The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari review
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. For those who know me you know about my love for horror films so once a month I’m going to review and discuss a scary flick. We’ll look at the classics, some new films, and I want your suggestions on what I should review. I’ll do my best to cover all the different genres within the genre – slashers, ghosts, monsters, etc.
SPOILER ALERT! – These will be reviews so if you haven’t seen the movie you’ll want to watch it first before you read this. Let’s do this.
THE cabinet of dr. caligari review
The first true horror film. That’s what Roger Ebert said about this film. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 German expressionist film that is world renowned for basically, well, everything about it.
A man named Francis sits on a bench telling a story as a troubled woman walks by – who is his fiancée Jane by the way. The film then moves into flashbacks, and we meet a man named Dr. Caligari arrive in Holstenwall and apply for a permit for the fair to display a sleepwalker named Cesare whom he feeds and keeps in a box. He is granted the permit but the man who does so is later murdered. While on display at the fair, Francis’s friend asks Cesare how long he has to live by which Cesare answers, “You’ll die at dawn” Well, he is later killed in the middle of the night. A man is later caught trying to murder a woman but says he is not involved in the previous deaths. Later that night, Cesare has gone out and broken into Jane’s home and attacks and chases her. He is later chased himself and dies. Francis looks into Cesare’s box and finds that a dummy had been placed in there to fool anyone looking for him. Meanwhile, Caligari has run off to hide in an asylum. Francis and the police begin investigating and learn that while Caligari is asleep, that he is actually the asylum director and obsessed with a previous story of a man in Italy named Caligari who used a sleepwalker to commit crimes as well and he is now doing the same in the present day. He is later subdued after trying to attack staff. The film is famous for its twist ending however when we leave the narrative that we have been following this whole time and find that Francis is the asylum inmate along with Jane and Cesare. Caligari is still indeed the director, and the film closes with him saying he can now help Francis.
This is a silent film made in 1920, it’s black & white, and has subtitles. It’s not your average on the couch watch on a streaming service. It’s most famous for the fact as mentioned earlier that it’s a German expressionist film. Really that amounts to everything being about a visual feel or style as opposed to reality on screen. This was big, big art in Germany after WWI and the rest of the world wanted to see it. Written by two anti-war writers it became a hit internationally. Dozens of themes emerge including the feel of needing a dictator or dominance which of course was happening in Germany at the time. Confusion reigns supreme in the piece as well as we are confused by this world we see and the ending.
The scenery and sets are very odd. This movie takes place in a very unusual world. Jagged sets with all kinds of sharp angles. Oddly shaped streets with bizarre architecture. Shadows and light were painted on the sets to give it more of its unique look. All these elements distort your reality and question what you see. It utilizes a lot of the pinhole dissolve which I am a big fan of. It’s unlike anything you have probably seen before. Other famous expressionist films are The Golem and the wonderful Nosferatu. I’ll throw in my personal enjoyment in expressionism to say that I love the work of the artist Edvard Munch. Everyone loves The Scream but check out his other work including Anxiety and Death in the Sickroom. Perhaps my favorite painting is The Starry Night by Van Gogh which is technically post-impressionism, but this is for another conversation.
This film did a lot for German and worldwide cinema. I’m not sure I still really get the whole weight of it but respect it for what it is. Spooky characters and great playing with light and shadows. Perhaps a bit overdramatic and too much of a stage play maybe. I recently watched it after not having seen it in probably more than a decade so thought I should talk about it and give it it’s due. Maybe that Ebert guy was right when he said it is the first true horror film. Whatever happened to that guy anyway…
Enjoy the trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAtpxqajFak