The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) - 10/10

First Viewed: 4/1/08
Directed by Robert Wiene
Written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer
Starring Friedrich Feher as Francis, Werner Krauss as Dr. Caligari, Lil Dagover as Jane, and Conrad Veidt as Cesare

This film is best understood with some background, which my film professor thankfully provided. Germany was suffering from the death of millions of its youth and the debilitating Treaty of Versailles after World War I. German Expressionism, an artistic style that focused on the dark, fearful, and paranoid parts of people's imaginations, understandably gained widespread adoption. Writers Janowitz and Mayer had plenty of personal experience that meshed well with German Expression. A creepy rape and murder had taken place in a town recently; they had recently seen a strange sleep-walking man at a fair give prophecies to patrons; they had been scarred by their involvement in war and had terrible experiences with doctors.

Out of their experiences came The Cabinet of Caligari, an outstanding silent film that uses German Expressionism to wonderful effect. The film begins with our protagonist, Francis, recounting his story to a friend. The film transitions to a flashback and we suddenly enter an alien world. A creepy man named Dr. Caligari opens a booth at the town fair where he displays the even scarier Cesare, a tall, wiry somnambulist - a chronic sleepwalker - who predicts dire outcomes for his customers and subsequently kills them, at the behest of Dr. Caligari, in the middle of the night. Needless to say, Francis and his love interest, Jane, are threatened by this terrifying entity.

Much of the film's impact comes from the brilliant use of the mise-en-scene during the flashback. The sets are extremely angular with shadows and light actually painted into the wood itself. The costumes and makeup are eccentric yet perfectly at home in this bizarre setting. The best analogy is that this art direction is the precursor of Tim Burton's work. All of the actors give brilliant performances, using a slower, more exaggerated movement that was typical of German films at this time.

Mayer and Janowitz's work is at once an intriguing murder mystery, a love story, an exploration of people's obsessions, and one of the first horror films. The entertaining story, in combination with the visual and thespian brilliance, makes this one of the best films of the silent era.

Rant - Stupid DVD's:
Kino, the distributor of many older films, sucks. First of all, the DVD itself is not well mastered. Edge enhancement, the equivalent of the "unsharp mask" in photoshop that seems to make lines "sharper" while actually obscuring fine level detail, is sadly abundant, covering up much of the film in a digital haze.

Worst of all is the score, a "modern" interpretation of the film complete with synthesizers, bad bass guitar, cheesy classic guitar riffs, and saxophones. The composers do not know anything about subtlety as they use the loudest, most obnoxious use of the aforementioned instruments during the most suspenseful scenes, which are visually arresting in their own right. The result is a horrendous, distracting collection of noises that actually takes away from the film and manages to make most of the film's creepiest moments corny. I'm surprised that my professor didn't run up to the receiver and mute the film ASAP. This DVD gets a 0/10.