1920, Germany
Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
In a mad world mad visions abound, and nothing could illustrate that idea more clearly than writers Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer's silent German horror fantasy, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Set designers Walter Reimann, Walter Röhrig (soon after an F.W. Murnau favorite) and Hermann Warm create a beautifully gothic world of extreme angles, striking contrasts, and permanent shadows, which effortlessly absorb the story's odd characters. Director Robert Wiene's deliciously visual feast conjures a future amalgamation of Dr. Suess and Edward Gorey, most recently seen in the visions of Tim Burton.
Outstanding to their Hollywood contemporaries, early German cinema made an effort to utilize film as another artistic medium, rather than simply a portrayer of everyday happenings. This film of the Weiman Era is a striking example of the Expressionist movement, where reality and naturalism are secondary to deranged inner revelations. However, this artistic rebellion was not merely a tie to two-dimensional modern art, but also a stand against political authority. The story grew out of frustration against soldiers being sent off to fight in the madness of World War I. In an ironic and embittered twist, director Wiene altered the story so that a framework diluted the true madness, and allowed it to be merely the creation of one character's insanity. In the much-discussed book by Siegfried Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler, the author creates a link between films of this era easing the way for political power of Adolf Hitler, by diluting true intentions such as these.
Despite this sabotage of the writer's objective, the movie has become the precursor of an entire genre of horror movies to come. Emphasis on chilling images and grotesquely dressed villains are the trademarks of any good horror film, and more so if the story involves unexpected and frightening plot twists. Conrad Veidt is hauntingly memorable as somnambulist Cesare, the graceful sleeping beauty/murderer trapped in his own nightmare. (Ironically towards the writer's purpose, Veidt would later appear as a Nazi in Casablanca.) Werner Krauss portrays evil incarnate as the title's doctor, with every crease and snarl darkened in order to strike fear in all he meets. The film's hero, Francis, is played with true silent over-dramatization by Friedrich Feher (himself also a director).
Extras on this fantastic DVD include a photo gallery, footage from another film by Wiene (Genuine: a Tale of a Vampire), and a booklet with liner notes. The film transfer is clean, aside from a single line across the top of the screen. Dialogue cards have been recreated in English in the same style as the original. The film can be played either with music or with the terrifically thorough commentary by critic Mike Budd, which is not to be missed by true film fanatics.