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Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) First of all, it needs to be stated that what we have here is "Der Golem" or "The Monster of Fate" and that this is the 1915 movie and not the well-known 1920 movie. The latter still exists today in (almost) its entirety, while this one we have here is considered lost in almost its entirety because only a few minutes seem to have survived. Not a surprise though as this film is over a century old now already and many films from back then have not managed to survive throughout the invention of sound and color films and throughout 2 World Wars as number one was going on at the very time this was made. This one here runs for pretty much exactly an hour in its entirety apparently and was written and directed by Henrik Galeen and Paul Wegener. Both play major roles in this film and the latter plays the title character, which was a wise choice because his size of almost 2 meters sure made him fairly creepy and powerful. Of course, Wegener also portrays the Golem in the 1920 film as this one we have here as actually the beginning of a trilogy with the 1920 film providing closure. It seems that the one in-between is lost as well, so all we have today unlike the almost impossible event happens that they really do find a copy of films 1 or 2 somewhere, the third film is all that there is left. I just watched the surviving fragments and we have the Golem in what looks like a cave, perhaps with his creator, and then we see him wreak havoc or rather people think he is about to wreak havoc. He sure seems like a tragic creature though and at the very end it looks like his affection for a women eventually leads to his demise when he falls of something like a balcony. The very final quote is a bit on the pretentious side. Overall, I was not really that impressed by what survived, but the character alone is enough to get me into watching this 1915 film I guess if they somehow manage to find the missing pieces. Until then, this review will have to suffice.

Michael_Elliott Der Golem (1915) Paul Wegener will always be remembered for his 1920 film DER GOLEM but most people don't realize that he played the character in two earlier pictures. Sadly this 1915 version is lost as is the 1917 film. Thankfully, however, there are about five-minutes worth of fragments from the 1915 version that are out there to be viewed.In all honesty, these five-minutes are a true thrill for fans of the 1920 film, which was pretty much a prequel to this. There are a couple sequences shown in the fragments where we get a terrific look at the Golem make-up and this alone makes this worth celebrating. The make- up here is actually very similar to what we saw in the 1910 version, although actor Wegener was much skinnier here. There's another sequence showing a bunch of people running out of a house and into the streets, which I'm going to guess was them trying to escape from the Golem.Again, the fragments just total five-minutes but if you're a horror fan or film buff then they're very much worth watching.

Jay Pearlman Reviewers of this film seem to be confusing it with Wegener's "The Golem - How He Came Into The World" (1920). Let's clarify:In 1914, "Der Golem" was filmed. This movie dealt with the resurrection of the Golem in modern times. Known in the USA as "The Monster of Fate", it is considered a lost film. Only about a minute or so survives, somewhere in Germany. Rumors have circulated for years of a single, surviving print - but this seems to be untrue.The 1920 film was actually Wegener's "prequel" - a film set totally in period, dealing with the creation of the clay being by Rabbi Loew, and how it is brought to life.The 1920 film is, in my opinion, a must-see; the earlier film is pretty much lost. It is important, however, that we not confuse these two motion pictures.

randy_lejeune The cinematography in this movie is STUNNING. One feels as though one were a captive in an alternate dimension of reality; an almost Lovecraftian world where the very geometry of the buildings seems to writhe and come to life. The atmosphere of Budapest in the Middle Ages seems to be captured perfectly. After the Jews being ousted from the town by royal decree, the leader of the Jewish community crafts the Golem out of clay and brings him to life in a black magical ceremony (interesting to note that among the crimes accused of the Jews in the edict, one was witchcraft). The Golem then is brought before the king and results in the Jews being allowed to remain. But the Golem falls in love(!) with a young lady and runs amok. The story is a classic and there is a considerable amount of drama here, but the real gem of this movie are the incredible visuals and the atmosphere. One of the greatest expressionist classics ever made. Far superior to "Caligari" in my opinion.