the narrator Francis’ story, because stuff stops making sense even for him. And then there’s the reveal, one of the, if not the first plot twist in horror movie history. (Spoiler alert if you don’t know it). It so happens that Francis is a patient in a mental asylum, where Dr. Caligari is really the head director, and all the other characters from his tale are fellow patients.

“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” has a disturbing, hypnotizing atmosphere that makes you feel uneasy but you can’t take your eyes away. Its greatness is in the exaggeratedly distorted physicality of everything it shows. From windows to doors, buildings, lamps, and also people’s movements. Even shadows are painted directly on the floors, walls and flat canvas sets to give higher accentuation to the deluded state of mind of the protagonist. They’re all twisted in some way that represent how the crazy mind of our storyteller perceives the world. It is the maximum representation of the german expressionism movement that spawned many silent horror films in 1920’s Germany.

This movie has a pretty good legacy, said to have inspired the film noir look, and also inspiring countless film makers throughout their careers. Two of them are: Tim Burton who is very clearly inspired by it and tries to assimilate the atmosphere it projects (not just this movie, but german expressionism in general) in his own movies, and the other one is Martin Scorsese who used Caligari’s story as a basis of inspiration on his movie “Shutter Island”.

I strongly recommend “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” for anyone interested in german expressionism or interested in horror movie history. It is visually mesmerizing and it has a good story. The paper house mountain is awesome, and this is one of my favorite movies. 8.5/10.