The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

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'"Dr. Caligari", "Caligari", and "Doctor Caligari" all redirect here. For the 1989 film, see Dr. Caligari (film).

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (German: Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari) is a groundbreaking 1920 silent film directed by Robert Wiene. It is one of the earliest, most influential and most artistically acclaimed German Expressionist films.

1 Plot Overview
2 Production
3 Responses
4 References
5 Notes
6 External links

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Plot Overview

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Image:CABINET DES DR CALIGARI 01.jpg 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 Caligari 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 love interest Jane, investigate Caligari and Cesare which eventually leads to Jane's kidnapping by the somnambulist. Cesare fails to kill Jane after her beauty captivates him but he proceeds to carry 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 colleages 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. An actual trip to the asylum reveals that Francis's flashback is actually his fantasy: Caligari is his asylum doctor, who, after this revelation of his (Francis') delusion, claims to be able to cure him.

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Production

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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 ending in which everything turns out to be a delusion from Francis was imposed on the director by the producers, who wanted a less macabre ending. Had this not happened, the story would have made clear that Caligari and Cesare were real and were responsible for the number of deaths.

Filming took place in December 1919 and January 1920. The film premiered at the Marmorhaus in Berlin on February 26, 1920.<ref>Robinson 47</ref>

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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 the Second World War, with Cesare the sleepwalker representing the German people who committed immoral acts during the war as a result of the influence of a more powerful individual.<ref>Kracauer</ref> 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".<ref>Elsaesser</ref> 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.

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References

{{cite book

| first=Thomas
| last=Elsaesser
| year=2000
| title=Weimar Cinema and After: Germany's Historical Imaginary
| chapter=
| editor=
| others=
| pages=
| publisher=Routledge
| id=
| url=
| authorlink=
}}

{{cite book

| first=Siegfried
| last=Kracauer
| year=2004 edition; 1947, original English translation
| title=From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film
| chapter=
| editor=
| others=
| pages=
| publisher=Princeton University Press
| id=
| url=
| authorlink=
}}

{{cite book

| first=David
| last=Robinson
| year=1997
| title=Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari
| chapter=
| editor=
| others=
| pages=
| publisher=British Film Institute
| id=
| url=
| authorlink=
}}

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