1920 The Golem: How He Came Into The World (aka Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam) (97th)

What else happened this year? The League Of Nations was formed. Luckily we have a less toothless global organisation that we all have faith in, today.

What is the plot - in one sentence? A Jewish Mystic uses some Middle Eastern Magic to bring a clay figure to life.

I don't have time, just spoil it for me? He uses it for chores, it saves the king, it seems to want death, and then the amulet which is keeping it alive is taken by a small girl the Golem was playing with.

What is the meaning of the title? The Stone figure is the Golem, so it’s named after him.It's titled as 'how he came into the world' and that's what we're shown. Thanks 1920s for keeping things so literal!

So here's a fancy knight and the daughter of the Jewish mystic guy. They are the weirdest looking couple you've ever seen in your life.

Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? There’s a bunch of weird dynamics between the daughter (more on her later), and the father (who looks a lot like Nick Offerman) – it seems he wants to use the golem to protect her innocence, but she’s busy getting it on with a fancy knight with a large feather in his cap. She’s dragged by the hair in a later scene, too.

More of note is that the ‘Jews’ here are shown as obsessed with incantations and magic, wearing dumb robes and living in ghettos. Is that true of the indeterminate age that the movie is set?

Any thoughts? The golem is invited to the King’s court with his owner, the owner shows a magic movie on the wall of the King’s court, which goes awry. The place starts to collapse, and the Golem holds up a support beam to save the room. After this he's celebrated as the hero? What about the magician? He’s celebrated despite causing the room to nearly explode.

I knew about the Golem and his main beats – he’s clay, but can come to life with a magic incantation (the incantation here is given by a very metal Demon head and ritual here - it was awesome) but didn't really know any more than that. 

I assumed it was a destructive creature, a sort-of proto Godzilla, but in this, he starts as a servant, gains sentience (and because of some horoscope nonsense goes ‘out of control’) before being taken out of action while playing with a child. It’s hints of Frankenstein’s monster there, in that he’s misunderstood. It was a bit of a surprise, especially as he’s tries to play with the girl, a la the Monster.

Would you recommend this? I would. It took a lot of effort to actually find and then watch this, but I enjoyed it. The music really was cool too, a relentless tune that changed tempo depending on the scene was used throughout, and I have found myself humming it from time to time. 

Final thoughts? The love interest part of the story was utterly pointless, there was also a devious servant that wanted to get with the daughter. The daughter herself may be the ugliest leading actress of any of these movies, which is saying something considering the fashions that have happened at other times, but the movie was short enough and interesting enough to overcome that.

Was this a German movie about Jewish isolation and persecution from the year 1920? It was. Were the outfits of the dancers in the King’s throne room so tight that you could see all of their penises in worrying detail? Yes too.

 Speaking of hot cocks, here's the rest of the feature here: I'm very nearly done!