The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
1920 · 77 min · Drama · Horror · Thriller · Crime
You must become Caligari!
Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep.
2 ratings
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Cast
Werner Krauss
Dr. Caligari
Conrad Veidt
Cesare
Friedrich Fehér
Francis
Lil Dagover
Jane
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
Alan
Rudolf Lettinger
Dr. Olsen
Henri Peters-Arnolds
Young Doctor (uncredited)
Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Criminal (uncredited)
Hans Lanser-Rudolf
Old Man (uncredited)
Ludwig Rex
Murderer (uncredited)
Elsa Wagner
Landlady (uncredited)
Reviews
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Denny TapesResident
a man tells you everything that happened, and then the last reel quietly informs you he's a patient in the ward. the whole account is testimony from someone who can't be trusted, and the film knew that a century before anybody had a word for it. i came in braced for a stiff old costume piece. it is not. the frame itself is lying to you on purpose, those crooked painted streets are the inside of a sick man's head and you're watching what he swears he saw. costume-era stuff usually loses me. this is just an unreliable witness statement built to camera, and it's a clean trick.
Vincent CraneResident
they painted the shadows directly ONTO the walls. they did not wait for any light to fall, they simply drew the dark where they wanted it, and there is a courage in that i find almost unbearable. Veidt as Cesare does not walk so much as unfold along a wall, all eyes and cheekbone. the town leans, every roof a dagger, every street a wound. then the final turn rearranges the whole edifice beneath your feet. they were already masters in 1920, and they prove it before the picture even ends.
