Movies You Should See Before You Die - The Cabinet Of Dr.Caligari (1919)

I thought id share my movie addiction by making this as a regular feature. So here we are and id figured is start with the classic silent surrealist horror: The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari.

The basic plot of the film is that the narrator recounts a macabre and twisted tale to another man .

Francis and his friend Alan are attendinga village fair where they see Dr. Caligari and His Somnabulist (sleepwalker) Caesare who we are told has been asleep for decades and can ansewr any question. Alan, rather overzealously,ask's when we he will die. Ceasar tell Alan he will die at dawn tomorrow. Unfortunatly for Alan, Cesare's prophecy turns out to to be all too true.

Francis and His Fiancee decide to investergate Caligari and Cesare, which leads to janes kidnaping because of there snooping. Caligari orders Casare to murder jane but Cesare cannot. He is over come by Janes beauty. He carries Jane out of her hoise and the towns people give a (slightly too long for my liking) lengthy chase.

Meanwhile Francis discovers that Caligari is the head of a local insane asylum and with some help from his collegues, find he is obcessed with a medieval Caligari who murdered people with a Somnabulist
Cesare is killed atr the end of the chaseand the townsfolk discover a dummy used to distratc francis.
Caligari breaks when confronted with Cesares body and is imprisoned in the Asylum he used to run.
Then comes what is possibly the first twist ending, the "flashback" Alan was recounting is actually his delusion
The man he says is Caligari turns out to be his doctor, and after hearing this tale, believes he can cure Alan.

The genius of this movie is in the completly warped visuals make you actually feel like your in the mind of a mental paitent.

At times it becomes tedious but most of the time its incredibly entertaining and at times scary. People watching this in 1919 must of beeen freaked out beyond belief! its incredible. The visuals remind me heavily of tim burton, and it must of been an influence on him.

For a silent movie its incredible, you dont miss the abscense of dialogue, the film is just so complete in itself. My only complaint with it is that often they do this weird phase out of all the frame except a strange oval around a person or object.

Recently a remake was made in 2005 which i honestly dont reccomend.

more movies next time :)