SKU 3083
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LE GOLEM (The Man of Stone) (1936) * with switchable English subtitles *

Julien Duvivier Writers: André-Paul Antoine (screenplay), Julien Duvivier (screenplay), 3 more credits » Stars: Harry Baur, Roger Karl, Charles Dorat
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$13.99

Les Juifs de Prague sont écrasés sous le joug du chancelier Lang, un juif qui a renié sa foi, et qui exerce le pouvoir pendant que l'empereur Rodolphe II s'adonne à la débauche. Le rabbin Loew a autrefois créé le Golem, créature d'argile à la force surnaturelle, qui dort au fond d'un grenier. Un jeune rabbin, qui connait le secret, va lui redonner vie pour sauver son peuple. 

The Jews of Prague are being ruthlessly oppressed by Chancellor Lang, an apostate Jew, who serves the empire as its chancellor, while Emperor Rudolf II concerns himself with the occult and his vast store of collectibles.  A century earlier, Rabbi Loew created the Golem and gave it life.  The Golem was his servant and protector of the ghetto.  When Rabbi Loew died, the Golem was left to rot in the attic of the synagogue.  However, instructions were left behind to re-animate the creature should the Jews of the ghetto once more be imperiled.  Rabbi Loew's successor knows the spell to awaken the Golem; and now, a century later, he will bring the creature to life to save the Jews from a cruel fate.

DVD-R is in French with switchable English subtitles.  Approx. 86 min. + a 5 min. contemporary newsreel.  Some softness.

PLEASE NOTE THAT SWITCHABLE (SOFT) SUBTITLES WILL NOT SHOW UP WHEN VIEWING THE SAMPLE BELOW.  IF YOU SEE SUBTITLES, THEN THEY ARE HARD-ENCODED (meaning, they cannot be turned off when viewing the film):

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A rare film worth waiting for..., 1/30/2015 8:49 AM
From: Guest
This film not a remake of the 1920 silent German classic but is a sequel with sound filmed in Prague by a French cast & crew. This was a big budget production for its time because of its crowd scenes and sets, countless costumes, and special effects when the reanimated statue goes on his rampage wrecking buildings. The Emperor was played by Harry Baur, one of France's top stars during the 1930's and who died in 1943 after being tortured by the Nazis. 'Le Golem' is pretty good as a historical costumer full of court intrigue and with scenes of Baur's torture chamber which were shortened for the American release. I'm not sure if this is the uncut version but it was explicit enough. This was a daring film to make at a time when anti-Semitism was on the rise in Europe and and its makers knew it could not be shown in Nazi Germany and later in occupied countries. For an old film this copy had good video and clear audio. I didn't see any "pixellization " or"softness' problems as this page denotes. Four stars for a generally good print  Some subtitles don't stay on long enough to read and some spots might be missing them. However this doesn't really detract your attention from following the story. - John C.
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