Der Golem (1920) with new original soundtrack

The classic 1920 German expressionist black and white horror film "The Golem" gets a new soundtrack by Hollywood composer Carvin Knowles in this original JewishJournal.com video

Carvin Knowles writes:

In the 16th Century CE Rabbi Judah Loew was said to have created a powerful Golem to defend Prague's Jewish ghetto.

Although I composed this segment of of score for the scene in Paul Wegener's 1920 prequel to his silent Golem series in the summer of 2002, I only recorded it during the last weekend of October in 2007.

I played all the brass and woodwinds myself, including the oboe solo near the beginning and the gong, all in my small Hollywood apartment.

In this scene, Rabbi Loew summons the Sumerian demon Astaroth to learn the word that will bring the Golem to life -- rendered in the most arcane transliteration from Hebrew that I have ever seen, the word is "Aemath" meaning 'emet' (Hebrew)' or 'truth.' I had imagined Rabbi Loew reciting the Shema to hold the ancient demon at bay.

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by Der Golem, the great Jewish monster of clay who only comes to life when Truth is in his breast (or on his tongue, in the original text).

Whether it is the silent film or the Hammer horror version or even Mozart's "Don Giovanni" (which, incidentally, had it's premier in Prague), the living statue has always terrified and thrilled me.

It is my pleasure to share a little piece of that with our audiences at JewishJournal.com.

Enjoy

Carvin Knowles
Composer

Category:

Music

Tags:

• golem
• monster
• scary
• german
• expressionism
• frankenstein
• horror
• classic
• goth
• halloween
• demon
• daemon
• jjtsrf333

[CarvinKnowles]

Director Paul Wegener was married to Lyda Salmonova, who was Jewish, so it is not likely that it was anti-Jewish PR. However, the script was co-written by Henrik Galeen, who also scripted Murnau's "Nosferatu." Galeen was a notorious occultist and loved inserting his esoteric knowledge into everything he did.

The real Rabbi Loew was a Torah Scholar, and Teacher, and would never have conjured a demon for any reason. But Galeen thought it would sell more tickets to add some Black Magic.

[ReviewCam]

The music is fantastic, beatifully performed and composed:)

Little question though--Rabbi Loew didn't really summon an occult pagan demon did he? I always thought it was based on practical kabbalah and totally consistent with Torah.

Or is the movie version anti-Jewish German PR?

Just curious.

Super scary movie, especially if you're watching in the dark. And this is the best scene hands down.

[TruthTeller878]

REASON, EMOTION & TRUTH:

Memorial Day was created by the evil ILLUMINATI. It's their way of mocking all the military people that murdered and died for the ILLUMINATI causes! Memorial Day is disgustingly evil. The U.S. soldiers are not "defending" our freedoms here in America. The mind controlled U.S. soldiers are defending the evil interests of their true masters that rule from Rome (the synagogue of Satan)! I have evidence of this sad fact.

Private Investigator Sinne

U.S.A. Washington

[herbertwarmstrong]

@ReviewCam since when was kabbalah ever consistent with the Torah? in 1666 a kabbalist stated he was the long awaited messiah. Judiasm has been infiltrated with this occultic kabbalah. You need to study Torah without kabbalah!

[dltanner99]

Horror novel  see video book trailer

[ReviewCam]

@MFPhoto1 It's amazing to see films like Defience about the Bielski brothers fighting against the Nazis. As the Nazis built death camps, the brothers built camps in the forests and actively fought the Nazis and survived.

[MFPhoto1]

@ReviewCam

According to the original legend, Rabbi Loew brought the Golem to life by writing God's secret 24 letter name on a piece of paper and gluing it to the creature's lip or heart - depending on what version you want to believe. It’s just a legend anyway. This is not what Kaballah is used for. The film was made 13 years before the Nazis came to power. It was sometime later banned in Germany as it showed Jews fighting back against their oppressors.



[xavierspade666]

So who wrote this music?

It's amazing!

[postdesrapides]

This film was almost lost for all time. A film producer was in post-war Poland (late 40's or early 50's) and purchased an old silent movie projector at a curio shop. The shop owner gave him a roll of film to go with it. That night he sat in his hotel room and looked at the film and almost had a stroke, this movie had been lost for years and he had part of it! He went back to the shop in the middle of the night and bought the remaining reels and found out who bought others. Talk about luck

[AEYET]

Rabbi Loew created the original Golem, but it was 4 centuries later that an antique dealer summoned Astaroth in order to re-animate the Golem

Im unsure but it seems that the Rabbi never had dealings with the demon

(would have to see the full film to know for sure)

[ReviewCam]

@Beatnikzombie I just meant the stuff about summoning a demon, which others have explained why it was used.

I think there really was a rabbi Loew in prague, and there is practical kubbalah