The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Movie review on the film: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

     The movie, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” is a 1920’s German silent horror film. It was directed by Robert Wiene. The movie was initially released February 26^th, 1920. The basic plot of the story starts off with two men talking with each other (one older and one younger (Francis)) and they are distracted by a woman named, Jane walking nearby. After seeing Jane, the younger of the two men starts off a second conversation with the older man, which he claimed to be a “recollected” story. There is a carnival in town and Francis and his friend Allan are off to go see the somnambulist, Cesare and Dr. Caligari. After seeing the somnambulist, Allan has been told he has till dawn the next to live. At dawn the next day, Allan is found dead, just like the somnambulist predicted. During the rising action, there are multiple murders in the town which then leads to an investigation to Dr. Caligari and the somnambulist. The story ends with a thrilling conclusion.

     Personally, for a silent movie in the 1920’s, I thought that it had a very well planned and “thought out” story line. It had many twists and turns throughout the plot, especially in the end. If you don’t think about what’s going on throughout the story, it will seem very confusing when it’s over. I think this movie really makes people think about what just happened because it is told as something that “supposedly” happened in the past (flashback). The sets, characters and costumes were all very believable and realistic and went along very well with the storyline. Since this was a horror film, the sets were made to look crooked. This effect gives the audience an “eerie” feeling when watching the film.

     Like I explained in the above paragraph, for a 1920’s horror film it was a very good movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would recommend this film to anyone who would like a different perspective on film because it’s pretty different compared to modern day movies. It also has a pretty decent story line which I would think would be appropriate for all ages.