The Golem: How He Came into the World

In sixteenth-century Prague, the Jewish community faces expulsion under the orders of Emperor Rudolf II, who accuses its people of practising black magic. Rabbi Loew, a scholar versed in the mystical arts, turns to an old legend for protection. He shapes a huge figure from clay and calls upon a powerful spirit to give it life, creating the Golem to serve and defend his people. When the creature's strength is turned to a personal grudge rather than the community's safety, it slips from Loew's control and becomes a danger to everyone around it, including a young girl who wanders innocently into its path.

Paul Wegener directed the film with Carl Boese and also plays the clay creature, while Albert Steinrück appears as Rabbi Loew and Lyda Salmonova as Miriam, the rabbi's daughter. Wegener wrote the screenplay with Henrik Galeen; it was his second feature as a director, after Rübezahl's Wedding four years earlier, while for Boese it was the earliest of the three directing credits recorded for him. It was produced by Paul Davidson's Projektions-AG Union.

The film runs eighty-five minutes and blends fantasy with horror. Its standing has held up: on IMDb it rates 7.2 from more than nine thousand votes, a higher score from a much smaller sample of 249 on TMDB, while a critics' rating of 8 out of 10 from thirty-two reviews places professional assessment slightly above the audience consensus.