Critique Of The Cabinet of Dr.

Caligari

Tamala Garrett
English 376
Due 1/29/96

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was written by Hans Janowitz and

Carl Mayer,
and directed by Robert Weine. It was produced in 1919 by Erich Pommer
for
Decla-Bioscop. 1919 was a year in which the movie industry was
transformed into
a giant industry. Although the movie was produced in 1919, it was not
released
in the United States until 1921. A time when film makers were out to
prove that
film was indeed art. In the year 1921 525 films were released out of
those 525,
50 still exist today, one of those 50 is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
At the
time of its release in America, horror films were virtually unheard of
because
filmakers felt that the subject matter was tasteless or even repulsive,
not to
mention difficult to adjust to the silent screen. The first horror
film on
record was Frankenstein in 1910. Elements from Frankenstein are
evident in The
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

When the demonic somnambulist Cesare creeps into Lil Dagover's

bedchamber,
director Robert Wiene was exploiting a fear common to us all. Prone and
sleeping the woman is uttlerly helpless. She is carried off into the
expressionist labyrinth that Wiene used to symbolize the darkest
torments of the
human mind and soul. A beautiful woman is carried off by evil, a play
on the
Beauty and the Beast themes that would become so popular in horror
films.

Used expressionism, films that explored dream, nightmare and

psyche and
that found their narrative shape determined less by action than
emotion. Used
angular sets and heavy shadows to develop a macabre and horrific
atmosphere for
its tale of murder and madness. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
intentionally uses
sets that look artificial. The deliberate distortions were meant to
portray
what a tormented soul might perceive. German expressionism, known as
dada, and
surrealism rejected notions of reality, the German expressionist
movement,
modern art was underway. Used tilted sets, and twisted cardboard
trees. Light
and shadow were used to create a response, and get the viewer
emotionally
connected.

Two films imported from Germany named Passion and Sumurun starring
a
popular actress named Pola Negri opened the door for other German
imports. The
popularity of Negri and Caligari combined helped to create a small art-
house
market.

The expressionistic style was widely distrusted at the time but

even so was
copied by American directors looking to add European culture to their
films.
The style soon became so well known that a spoof was made of Caligari
in 1928
called The Life and Death of a Hollywood Extra which is a tale about a
Hollywood
extra whose dreams of fame and fortune are frustrated.

Caligari had a lot of effect on the content of future Hollywood

movies.
It's influence can be seen in later films such as The Bells (1925) and
Murders
in the Rue Morgue (1932).