KlezCalendar

The Film

A clay statue is brought to life in order to save the Jewish ghetto of Prague, but soon turns against his master in this German silent classic. A man brings an inanimate object to life, an amoral monster whom he hopes to use as a slave. The monster then turns against his master, nearly destroying him in the process. This is an archetypal story, told many times in literature and film. One of its first cinematic expressions was in THE GOLEM, made in Germany in 1920. The film is based upon a medieval Jewish legend about a clay figure that is brought to life to serve as a protector of the Jews who live in the Prague ghetto in the year 1580. THE GOLEM is a film of great power, as hypnotic as a German Expressionist vision of life as a waking dream. The dim light and looming shadow were photographed by Karl Freund, who also shot two German Expressionist masterpieces: Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS and F.W. Murnau's THE LAST LAUGH. Freund later emigrated to America and eventually became the head cameraman for I LOVE LUCY.

The Band

"Somehow it's hard to take the Ten Commandments too seriously when they are tattooed, in Hebrew, on the meaty left arm of a 340 lb Texan tuba player. Especially if he then offers you a slug of slivovitz from his hip-flask and persuades you - with a cheerful blast of brass—to forget all you ever thought you knew about the Jews and music."
—(Sophie Solomon, London Daily Telegraph)

4 years ago, Mark Rubin and his stellar band, the Rubinchik's Yiddish Ensemble, electrified audiences at the Alamo with their score for DER GOLEM. At long last, we welcome back the return of this perfect blend of film and music to the Alamo Drafthouse for a long overdue encore performance.

The DVD

Copies of the film on DVD with our soundtrack, recorded in 2001, will be available at the theatre!!