Der Golem (The Golem)

This visually astounding retelling of the Golem myth was inventively brought to life through the collaboration of codirector/actor Paul Wegener, set designer Hans Poelzig, and gifted cinematographer Karl Freund (The Last Laugh; Metropolis), whose work here is some of his best. In medieval Prague, a rabbi creates a monster to protect his people from destruction, but the monster, of course, soon answers only to his own call. A precursor of James Whale’s 1931 Frankenstein, whose visuals owe much to Freund’s, The Golem is a landmark of German Expressionism and early horror.