with LIVE musical accompaniment by Walter Horn and Jonathan Fixler
Special introduction by Sabine von Mering--Executive Director, Center for German and European Studies, Brandeis University--who will also be available to answer questions after the screening

*Jonathan Fixler will also perform a brief solo set between 7:30 and 8pm--before the start of the screening.

General Admission: $13.50 advance, $16.50 day of show
(includes $1.50 restoration fee)

Directed by Paul Wegener and Carl Boese, and starring Wegener in makeup and a performance that has influenced every Frankenstein portrayal from Karloff to DeNiro, with great cinematography by Karl Freund ("Mad Love," "The Mummy," "I Love Lucy") and fantastic sets by noted expressionist painter/set designer/architect Hans Poelzig. THE GOLEM has been filmed many times as well as adapted in many other mediums, but this 1920 version is considered the definitive one.

In 16th-century Prague, a Jewish rabbi creates a giant creature from clay, called the Golem, and using sorcery, brings the creature to life in order to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution. After successfully protecting the Jews from a new pogrom, the Golem becomes increasingly uncontrollable. When it is used by the rabbi's assistant to take vengeance on the gentile knight who has alienated the affections of the rabbi's beautiful (and promiscuous) daughter, the monster sets the ghetto on fire and drags the debauched girl away for its own use. (In an astute historical and textual analysis of the film, Cathy Gelbin argues that Der Golem "bears out the tension between the ethical particularities of the Jewish Golem tradition and its universalising employment, which now highlights the Jew as a problematic figure." To read Gelbin's piece, click here: http://www.kinoeye.org/printer.php?path=03/11/gelbin11.php

WALTER HORN horn

Composer/keyboardist Walter Horn is a long-time collaborator with Der Golem soundtrack co-composer and Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas. He appears on Lucas's Skeleton at the Feast (Enemy) and Street of Lost Brothers (Tzadik). In turn, the world-famous guitarist appears on Horn's Sadhana (Saxofonis) recording. Lucas and Horn have performed their score to Der Golem at New York's Knitting Factory, Minnesota's Walker Art Museum, and in Munich, Germany (at John Zorn's Art Projekt Festival). Their acclaimed soundtrack was premiered in 1989 at the New Music America Festival at Brooklyn's Museum of the Moving Image. Horn, a philosophy Ph.D., has reviewed hundreds of recordings of improvised music for a number of print and on-line publications and has recently published The Perennial Solution Center: Conversations and Readings on Mysticism and the Psychology of Religion. His highly regarded Screwdriver! CD (Leo) was released in 1995. His Piano Concerto is being considered for release by the OgreOgress label in 2008. Horn lives in Arlington, Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters.

JONATHAN FIXLER fixler

Jonathan Fixler has been a professional guitarist in the Boston area for over 20 years, contributing his considerable chops to a variety of rock, blues, folk, Irish and Jewish bands and projects. He has appeared as a solo guitar and vocal act in numerous venues, opening for Joe Bonamassa at the Regent theater, and for Hubert Sumlin, Johnny A, and John Mayall at the original House of Blues. As a recording producer/engineer, he has worked with the Pixies, Scott Barnes, and numerous other acts. He has released several solo CD's including Morning Blend, Breakout Blues, Studio Party, and A Christmas Walk. Jonathan holds a BA in english literature from Tufts, and was a faculty member for 17 years at the Brookline Music > School (1989-2006). Jonathan now teaches guitar privately, and appears regularly around NE both as a solo performer and with his band, Glory Bound. He lives in Waltham.

No silent treatment for this classic horror film

By Lisa Panora, Globe Correspondent | April 5, 2007

The Golem: How He Came Into the World
Live music by Walter Horn and Jonathan Fixler
The Regent Theatre
7 Medford St., Arlington
Saturday, 8 p.m.
$13.50 and $16.50
781-646-4849
regenttheatre.com

Movie soundtracks have existed nearly as long as movies themselves. Even silent films of the 1920s were both seen and heard by audiences.

"They were never really silent movies," said Arlington resident Walter Horn, keyboardist and composer. "There was always a live pianist or organist playing along with the scenes, causing the furor, stirring all the feeling of it."

In the early years, live musical performances were as essential to movie theaters as they were to any Broadway stage. Without the musical supplement, the emotional cues would have run dry and so, in turn, would box office sales.

That's why this weekend's screening of the 1920 German silent "The Golem: How He Came Into the World" will not suffer in silence. Before the Regent Theatre's cinematic backdrop, Horn and fellow musician Jonathan Fixler will perform an original music soundtrack written for the film.

The score was a collaborative effort by Horn and former Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas, who was unavailable for this screening. The two previously performed their soundtrack at New York's Knitting Factory, Minnesota's Walker Art Museum, and in Munich, at John Zorn's Art Projekt Festival.

"Gary and I were childhood chums. We were neighbors growing up in Syracuse, New York, and big horror-movie buffs," said Horn. "Writing the score for a silent film was just another way for us to express ourselves as musicians, and this was the perfect movie for us to score."

"The Golem," which is considered a Frankenstein predecessor, is the story of a rabbi who molds a giant creature from clay and brings him to life in order to protect the Jews in Prague from persecution. The creature becomes increasingly uncontrollable and eventually turns on its creator.

While the movie takes place in 16th-century Prague, this soundtrack lends itself to a more contemporary approach. With its dizzying mixture of musical styles, the score draws on everything from King Crimson to classic musical composition, from avant garde improvisation to bluesy American guitar.

"We didn't go the route of ethnic music. Instead we tried to avoid being tied to any particular style or time," said Horn.

"In the end it's a horror movie, and we want to enhance that aspect."

Horn creates a wide variety of sound effects using a synthesizer and effects processor, while Fixler, a professional musician for more than 20 years, will alternate between two electric guitars.

Beyond an ordinary horror movie, Horn pointed out, the film is layered with cultural and social complexities.

While Jews are the main characters, they are portrayed as "mystical, otherworldly people. It's a bit creepy," Horn said.

"The clash of cultures is certainly very relevant today and how groups with different practices relate to each other."

Accompanying the film, to augment its cultural and social significance, will be an introduction by Sabine von Mering, executive director of the Center for German and European Studies at Brandeis University. She will also answer questions after the screening.

This will not be the first time the Regent screens a silent film with live musical accompaniment. Its most recent revival was "Faust," another silent from the German expressionist era.

"We're the ideal setting for something like this because we have a big stage and a big screen -- that, combined with good acoustics and good sound system," said Leland Stein, the Regent's marketing and booking manager.

"What we're competing against is not so much the other venues but people in their homes who have access to their computers, movie rentals, and video games," Stein said. "They don't have to go out for entertainment. They don't remember what it's like to see a live show. Screening silent films with live music has allowed us to look at old-fashioned entertainment in a bigger and better way."