The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920 film)
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- ''"Dr. Caligari", "Caligari", and "Doctor Caligari" all redirect here. For the 1989 film, see Dr. Caligari (film). For the 2005 remake, see The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (2005 film).
Plot Overview
The film tells the story of the deranged Doctor Caligari and his faithful somnambulist Cesare and their connection to a string of murders in a German mountain village, Holstenwall. Caligari presents one of the earliest examples of a motion picture "frame story" in which the body of the plot is presented as a flashback, as told by Francis.
The narrator, Francis, and his friend Alan visit a carnival in the village where they see Dr. Caligari and Cesare, whom the doctor is displaying as an attraction. Caligari brags that Cesare can answer any question he is asked. When Alan asks Cesare how long he has to live, Cesare tells Alan that he will die tomorrow at dawn — a prophecy which is fulfilled.
Francis, along with his girlfriend Jane, investigate Caligari and Cesare, which eventually leads to Jane's kidnapping by the somnambulist. Caligari orders Cesare to kill Jane, but the hypnotized slave relents after her beauty captivates him. He carries Jane out of her house, leading the townsfolk on a lengthy chase. Francis discovers Caligari is the head of the local insane asylum, and with the help of his colleagues discovers he's obsessed with the story of a previous Doctor Caligari, who used a somnabulist to murder people as a traveling act.
Cesare falls to his death during the pursuit and the townsfolk discover that Caligari had created a dummy of Cesare to distract Francis. After being confronted with the dead Cesare, Caligari breaks down and reveals his mania and is imprisoned in his asylum. The influential twist ending reveals that Francis' flashback is actually his fantasy: Caligari is his asylum doctor, who, after this revelation of his patient's delusion, claims to be able to cure him.
Production
Producer Erich Pommer first asked Fritz Lang to direct this film, but he was committed to other projects, so Pommer gave directorial duties to Weine.The producers, who wanted a less macabre ending, imposed upon the director the idea that everything turns out to be Francis' delusion. The original story made it clear that Caligari and Cesare were real and were responsible for a number of deaths.
Filming took place in December 1919 and January 1920. The film premiered at the Marmorhaus in Berlin on February 26, 1920.Robinson 47
Responses
Critics worldwide have praised the film for its Expressionist style, complete with wild, distorted set design—a striking use of mise en scène. Caligari has been cited as an influence on films noir and horror films; it is also often seen as one of the first horror films, a model for directors for many decades (including Alfred Hitchcock).Siegfried Kracauer's From Caligari to Hitler postulates that the film can be read as an allegory for German social attitudes in the period preceding the Second World War. He argues that the character of Caligari represents a tyrannical figure, to whom the only alternative is social chaos (represented by the fairground).Kracauer However, Kracauer's work has been largely discredited by contemporary scholars of German cinema, for example by Thomas Elsaesser in Weimar Cinema and After, who describes the legacy of Kracauer's work as a "historical imaginary".Elsaesser He also claims that Hitler took power after the movie's release thereby contradicting the notion of Caligari symbolizing Hitler. Elsaesser claims that Kracauer studied too few films to make his thesis about the social mindset of Germany legitimate and that the discovery and publication of the original screenplay of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari undermines his argument about the revolutionary intent of its writers. Elsaesser's alternative thesis is that the filmmakers adopted an Expressionist style as a method of product differentiation, establishing a distinct national product against the increasing import of American films.
References
Notes
Trivia
- In 1997, composer John Moran adapted the film for the stage. His "opera" The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was premiered at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, directed by Robert McGrath. [link]
- The 1999 music video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers hit single, "Otherside", was inspired by the film.
External links
- (1920)
- [Download The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari], which is in the public domain in the U.S., from the Internet Archive
- [The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari] - summary of the plot
- [Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari (1920)] - review
- [Caligari: A German Silent Masterpiece] - review
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