Der Golem

1920, key and oft cited work of Weimar cinema and German expressionism, credited to (and starring) Paul Wegener
Visually, uses circular expressionist waves and set-design, to create the archaic, mythic world of the 16th century. Note also the sharp contrasts (blinding whites), extensive patterning.
A very ‘vertical’ film, with thin upright (houses, Golem itself), and frequent use of blocks of dark (often in camera) to frame this action in a certain way. The showing of the characters is usually full body, but can be any, no real pattern, except a slight preference for emotions coming closer. These elements of technique are not, perhaps, the main interest of this film
The story fair rips along, with quick takes (even to reframe, seemingly can’t work out matches on action but is all pretty understandable, room to room, inside to outside), and a slightly melodramatic bent. Much closer ‘Caligari’ (similar time period) than the later epics of the U.F.A. greats
Clear thematic parallels, influence on, the Frankenstein story, and much later horror. Two interesting thematic points to pick out here;
The use of the Golem as a machine that fulfils fantasies, but then turns against. The horror of the machine, after its initial usefulness. A key theme of much Weimar cinema. A terror at this lack of ‘naturalness’.
The other element is of the Golem as the double of the others. No character really is subject to identification except, perhaps, the Golem. We recognise the Golem is actually the sublimation of the desires, even the revenge fantasies, of the populace. At once a vassal, but is ultimately neutred and destroyed when it tries to reach outside the Ghetto.
This is at once a critique of the Jewish community (which is stereotypically portrayed in an offensive manner); its insistence on following the mythic, its refusal to recognise its own desires, while it is at once a demonstration of that communities tragedy in the uncomprehending world, shown by the sympathy for the Golem.
Impossible not to view this film in retrospect of its historical antecedents, this is a film that gives witness to a failure, a dream, a wish. Not perhaps a great work of art in its own right, but when placed in context, well worth its place in the history of the mid-period silent cinema.