Flawed in some
aspects, yet still
a potent and fascinating
slice of expressionist
horror.
Der Golem ist sehr gut!
Literally two years of GCSE German on display there people, pity me. Anyway, Der Golem is a very effective and highly influential German silent horror film. It is perhaps most well known for it's impressive use of expressionist production design and the large role it played upon the seminal filmmaker James Whale in the following decade.
Der Golem is sadly the only remaining film in an intended trilogy of fantasy/horror films based around the titular character, all made by actor/director Paul Wegener. Wegener stars in this film as the Golem himself, and is able to hold the film together with his highly entertaining portrayal of the Jewish myth. Wegener portrays the Golem exactly as I imagined, treading a fine line between an animated statue and a sapient, bestial monster. Wegener's excellent physical and facial acting, along with the top-notch makeup, make this character such an icon of the silent era. However, one of the film's largest issues stems from how the film underutilises it's titular character, for the Golem is truly the most compelling aspect of the entire film.
Outside of the Golem itself, the film boasts some truly inspired sets, some of the most ambitious and grandiose examples of German expressionism out there. The way in which these sets interact with the film's incredibly eerie and effective lighting is worth the viewing by itself. The costume design is also quite charming, acting as an elegant extension on the film's themes of class and prejudice and are also appropriately exaggerated to match the wild sets and environments..
Despite these various high positives, the film suffers from several key flaw beyond the surprising lack of the titular Golem. These namely come in the form of length and pacing. I feel the film is quiet a bit too long for what it is, filling it's running-time with a pointless 'love-triangle' subplot that does nothing other than detract from the films other elements. Despite the irritating amount of time this subplot swallows, it remains poorly developed and really worked to pull me out of the experience. The subplot ends in a comically simplistic fashion and ultimately adds to little that I could see. If the entire romance element was removed (I think it takes around 10-20 minutes in it's entirety) and replaced by another ten minutes with the Golem itself, I feel the film would be tighter and more poignant.
Overall however, the Golem won me over with it's ambition and it's charm. It's final scene is actually a wonderful resolution to the narrative with some lovely imagery. Most of my grievances were forgotten whilst watching this conclusion at it left me with a joyful smile, which is the effect the entire film had on me overall. I recommend you check this film out on Youtube (be warned however, the Youtube version that I watched has a highly irritating soundtrack which looped awkwardly twice. It didn't watch the action on screen and only distracted from the film itself).
By Jack D. Phillips
A Zoom Film Review
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