The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Originally posted to Facebook on 1/13/2017

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was our second film from 1920, and, I think, our first German feature. It was also the first feature in this project that I had actually seen before in its entirety. It is, of course, famously bizarre and unsettling, with strange sets, slanted doors and windows, odd furniture, and ostentatiously unrealistic painted backgrounds. The only feature we’ve seen that is even close to this film’s artificiality is 1918’s The Blue Bird.

The plot concerns the hero, played by Friedrich Feher, who tries to prevent a sleepwalker named Cesare (played by Conrad Veidt) from terrorizing the city, at the direction of Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss), especially after his friend (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) and girlfriend (Lil Dagover) become targets.

So much has been said and written about this film that I’m not sure I have much to add. I think it largely lives up to its reputation; the acting is sometimes overwrought, and not every eccentricity pays off, but cumulatively it does capture a strange dreamlike state. The ending still feels like a mistake to me, but Ben did not anticipate it and I could hear him puzzling it out as he started asking questions while the film wound down. He brought it up a few times subsequently too -- so I guess it still has a certain power to fresh eyes. (Though on the flip side, the kids also noticed that Dr. Caligari was wearing white gloves, and for a while were reading the title cards in a Mickey Mouse voice, until I suggested that perhaps the joke had worn out its welcome.)

Next week we’ll watch our third film from 1920: The Penalty, with Lon Chaney. The list, as always, is here: https://bit.ly/2lZtfmT