Paul Wegener (1874-1948) � who worked on most of the films he made between 1913 and 1920 as author, director and leading actor � is generally regarded the first auteur of the German Cinema. Descended from a family of wealthy Prussian landowners he came to filmmaking from the stage. After following the (in his days common) practice of gaining his initial acting experiences in provincial theatres, he joined Max Reinhardt's famous "Deutsches Theater" in Berlin in 1906 where � with his pronounced Eastern European facial features � he established himself as a specialist in the portrayal of inwardly torn, mysterious, contradictory, tragic characters. In 1913, his interest in the exotic, in legends, fairy tales and the fantastic led to the realisation of his first project for the cinema, THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE, which he co-wrote and in the directing of which he collaborated with Stellan Rye. In addition, he played the main role of Balduin, an impoverished, swashbuckling student who sells his shadow to a mysterious pedlar for 100 000 gold pieces. Though the acquired wealth gives Baldiun power, social advancement and leads to a love affair with an attractive Countess, he cannot escape his alter ego. Trying to rid himself of the haunting and mocking appearances of his shadow with a pistol, he shoots himself.

Made partly on location in Prague and consciously using specifically cinematic techniques (e.g. double-exposure) not as novelty tricks, but as integral part for the creation of the film's mood and atmosphere, Wegener's first feature established him as one of the key innovators of the German Cinema of his time. His criticism of the budding German film industry's commercial practice of hiring established literary personalities as script authors in order to gain cultural respectability is a clear indication of his acute awareness of the intrinsic artistic possibilities of the medium. Fighting for the acceptance of film as an art form equal to that of literature and high drama he insisted in a lecture delivered on Easter Monday 1916 in Berlin that, instead of adhering to practices and traditions of the novel and the theatre, producers should develop techniques and approaches unique to the creative possibilities of cinema: "The actor of a film must be the camera. The opportunities arising from its ability to constantly change the point of view, the countless tricks of splitting or mirroring an image etc., in short, the techniques that apply exclusively to film must become the key to the selection of its content." Objecting to the triviality of the films of his time, Wegener demanded that the cinema's impact should be derived from the techniques that apply to cinematic photography. In films, "rhythm and speed, light and darkness have similar functions as in music." His ultimate ideal is the creation of "cinematic lyricism that is entirely independent of the factual content of its images."

The highpoint of Wegener's attempts to realise this vision is THE GOLEM AND HOW HE CAME INTO THIS WORLD (today usually referred to simply as THE GOLEM). Produced by Paul Davidson's Projektions-AG Union in 1920 it is his third (and most convincing) attempt to film the essence of the Jewish legend about a monstrous clay figure brought to life by a rabbi in order to prevent the expulsion of his Jewish community as ordered by the Christian Emperor of the land. His original version, made in 1914, was set in the present of an old German town and opens with workers discovering the statue while digging a well. They sell it to a Jewish pedlar who recognises it as the lost Golem. Aware of its secret, the pedlar brings it to life to guard his daughter Jessica whom he suspects of having an affair with a Count. Jessica's beauty raises human emotion within the Golem and he falls in love with her. When she rejects him, he follows her to a summer festival where she has a rendezvous with the Count. The Golem's appearance causes a panic. Not even bullets can stop him in his pursuit of the lovers who have a last-minute escape when Jessica succeeds in removing the magic, life-giving words from his chest whereupon the monster crashes from the top of a tower into a thousand pieces.

Three years later � decorated and released from military service due to injuries received in combat � Wegener made a "light-hearted capriccio in four parts" THE GOLEM AND THE DANCER (considered lost) before he returned to the production of the remake. Today, this film (which widely follows the same plotline as its predecessor) would be called a "prequel" as it is set in the past and begins with the creation of the Golem. As in the previous two films, the leading parts of Jessica and the Golem are played by Lydia Salmonova (at the time still Wegener's third wife) and Wegener himself who also functioned as co-author (with Henrik Galeen, the Danish director of the first GOLEM who in that version also played the part of the Count) and co-director (with Carl Boese, who, in terms of output, subsequently became one of the most prolific directors in German Cinema History). With Karl Freund on camera, star architect Hans Poelzig (in collaboration with Kurt Richter) as set designer, and Rochus Gliese (here) as costume designer, the film was able to draw on the creative expertise of Germany's leading artists in the technical field. Poelzig's famous "Golem Stadt" remains � even by today's standards � one of the marvels of cinema design, and has to be experienced on the big screen for the breathtaking claustrophobic atmosphere of its medieval ghetto to be fully appreciated.

Horst Claus