50) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

There are spirits all around us. They have driven me from health and home, from wife and child.

Director

Robert Wiene

Cast

Werner Krauss - Dr. Caligari

Conrad Veidt - Cesare

Friedrich Feher - Francis

Lil Dagover - Jane

As I've mentioned before, I set this blog up to review B-horror/thriller movies, obscure or obscure-er titles. I've bent that rule occasionally. But for the most part, I've held up this guideline pretty well.
As the horror genre has gained more respect and appreciation in recent years, it's only right to refer back to the movies that laid the groundwork.
Critic Roger Ebert called the 1920 silent German movie The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari the "first true horror movie."
This year marks the 100th anniversary of this movie. And in all that time, it hasn't stopped inspiring movie makers and artists. Maybe a lot of young cinephiles haven't heard of this movie. Maybe a lot of young horror fans haven't either. But it is not a movie to lightly brush over.
I feel presumptuous to critique this legendary cinematic story. I feel as though I'm daring to critique a work of Shakespeare if that Shakespearean work was a silent German expressionist horror film, as I sit at my clutter desk lined with Mad magazine paperbacks and other various geeky items making my desk more a shrine to pop culture than an actual work space. But, I'm doing it anyways.
As I'm 50 movies into my 1,000 days of horror, I wanted my 50th post to be something distinct and celebratory. I wanted to bring this movie the attention it deserves, especially for those who haven't heard of it, or haven't heard much about it.
I made it through 50 schlocky titles, I see this as a reward for myself before I venture forth through the remaining 950 movies...if I can make it through that many.
I've wanted to watch The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari for a long time. I just needed the right push to sit down and watch.
Film critic and horror fan James Rolfe from Cinemassacre recently released a video commentary about this movie. In his commentary he said, "If you haven't seen Caligari, now's a better time than ever."
As Rolfe points out, different releases of the movie through the years have different tracks, different title cards, etc. With the BluRay copy, he claims the movie is at its most original. So, that's what I wanted to see. I owe the movie that much.
I did come across a DVD released from Kino Classics. The movie is restored to its original release along with the German intertitle cards which match the surrealistic style of the movie. English subtitles were included on the bottom of the intertitles, so I was reading words on top of words. But based on information provided on the DVD before the movie begins, this copy is an authoritative 4K restored version of the movie scanned from the mostly preserved film negatives from the German Federal Film Archive and other film archives.

Stylized German intertitle used in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. 

The movie opens with Francis (Friedrich Feher) sitting on a bench with another man, where Francis admits that spirits have forced him from his family.
As he's speaking, a dazed woman walks by. Francis says she is his fiancee Jane who has suffered a lot just as he has.
The film shifts into a flashback of Francis's past in the town of Holstenwall, which is preparing for a fair.
The town is a composed of nearly insane imagery with painted shadows, abstract buildings, alleys that weave around corners and out of site. It surely stems straight out of someone's vivid nightmare? It feels as though there's something subtly sinister hidden beneath the details.
In the meantime, an old man named Dr. Caligari is seeking a permit from the town clerk to showcase a somnambulist (i.e. sleepwalker) named Cesare (Conrad Veidt) at the fair.
The clerk is completely rude to him, but still gives Caligari the permit. Later that night, the clerk is found dead in his bedroom.
Later, Francis and his friend Alan attend Caligari's spectacle. A box in the shape of a coffin stands upright on stage, as Caligari reveals the thin, lanky Cesare asleep inside.
He awakens at the doctor's command, and Caligari invites anyone in the audience to ask Cesare whatever question they wish.
Alan speaks up and asks, "How long will I live?"
Cesare slowly turns his gaze towards Alan without a blink, staring intently at him for a few moments. He then says, "Until dawn."
Later that night, in one of the most appreciated horror scenes, a dark figure sneaks into Alan's bedroom while he's asleep.
The culprit, Cesare, raises his knife as Alan awakes horrified. We see Cesare's silhouette on the wall as he stabs his victim multiple times. And Alan's hands are raised in his last attempt to save his own life.
Burdened with grief, Francis investigates his friend's death with Jane's help, and that of her father, Dr. Olson.

Dr. Caligari (Werner Kraus) and Cesare (Conrad Veidt).

Olson requests permission from the police to investigate Caligari's somnambulist, which he's granted.
Meanwhile, police apprehend a culprit who's witnessed attempting to murder an old woman. They find the potential murderer with a knife. He admits to the attempted murder, but when they press him on Alan's murder, he doesn't know what they're talking about.
Later that night, Francis spies on Cesare, watching him sleep in his coffin box.
At the same time he's doing so, Cesare sneaks into Jane's room and is about to stab her. She wakes up, and Cesare stares at her holding the knife above is head. He hesitates, and slowly puts the knife down.
He can't take his eyes off of her, and proceeds to kidnap her.
Cesare tries to drag her back to his abode as an angry mob gives chase down the street.
But he doesn't succeed. In a patch of gnarled black trees, Cesare, twisting in pain, and collapses.
The plot begins to twist and turn in such an iconic way for 1920, it's fascinating to think about.
The ending is not only a twist I didn't see coming, but the movie concludes on a cliff hanger. I honestly can't think of any other movie of this era that ended on a cliffhanger.
To say this movie is groundbreaking seems like an understatement, but that's exactly what it is.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is rich with anticipation.
With the use of distorted camera angles on top of an already impressive setting, these early filmmakers were thinking outside the norms of their day. It's commendable. And their reward is in the final film that's still highly praised and inspiring 100 years later. It's truly a horror movie among horror movies.
I watched this late on a Friday night with the lights off. Just the glow of the screen illuminated the living room. I put myself in this abstract setting. The movie is eerie with its hand-painted sets and the mood emanating from scene to scene.
This experience is precisely meant to pull audiences out of their reality and into a world that looks just like someone else's dream.

I wish I could go back in time and see how audiences reacted when this movie was first released.
I really took a liking to this horror movie, mentally placing it on a top shelf along with other true gems of the movie genre I heartily respect such as Freaks (1932), Frankenstein (1931), and The Exorcist (1973).
A few nights after I watched this and started drafting my thoughts, I had a dream about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I honestly cannot remember the last time a horror movie gave me nightmares.
Bravo, Caligari! Bravo!
Conrad Veidt was a veteran actor when he performed in this movie. He later went on to portray another iconic silent film character, Gwynplaine, in the 1928 horror classic The Man Who Laughs. His character later inspired Batman creator Bob Kane to create the Joker.
Veidt also starred in the movies Casablanca and The Thief of Baghdad. 
I get the impression that the actors in this film knew they were doing something completely unique, and put everything they had into making something they must have known was going to remain unique well into the future.
It's crucial that any person with a respect for the horror genre, or the art of films, watch The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It's a pioneer of a movie.

Here's to the next 950 movies...💀👻