The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

2007-01-29 00:40:13

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919, Ger., Robert Weine)


It would be hard to argue that any one artistic movement has meant more to a medium than German Expressionism has meant to film. And with such movements come its masterpieces. Sometimes one, sometimes more than one. Certainly one of German Expressionism in cinema’s greatest contributions has to be The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The film lures us into the story with its starkly colored, barely lit, odd angled painted background sets. A painted bolt of lightning up a set of dark stairs gives the illusion that the door to this world through which we are glimpsing characters can only be slightly ajar and crooked at that. We can see it all before us on screen. A world of shady mysticism clashes with reality to contort it and confine the light to streaks we may catch certain characters crossing through.

This must be the origin of the spiky punk hairdo. A shocking incongruity in an otherwise straight world. The world of Dr. Caligari pits itself around a love story that’s not too lovely. It was headed for lovely, and then the life-scarring events brought to the town fair a one Dr. Caligari and his somnambulist. A town fair with crooked staircases and an uneven merry-go-round (ala Hitchcock’s in Stranger On a Train) which we only see the top of and can only imagine the low angled close-ups on the evil horses’ larger than life buck teeth. Door frames are like uprighted trapezoids and there is nary a 90 degree angle to be had in the film other than the frame itself.

The diffused lighting and overall shadowy appearance of the film coupled with the starkly colored backdrops provided an effect that filmmakers have been imitating with lighting ever since. The shot of the soon to be attempted murderer slinking in the shadows from the top of the screen along a house and into the front door illustrates this world of shady characters inhibiting a love story/who-dunit. Out from the shadows comes a man with a large knife. He’s not even the murdered we’re after, we just happening to be watching this area of town because vigilance is in the air. The love triangle is pared down to a duo when we see Alan murdered in shadows up on the wall. Even poor Cesare, the somnambulist, is relegated to all black clothing with heavily shaded eyes and black matty hair leaving only his face, his outlined eyes and hands to be revealed.


The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is indeed a landmark film in the ‘ol cinematic canon and one should see it solely for that reason. It is a fascinating journey back in time to a world that seems like it’s been dead for 300 years, not barely100. Without specialized visual effects movies are known for today, this film pulls off such an awesome visual feat that it is purely eye candy. Such uniqueness is what is more and more of a rarity in today’s film. The artistic quality of this film is as palpable in the air as Louisiana humidity in the summer.

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