Monster of the Day #311

Updated on August 30, 2011 By Ken Begg 17 Comments

A very early example of a cinematic monster, and another version of the Frankenstein trope.

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  • Reed

    Wow. So that’s what Yule Brenner looked like before he went bald.

    Is this another Golem?

  • KeithB

    One could argue that this is *the* golem.

  • David Fullam

    Paul Wegener’s classic version of the creature.

  • Gamera

    YES, this is what a golem should look like!

  • KeithB

    Why does he have a 5 pointed star?

  • Flangepart

    Yam that’s THE GOLEM. Btw, the spell check thinks Golem is a misspell…
    Never see this, only read about it.
    And you’re right,Keith5, it should be a six pointer, IIRC.

  • John Campbell

    The 5-point star (pentacle) indicates he’s obviously a wiccan golem.

    Damn witches…

  • Gamera

    Or a cheap knock-off golem made in China…

  • Rock Baker

    I always found IT! more visually dynamic. To me, this one just looked like Moe Howard with welding gloves.

    TCM did show this version once when I was able to tape it. I can’t say how often it goes into rotation, though.

    Weren’t there like three versions all filmed around this same time?

    I read in Famous Monsters about a planned golem movie back in the 60s to be called Melog (a planned title for IT!?). One of these days, I’d like to use that title for a story I whipped up about a golden golem unearthed by a construction crew on a tropical island. I just wish they had made Melog when they announced it. The only bigger letdown was that they never made Jayne Mansfield Meets Frankenstein!

  • “I’d like to use that title for a story I whipped up about a golden golem unearthed by a construction crew on a tropical island. I just wish they had made Melog when they announced it.”

    Melog vs. Tabonga vs. Killdozer!

  • Reed

    He should have writing on his forehead to animate him. Did he have writing on his forehead? I can’t tell. Perhaps it would have been visible if he didn’t have a pumpkin on his head.

  • Reed — I can’t remember, but I think he might be more of a “scroll under the tongue” Golem than a “word on the forehead” Golem.

  • Actually, looks like it was just a magic amulet in this version. For simplicity’s sake?

  • I agree that the Golem in “IT” was pretty interesting, but the old silent Der Golem is way the better film. Just the hats everyone wears alone catapults it into the top 40, and the amazing impressionistic ghetto the Jews swarm through is amazing. The movie pulses with life. Even the king’s court is full of mewling, mincing courtiers and the Golem’s stolid impassiveness really pays off.

    The five pointed star is indeed the amulet of life which gives it power. It gets plucked off by a little girl when Paul Wegener bends over to look at her.

  • John Campbell

    Hey Rock, Terry Pratchett’s “Feet of Clay” features golden golems found in cave at the seaside.

    Looks like Terry punched the shark before you could get your gloves on!

    (In Pratchett’s books, the golems have a “chem” which is the scroll with writing that animates them. And it’s inside their head and can be removed/replaced.)

  • Rock Baker

    Typical.

    I was just taken with the image of a golden statue plodding through the tropical night carrying the unconcious heroine in his arms. Ken got it pretty good when he implied my idea was largely a cross between From Hell It Came, Killdozer (since I’m always in favor of science fiction over fantasy, I imagined Melog too would be possessed by a creature from the stars), and IT!

  • Eric Hinkle

    ‘The Golem as Moe Howard’. Now I want to see a movie where the Golem, upon being animated, goes on an eye-poking, head-bonking, pie-tossing rampage.