Of the four extant versions of this perennial horror classic, Paul Wegener's 1920 version remains the best. Wegener both directed and stars in this extraordinarily vivid, magical, brooding film. His hulking claylike monster is an archetype, and the astonishing, angular, teetering sets by Hans Poelzig are an example of the nightmare world of the occult made breathtakingly concrete. Carl Boese codirected.
By
Don Druker