New-York tribune., 1921-06-05
Elaborate Music
Score In Making
For ssThe Golem''

Golem" to make it ready for American
presentation has been completed, and
Hugo Riesenfeld has Low begun work
on it's musical score. 1t is his present
intention to put it into the Criterion
for an extended engagement when the
run of the present program, with Thorn
as Meighan, in "White and Unmarried" }"
is ended.
Mr.. Riesenfeld believes "The Golem"
is the greatest artistic triumph that
the European film producers have
achieved. He is convinced that the
New York. public will approve the
artistry of the stage settings, the dra-
matte intensity of the story and the
acting of Paul Wegener, whom Euro
pean critics consider greater than Emil
Jannings, whose work as King Henry
VIII in deception" has been the out
standing feature of the film year thus
far.
Notable Works of
Foreign Director
Up to now New York has seen the
work of one great foreign director and
Lubitsch is the director, and his han
ding of passion" Deception" and
"Gypsy Blood" has made the critics
compare him favorably with Americas
D. w. Griffith and Cecil B. de Mile.
The work of the director was especially
notable in "Deception," that well con-
ceived and executed drama of the life
of England's King Henry VIII. The
actors who have won favor in this
country as result of the foreign in
vasion are, first and foremost, Emil
Jannings, an American by birth and a
disciple Of the great Reinhardt; the
other two are women, Pola Negri and
Henny Porten, neither to be compared
with the most beautiful of the Ameri-
can stars, but both Of a high level of
intelligence and actresses of great
ability.
In "The Golem" New York will see
the rare combination of one Of Eu-
ropes greatest actors and a director
whose work has been acclaimed as
finer than Lubitsch's. He is Paul Veg
erer, for the last ten years one of the
leading characters Of the European
stage. Wegener prepared the scenario
for the drama, difficult task of COM
pi;ation and editing as well as seen
ario writing; cast the film, directed
and played the leading role. Unde.
ordinary conditions feat of this kind
spells disaster. There is usually an
effort to center attention on the man
who is running the works." But not
SO with Wegensr. He has surrounded
himself with tho most capable actors
to be found on the Continent and has
given them ample opportunity to dis
play their prowess. And his own work
as director and actor will, rs Mr.. Rie-
senfeld believes, stamp him as the mar
vel of the European films.
Traditional Story
OF the Golem
The story Of "The Golem" is almost as
old as the Jewish race. Cabalistic in
origin, it is based on a tradition that
the esoteric Hebraic science knew how
to create life as it was first created by
the Deity, from clay; that the wise
men could bring a statue to life by
placing in its breast few secret words
or letters. There were two inherent
difficulties in this procedure; the char
acter never could be complete; he was
either dumb, or otherwise crippled, and
his mentality never was above the ami
NAL stage. Second, he had to be
returned within a set time to the clay
from which he came, else he would
turn against his maker and become an
engine of destruction.
The picture is based on this legend
as it was localized in the Middle Ages
In Prague, Bohemia, where a famous
rabbi is said to have created an idol
of clay, brought it to life and had it
perform various miracles by which he
saved the Jewish people from destruc-
ton. More thrilling than any of the
other hundred or more similar legends
in which Jewish tradition abounds, it
has in addition become one of the
most famous of European love stories.