I first read about the golem in a list of all the monsters from popular culture. The main ones were the likes of Dracula and Frankenstein (as well as title characters from 1950s sci-fi/horror flicks), but it included the golem, and listed the golem's origin as Prague. I later learned the story of the golem from a book about how a rabbi supposedly animated one to protect the Jews from pogroms in Central and Eastern Europe. A "Simpsons" Halloween episode even had a segment about a golem.Well, it should come as no surprise that there have been a couple of movies about golems. The first one that I've seen is the corny but enjoyable "It!". Roddy McDowall - with his name misspelled in the credits - plays an assistant to a museum curator in London. When they find a mysterious statue, the assistant realizes that he can animate it and make it obey him. But power has a price.Mostly a silly movie with one element ripped off from "Psycho", it's nonetheless fun. And damned if Jill Haworth isn't a babe! Basically, it's a nice way to spend an hour and a half. I suspect that they had fun making it.

*Spoiler/plot- IT! (Golem) 1967 In England, a museum gets a large like- size medieval era statue. A corrupt young and aggressive museum clerk finds the statue's amazing secret power. the clerk uses it to murder his supervisor's to gain a higher position. Tragic endings occur to all involved.*Special Stars- Roddy McDowell*Theme- Dark occult magic should not be played with to further selfish ends.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W, British, European. a remake of a many re- made film from the silent era.*Emotion- I wonderfully watchable and intriguing plot. Very spooky and memorable scenes showing the magic stature in all it's evilness. The leads performers play their parts very well. And McDowell's museum clerk has a 'Hitchockian' death mother's 'twist' ala Hitchcock's 'Psycho' in this film. Good and entertaining film and would like to own a copy of it. *Based On- The Hebrew Golem Medieval legends.

I saw this film in the theater when It came out when I was 11 years old. I'm surprised how much I remember of It after viewing It over 40 years later. The basic premise is if a Norman Bates type character(Roddy Mcdowall) had a Golem to do his bidding. It scared me in 1966 and its great fun to see again. The Golem reminds me of the tree creature in "From Hell It Came", great Saturday matinée movie fun. Roddy McDowall is always fun to watch and would have made a passable Norman Bates. His character in It, Arthur Pimm , Is sometimes crazed, sometimes remorseful, sometimes sad and definitely quite madly insane. The writer/director was also responsible for penning the "Fiend Without A Face", which still holds up as one of the most frightening movies of the 50's.

This sure is a weird little horror film. In fact, there are not many real highlights -perhaps none- I can find in it in terms of the issues that make a movie (budget, direction, script, camera work, photo, colour, locations, settings, edition, music, cast ...). However, every time I catch it on TV -always by chance- I get hooked up and can't help watching it till the very end. I really couldn't say why.This unpretentious not scary horror film, sort of silly too, has a strange fascination on me. Roddy McDowall's preserved dead mother on a chair is not original ("Psycho" was first and better by far); the Golem is no big deal as a monster and doesn't even look menacing enough; no frightening situations really; McDowall has done many better jobs in his career and though Jill Haworth is a beautiful woman no doubt she is not quite my type. In fact the only interesting sequence I can rescue out of "It!" is when the stone arms of the Golem appear in different positions between shots at the museum in front of an amazed Arthur Pimm (Mc Dowall).A great film? not at all; a good film? not in my opinion; a watchable one? I wouldn't say that either. Yet I don't know why I am interested, perhaps because I find it sort of original and really odd. Who knows?