The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920), aka Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam, directed by Paul Wegener & Carl Boese, Murnau Stiftung / Universum restoration, encoded in 10 bit HEVC with AAC sound, including three different stereo scores and English subtitles.

IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0011237/

Video encoded in two-pass 8 200 kbps x265 10bit with the veryslow preset for archive quality image.

English subtitles OCRed, proofed and corrected.

Note : More silent horror classics, this time Wegener's Der Golem, the third in his trilogy of adaptations of this story, of which the two others have sadly been lost. But this is a pretty great little story for its time, adapting the folktale of the Golem of Prague, which Wegener heard in Prague while he was in Prague to act in The Student of Prague a few years earlier. Jewish folklore doesn't get that much exposure in folk horror, but this is the shining exception, the first ever "man-made monster" horror film to boot. It also has the distinction of being unabashedly horny for some reason, with the Rabbi's daughter getting felt up by and later jumping into bed with a handsome young knight, which sets off the catastrophic climax. It's also notable that the director himself plays the Golem, and does a very good job of a lumbering, super-strong monster, which is interesting to contrast with Karloff's in the Frankenstein movies a decade later.

As is common with these restorations, it's a very conservative job, with variable quality, but it looks quite good in general, and it's easy to appreciate the innovative practical and in-camera effects. The three scores provided are also good, although for my money, the Lukasz "Wudec" Poleszak electronic score is the one to go with, a moody, experimental affair with droning, crunching electronics, ominous chanting and occasional Middle Eastern inspired percussion, which goes very well with the mystical, esoteric leanings of the story and imagery. It's a shame there's no commentary track.

Hot tip
Quote: