Robert Wiene (director)
Eureka (studio)
U (certificate)
77min (length)
16 January 2017 (released)
16 January 2017
Without any doubt one of the most influential horror films from the German silent movie era and a foreboder of truly horrific things to come, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920) was ground-breaking as it combined real-live actors and Expressionist-style distorted sets which were painted on canvas! Far from being just a morbid and disturbing tale a la Poe the film can be seen as a metaphor for the social and political climate of its time: the old order was on the verge of collapse and was replaced by chaos and uncertainty.
In the frame story a young man called Francis (Friedrich Fehér) sits on a bench in what appears to be either a park or a large garden estate. During his conversation with an elderly man he reveals a tale that happened to him some time ago while a young woman in a trance-like state passes the two men seemingly unaware of their presence. We are then told (in flashback) how Francis and best friend Alan (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) are in love with the same girl, Jane (Lil Dagover). They vow not to have a fall-out over their joint feelings and decide to visit the local fair. At the same time, a sinister stranger named Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss) arrives in Holstenwall with the intention of seeking a permit to exhibit his ‘sensation’ at the fair… a somnambulist called Cesare (Conrad Veidt) who, according to Caligari, has been in a sleep-like state for the past 23 years. Despite the local town clerk’s mockery, Caligari gets the permit though later that night the clerk is stabbed to death.
At the fair, Francis and Alan soon encounter Caligari and his sideshow attraction whom the doctor keeps in a coffin-shaped box and whom he controls via hypnosis. Caligari informs his audience that Cesare can predict their futures. Alan, trying to be clever, asks Cesare how long he will live, and receives the shattering reply “Until dawn.” Sure enough Alan finds his end that same night when he too is stabbed to death. The aforementioned Jane who also encounters Caligari during her search for her father is spared her life and is kidnapped by Cesare instead – from that point onward we know (though we guessed it all along) that Cesare is the murderer although he is only the puppet hypnotised and manipulated by the evil Caligari. Chased by the locals and exhausted, Cesare drops the unconscious Jane on the pathway and flees. Francis swears to get to the bottom of all this and he and the police investigate Caligari’s eerie cabinet and find only a dummy in the coffin. When Francis follows the Doctor he sees him enter the local lunatic asylum and it turns out that he is makes his way to the local lunatic asylum to find out whether a certain Caligari was one of the former patients, only to learn that Dr. Caligari is in fact the head of the asylum. Or is he?
Not wishing to give the plot away in case some of our readers haven’t seen the film I will reveal that the end holds an unexpected surprise and twist in store!
Dr. Caligari is portrayed to perfection by Werner Krauss. As for Cesare, Conrad Veidt’s entrance is the stuff of legend and who could ever forget the truly creepy scene in which his somnambulist slowly opens his eyes and gazes into the camera! Krauss and Veidt are the only actors whose mimic and movements appear as distorted as the painted sets while the rest of the cast move in a more natural way
(as natural as one can act in silent movies).
Nothing is explained at the end and it is up to us to decide what is reality and fantasy, dream and nightmare… or a nightmare that is yet to come for the German people who at the time this film was made were still recovering from the aftermath of the First World War. Everything in Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari is dominated by twisted and sharp-pointed angles, perhaps reflecting the warped psyche of a nation deeply traumatized and uncertain as to what the future will hold in store.
This ‘Limited Edition 2-Disc Blu-ray SteelBook’ presents the iconic masterpiece in its definite restoration and it is glorious to look at! Disc-1 also contains some interesting Special Features while Disc-2 offers the fascinating and highly informative documentary ‘From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses’. Furthermore included is an illustrated booklet.