An Expressionist working of a Prague legend from the 16th century, this
was Wegener's second version of the Golem legend (the first, from 1916,
has not survived). The rabbi of the ghetto creates, through his study of
ancient texts, a clay servant to prevent persecution of the Jewish
population, only to see his creation go out of control, as all robots
must, when his assistant tries to abuse the Golem's powers. The
lumbering gait of the Golem (Wegener) is a prototype of Boris Karloff as
Frankenstein's monster and the sets evoke the ghetto very well, but
other aspects of the film are rather dated.
