In Jewish folklore, a Golem is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter. Traditional Golems are made from clay or dust, although the game Dungeons and Dragons introduced ideas such as Iron Golems, Stone Golems and Flesh Golems. One could argue, in fact, that the original Frankenstein's Monster was an example of a kind of Flesh Golem - an animated being created from inanimate flesh. Homonculi and Golems have been subject matter for films since the very beginning.In the traditional Hebrew myths, Golems are created by very powerful rabbis, versed in the secrets of Qabalah. Adam is sometimes said to have created the first Golem, a living thing in his own image, a shadow of a shadow of the divine spirit of God (or, in modern terminology, a second-generation copy of the original).The most famous Golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel the late 16th century chief rabbi of Prague known as the Maharal, who reportedly created a golem to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks. This story of the Golem first appeared in print in the nineteenth century, although a source from 1911 claimed a much earlier provenance. This Golem apparently served its master well, at first, but gradually became more violent and dangerous, to the point that its creator had to undo its creation by reversing the meaning of the Hebrew word on its forehead. Some versions have the creature falling in love, and then going mad when rejected.Paul Wegener made a series of three films during the silent era in Germany based on the Golem myth. The most famous (and only surviving film) from this series, Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam, is a retelling of the rabbi Loew tale. It ends, however, not with the rabbi undoing the Golem's life, but rather with an innocent child, who the Golem picks up, removing the life-giving word accidentally by pulling off the star under which it is hidden from the Golem's chest.In 1966, the film It! starring Roddy McDowell concerns a Golem running amok in London. McDowell plays the assistant curator of a museum that has the Golem on display as a statue, and learns the secret of giving it life, using it for his revenge against imagined wrongs. The British army ultimately attempts to destroy it with a nuclear bomb, but it proves impervious to this attack and disappears into the ocean. Show less «