Director: Robert Wience Writers: Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer Release Date: March 19, 1921 Genre: Horror Thriller Tagline: You must become Caligari. Synopsis The ultimate of the German Expressionist cinema. "A tale of the modern re-appearance of an 11th century myth involving the strange and mysterious influence of a mountebank monk over a somnambulist." Directed by ROBERT WIENCE, whose career blazed into glorious obscurity after this magnum opus, owed much to the script, the skilled performers and most of all the set director. For this is the first film made that's worth attending to see only the backgrounds, props, and settings. Wild, distorted and created, the film makes no attempt to approach a realistic location for the story. Halls, walls, floors, mountains, are all blatantly artificial designs to create an atmosphere of foreboding and horror. Seldom will the viewer encounter reality (or even a right angle for the matter) and what of it? The audience appeal of the concept can be judged by the consistent irritation of the style by the entire German film industry for the next ten years - ending only when certain brown-shirted gentlemen decreed a new kind of horror. Shadows and lights are tangible things, as we follow the good doctor form his carnival sideshow exhibit into darker evil. Cesare, the sleepwalker, quietly rests inside "the cabinet" (a coffin) awaiting Caligari's bidding. Destined to be one of those films studied by those learning the art, the genius of ...
