"Director: Carl BOESE"

• Der Golem (Masters of Cinema) Limited Edition Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (18/11/2019) from £14.29   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Eureka Entertainment to release DER GOLEM; Paul Wegener and Carl Boese's classic silent horror, as part of The Masters of Cinema Series for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK from a brand new 4K restoration on 18 November 2019, presented with a Limited Edition Slipcase [First Print Run of 2000 copies only]. An iconic early horror masterpiece, Der Golem was Paul Wegener's third attempt at adapting the Golem character for the big screen. Starring and co-directing with Carl Boese, Wegener crafted one of silent cinema's most enduring masterpieces. In the Jewish ghetto in 16th century Prague, Rabbi Low (Albert Streinruck, Asphalt) creates a forbidding clay Golem (played by director Paul Wegener) to protect his people from the tyrannical Emperor Luhois (Otto Gebuhr). Brought to life with a demon spirit and an amulet placed in the center of the creature's chest, the Golem is a seemingly indestructible juggernaut, performing acts of great heroism. But when the Rabbi's assistant attempts to control the Golem for selfish gain, it becomes a terrifying force of destruction, rampaging through the ghetto leaving fire and death in its wake. A landmark film in the horror canon, influencing most notably James Whale's 1931 adaptation of Frankenstein, Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam is also a pre-eminent example of German Expressionism, and an important contribution to the golden age of Weimar Cinema. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the film in its UK debut on Blu-ray from a brand new 4K restoration. Blu-Ray Special Features: Limited Edition O-Card Slipcase (First 2000 copies) Presented in 1080p from a stunning 4K digital restoration of the original film negatives, completed by FWMS in 2017. Original German intertitles with optional English subtitles Option of THREE fantastic and unique scores, by composer Stephen Horne; acclaimed electronic music producer Wudec; and musician and film-score composer Admir Shkurtaj Brand new and exclusive audio commentary by Scott Harrison Brand new and exclusive video essay by critic David Cairns Brand new and exclusive video essay by filmmaker Jon Spira (Elstree 1976) The Golem [60 mins] The US version of the film, also fully restored, and featuring a score by Cordula Heth A video piece highlighting the differences between the domestic and export negatives of the film [22 mins] PLUS: A collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Scott Harrison; and reprints of illustrations from the original 1915 novel

• Der Golem | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £9.98   |  Saving you £12.00 (150.19%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A relic certainly, but a fascinating one, Der Golem is perhaps the screen's first great monster movie. Though it was actually the third time director-star Paul Wegener had played the eponymous creation, the earlier efforts (sadly lost) were rough drafts for this elaborate dramatisation of the Jewish legend. When the Emperor decrees that the Jews of mediaeval Prague should be evicted from the ghetto, a mystical rabbi creates a clay giant and summons the demon Astaroth who breathes out in smoky letters the magic word that will animate the golem. Intended as a protector and avenger, the golem is twisted by the machinations of a lovelorn assistant and, like many a monster to come, runs riot, terrorising guilty and innocent alike until a little girl innocently ends his rampage. Wegener's golem is an impressively solid figure, the Frankenstein monster with a slightly comical girly clay-wig. The wonderfully grotesque Prague sets and the alchemical atmosphere remain potent. On the DVD: Der Golem on disc has an imaginative menu involving the rabbi opening a book of spells that leads to alternate versions of the film with German or English inter-titles. The print is cobbled from several sources and tinted to the original specifications, with an especially impressive crimson glow as the ghetto burns. The extras are an audio essay, illustrated with clips, on Der Golem and German Expressionist cinema in general, plus a gallery of stills and other illustrations. --Kim Newman

• Classics of German Cinema | DVD | (21/05/2007) from £73.71   |  Saving you £-28.72 (N/A%)   |  RRP £44.99

  Perhaps no period of any national cinema extends its influence so powerfully into the present day of movies as that of the German cinema of the Weimar era. From the fraught angles that accompanied magisterial set-design to the dreamlike interplay of light and shadow German films of the pre-WWII era defined the famed ""expressionistic"" visual style even as they tested the boundaries of social and sexual taboos. This collection contains five films. Four are classic films emblematic of the legendary Weimar period and one is an historical curiosity commissioned under the Nazi regime. Paul Wegener's and Carl Boese's 1920 film Der Golem represents the second (and the only fully surviving) film treatment by Wegener of the Yiddish folktale based around a towering clay monster created by magic corrupted by evil and redeemed ultimately by the force of the human soul. From the same year comes Robert Wiene's nightmarish classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - a story of mesmerism sleepwalking and murder - a demented dreamscape that perhaps single-handedly galvanized the Expressionist movement of silent cinema. Nine years on Joe May's Asphalt opens a door to the sordid carnality lurking inside the Weimar heart of darkness - and gives audiences the gift of Betty Amann the greatest ""siren unsung"" of the early silver-screen. No lack of recognition would beset the besotted lead of Josef von Sternberg's 1930 masterpiece The Blue Angel - presented here in both its German- and English-language versions. Simply put this tale of a mild-mannered professor (Emil Jannings) sucked into the world of a licentious cabaret artiste introduced the public to an immortal: her name written among the stars would read ""Marlene Dietrich"". By 1943 a new era had dawned one in which Joseph Goebbels called the shots and it was Josef von Bky's Mnchhausen that epitomized the ""new German epic"" - a state-sanctioned Agfacolor melange of the picaresque and Aryan myth that nevertheless served to inspire Terry Gilliam's more benign modern fantasia The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Myth sex magick and the ""tall-tale"": Classics of German Cinema: 1920-1943 presents the viewer with a selection of masterpieces that tower not only over the awesome first phase of German movies but over the origins of world cinema as a whole. 1. Der Golem 2. Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari 3. Asphalt 4. The Blue Angel 5. Munchhausen

• Black Francis -The Golem | DVD | (21/05/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The DVD of The Golem with the full score of the film written, performed and recorded by Black Francis. Often regarded as the height of German expressionism, the silent, black and white film The Golem was the last of a series of three films by director Paul Wegener and was released in 1920. Set in the 16th century, The Golem: How He Came Into The World tells the story of the persecution of the Jews of Prague. The highly expressionistic imagery seen in the film was captur...