Country: Germany
Released: February 26, 1920
Genre: Horror
Directed by: Robert Weine
Produced by: Rudolf Meinert
Written by: Hans Janowitz
You know, I could start this off with a joke about Europeans and avant garde expressionist cinema, but that's been done so much it's practically hack. So I'll just say this:
The Germans don't fuck around.
This is it. One of the big ones. One of the films that almost everyone's heard even if few know much about. One of those films that is taught in every film class. One of those movies that completely changed the game.
This is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
Regarded as the first "true" horror movie The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is mostly told through flashback, as our protagonist Francis (Friedrich Freher) recounts his encounter with the famed Doctor Caligari (Werner Krauß), a Danny DeVito-eque man who runs a carnival stand where he exhibits the creepy somnambulant Cesare (Conrad Veidt), who supposedly never wakes except when goaded by his master. When a series of murders start ravaging the town Francis discovers that Caligari, who turns out to be a local insane asylum director, is manipulating Cesare to kill. Francis rounds up the local police to arrest the Doctor only for it to be revealed that he was a delusional madman interred in Calagari's asylum the whole time. What a twist!
Damn, where to even start? Let me just say right off the bat that this is one of the most unique-looking movies I've ever seen. Every shot positively drips with atmosphere as characters traverse the twisted urban landscape of the village in a visual style reminiscent of Tim Burton's early work; in fact I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Caligari was a direct influence on The Nightmare Before Christmas or Beetlejuice. The film is a cubist painting come to life filtered through a gothic lens, and every single moment of it is gorgeously haunting. Even the characters are all sporting dark makeup to accentuate ghoulish features, emphasizing the nightmare world they're trapped in. Seriously I could spend an entire post, hell dozens of posts, just talking about how this movie looks, and the surreal dreamscape is actually complemented by the technology's limitations, as the black-and-white colouring accents the shadows and lighting. Hell, even the inter-titles use a customized font that twist the letters into eerie, jagged shapes.
This is truly a post-war film. Long gone is the whimsy of Méliès, now everything is seeped in the bleak cynicism following the apocalyptic destruction of the Great War. The film itself could actually be viewed as a critique of the war and the German leadership: Calagari is a clear representation of the German government, who manipulates the sleepy, unassuming German people, here symbolized by Cesare, into violence. In fact it is worth noting that Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, the film's writers, were both pacifists by the time they developed the film and had suffered considerably during the war, so this interpretation is generally regarded as fact.
The ending unfortunately undermines the anti-war critique by having Francis be revealed as insane, and according to Janowitz they were forced to modify the original ending and accommodate this twist. Despite its thematic dissonance however I actually enjoyed the twist, even though I saw it coming (Seinfeld Effect and all that). I thought it fit well within the established setting and was extremely chilling.
Damn though this movie really is beautiful looking. The first murder scene in particular, in which Francis' best friend Alan (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) is stabbed by Cesare is notably well rendered as the camera pans back and focuses solely on the two characters' shadows as they struggle for the knife.
The music was also fantastic. Now I'm not sure if the version I watched had some approximation to Giuseppe Becce's original score, probably not, but regardless to anyone considering watching Dr. Calagari I recommend finding the version restored by the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, the organization charged with maintaining and storing German films. The music they used is spooky as hell and unnerved me to my core, which is exactly what you want from a horror movie.
It's difficult to articulate what makes Dr. Caligari such seminal film since most greatness lies in its visuals, which feels redundant to try to describe. Long-story short The Cabinet of Dr. Calagari is easily the best film I've seen so far and without a doubt gets my recommendation. If nothing else look up some stills from the set just to get a sense of the aesthetic they've got going on, it absolutely deserves a look.
Released: February 26, 1920
Genre: Horror
Directed by: Robert Weine
Produced by: Rudolf Meinert
Written by: Hans Janowitz
You know, I could start this off with a joke about Europeans and avant garde expressionist cinema, but that's been done so much it's practically hack. So I'll just say this:
The Germans don't fuck around.
This is it. One of the big ones. One of the films that almost everyone's heard even if few know much about. One of those films that is taught in every film class. One of those movies that completely changed the game.
This is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
Regarded as the first "true" horror movie The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is mostly told through flashback, as our protagonist Francis (Friedrich Freher) recounts his encounter with the famed Doctor Caligari (Werner Krauß), a Danny DeVito-eque man who runs a carnival stand where he exhibits the creepy somnambulant Cesare (Conrad Veidt), who supposedly never wakes except when goaded by his master. When a series of murders start ravaging the town Francis discovers that Caligari, who turns out to be a local insane asylum director, is manipulating Cesare to kill. Francis rounds up the local police to arrest the Doctor only for it to be revealed that he was a delusional madman interred in Calagari's asylum the whole time. What a twist!
Damn, where to even start? Let me just say right off the bat that this is one of the most unique-looking movies I've ever seen. Every shot positively drips with atmosphere as characters traverse the twisted urban landscape of the village in a visual style reminiscent of Tim Burton's early work; in fact I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Caligari was a direct influence on The Nightmare Before Christmas or Beetlejuice. The film is a cubist painting come to life filtered through a gothic lens, and every single moment of it is gorgeously haunting. Even the characters are all sporting dark makeup to accentuate ghoulish features, emphasizing the nightmare world they're trapped in. Seriously I could spend an entire post, hell dozens of posts, just talking about how this movie looks, and the surreal dreamscape is actually complemented by the technology's limitations, as the black-and-white colouring accents the shadows and lighting. Hell, even the inter-titles use a customized font that twist the letters into eerie, jagged shapes.
This is truly a post-war film. Long gone is the whimsy of Méliès, now everything is seeped in the bleak cynicism following the apocalyptic destruction of the Great War. The film itself could actually be viewed as a critique of the war and the German leadership: Calagari is a clear representation of the German government, who manipulates the sleepy, unassuming German people, here symbolized by Cesare, into violence. In fact it is worth noting that Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, the film's writers, were both pacifists by the time they developed the film and had suffered considerably during the war, so this interpretation is generally regarded as fact.
The ending unfortunately undermines the anti-war critique by having Francis be revealed as insane, and according to Janowitz they were forced to modify the original ending and accommodate this twist. Despite its thematic dissonance however I actually enjoyed the twist, even though I saw it coming (Seinfeld Effect and all that). I thought it fit well within the established setting and was extremely chilling.
Damn though this movie really is beautiful looking. The first murder scene in particular, in which Francis' best friend Alan (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) is stabbed by Cesare is notably well rendered as the camera pans back and focuses solely on the two characters' shadows as they struggle for the knife.
The music was also fantastic. Now I'm not sure if the version I watched had some approximation to Giuseppe Becce's original score, probably not, but regardless to anyone considering watching Dr. Calagari I recommend finding the version restored by the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, the organization charged with maintaining and storing German films. The music they used is spooky as hell and unnerved me to my core, which is exactly what you want from a horror movie.
It's difficult to articulate what makes Dr. Caligari such seminal film since most greatness lies in its visuals, which feels redundant to try to describe. Long-story short The Cabinet of Dr. Calagari is easily the best film I've seen so far and without a doubt gets my recommendation. If nothing else look up some stills from the set just to get a sense of the aesthetic they've got going on, it absolutely deserves a look.
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