For my movie review, I watched The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) directed by Robert Wiene. This movie is a black & white silent horror film from 1919. In five acts it tells the story of Dr. Caligari and his spectacle, Cesare, who murders people at the fairs they travel to. This movie is considered to be one of the best in the film expressionist movement, and was the first film in the German expressionist movement.
In my opinion, this film is very well done. I enjoyed the use of the sets painted in an expressionist style, and thought that the black and white only added to the movie. The director used sets for all the houses, carnival rides, buildings, and background. They made the movie appear creepier and scarier than it would have with real houses, carnival rides, buildings, and backgrounds. At times there were color overlays (such as rose or yellow) on scenes, which added to the emotion of the scenes. The cuts between scenes were either jump cuts or black screens. For some of the black screens, they would zoom in on a certain person’s face with the rest of the screen being black, or they would make it like someone opening their eye and blinking. This also helped add to the horror aspect of the movie and make it more interesting and put together. The orchestral accompaniment suited the film, and only added suspense to the horror theme. The music seemed to match what the actors were doing, which helped keep the viewer engaged in a movie with no verbal dialogue. I liked the slides added with the words that the actors were supposed to be saying in the scenes.
The plot of the movie was clear, however it left the viewer concerned and wondering what would happen next. There were purposeful parts of the movie, such as someone else being accused for Cesare’s murders, to mislead the viewer into believing something else. At the end of the movie, the viewer learns that Dr. Caligari is actually the director of the local insane asylum. This made me question and understand everything that I had watched before this point in the movie, and also was slightly confusing.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and would recommend this movie to others. It may not, however, appeal to people who do not enjoy or cannot appreciate silent horror movies.
Works Cited
The Most Interesting Blog Ever 