Dans cabinet des dr caligari.pdf
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Transcript of Dans cabinet des dr caligari.pdf
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Kym Mumford Space & Environment
Robert Wiene (1920) Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari is a silent
German horror film made in the 1920’s. It’s
thought of as one of the most influential
German Expressionist films and can be
argued to be one of the greatest horror
films of the silent era. In the words of
Francis Reidlight “The most important film
in horror. Moody and shocking this chiller is
the height of German Expressionist cinema
and the prototype for whole genres in
horror. Using violent contrasts of light and
shadow, surreal settings and distorted
camera angles to represent madness, chaos
and psychosis.” (Reiglight, 2006) Reidlight as
well as pointing out the possibility of this
film being one of the most important in
horror he highlights the chilling
environment that the story is set in, with no
right angles, dark shadows everywhere he
pointed out that the set is a huge factor in
what gives the viewer that uneasy feeling
they get from watching it.
The Film is a series of flashbacks of one of
the main characters in the film Francis. He
starts to tell the story of him and his friend
Alan who were both in love with the same
woman, Jane. The two friends visit a carnival where they meet Dr. Caligari and his somnambulist,
Cesare. Cesare is Dr Caligari’s attraction at
the carnival and he keeps him in a coffin-
like cabinet and controls him hypnotically,
stating that Cesare knows the answer to any
question about the future. Entranced by this
Alan asks Cesare how long he has to live, to
which Cesare replies that he will die before
dawn the next day. The prophecy is fulfilled
and Alan’s murder becomes one within a
series of murders. This leads to Francis
investigating Dr. Caligari, which he takes
personally and orders Cesare to murder
Jane. However so enraptured by Jane’s
beauty Cesare cannot bring himself to kill
her so instead carries her off pursued by the
Fig. 1 (1290)
Fig. 2
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Kym Mumford Space & Environment
townsfolk. After a long chase Cesare becomes too exhausted and dies. While this is happening
Fransic goes to the local asylum where he discovers Dr. Caligari is the asylum director. Through some
research he finds that the man known as “Dr. Caligari” became obsessed with the story of a mythical
monk named Caligari who used a somnambulist to kill people. Driven by his obsession Dr. Caligari
deemed himself “Caligari” and has since carried out his own string of murders. He is arrested and
imprisoned in his own asylum. A twist ending reveals that Francis’s tale was all fantasy and he is in
fact an inmate in the asylum and the man he believes to be Caligari is his own doctor.
Figure 2 is a film still from the film showing part of the eerie town that the whole story is set in. As
you can see there are no right angles all the buildings leaning in enclosing you, giving the viewer the
feeling of no escape. “Here the expressionist style is taken to extremes, and most of this early
horror movie plays against a background of twisted and tortured buildings and labyrinth like streets.
Forget everything you've ever learn about perspective and realism: more than anything else, this
quiet little town is a portrait of the human soul in an extreme condition. It is unsettling but also
eerily beautiful.” (Klingberg, 2003) But opinions differ and there are those that feel the film does not
live up to the hype, such as Alex Kittle “While dubbed a horror film, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari isn't
particularly scary; rather it works as a vaguely paranormal mystery with a cool twist but sub-par
writing. This is a silent film, which often leads to some over-acting and under-developed characters.
(Kittle, 2010) Kittle opinion could be viewed as one that is tainted by today’s cinema. The fast past
never ending twists in the story line, to then compare to a film like Dans Cabinet des Dr. Caligari is a
little unfair for at it’s time there would have been nothing like it. Overall the film has influenced and
inspired many including the likes of Tim Burton. It has in many ways faded into the past but has not
been forgotten and can be argued to be credited with the first twist ending that has influenced so
many films today.
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Kym Mumford Space & Environment
List of Illistrations
Fig. 1 (1920) http://www.steve-calvert.co.uk/pub-dom/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari.htm
Fig. 2 (1920) http://www.filmforager.com/2010/04/das-cabinet-des-dr-caligari-cabinet-of.html
Bibliography
Reidlight, Francis (2006) Messiah of terror In: IMDb.com [Online] At:
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur10625067/comments
Klingberg, Per (2003) Still makes for an interesting watch In: IMDb.com [Online] At:
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur2376060/comments?order=alpha
Kittle, Alex (2010) Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr Caligari) (1920) In: Filmforager.com [Online] At: http://www.filmforager.com/2010/04/das-cabinet-des-dr-caligari-cabinet-of.html