Even though this is the perfect movie to be part of Cultarama, I've been avoiding its addition, mostly because an explanation of it is just too damned tiring. It's a really good film, but much like Eraserhead, this movie can be endlessly discussed and critiqued because of the sheer amount of plot vagueness and surrealistic symbolism involved. Y'know, the whole "Was it a dream/fantasy/real-life distortion/etc?" Made in 1920 Germany, it's a silent movie of course, therefore the lip reading you can usually do with American silent films is totally lost here because the actors are speaking in German. You have to rely on facial expressions and the rarely given, overly simple, written text frames to make heads or tails of this incredible dreamland of a movie.
The most dreamlike aspect of all has got to be the sets, which are totally bizarre. Mostly made of paper. There are crooked houses, warped streets, and the trees look like cheap silhouettes made from cardboard. Probably one of the cheapest sets ever made, yet it's so mesmerizing in its puzzling appearance which I have to believe was done on purpose because it really enhances the strange atmosphere dramatically and definitely gives you the feeling of being in a dream, fantasy, delusion, or whatever this movie is supposed to be.
The bare bones of the story are this: Francis is sitting on a bench telling someone his story. A glassy-eyed woman drifts in front of them, Francis remarks that this is his fiancee. One look at her and you know somethin' ain't right though. Francis tells the story of how he and his best friend Alan are in love with the same woman, Jane.
A creepy carnival (is there any other kind?) then comes to town. And traveling with this carnival is a strange old man named Dr. Caligari, presenting as his exhibit, a somnambulist (a sleepwalker) named Cesare who has been sleeping for the past 23 years. When awoken, Cesare is able to tell you the future. Cesare, by the way, is one of the oddest-looking guys imaginable, with solid black eyes and a mouth that looks like a cross between Joan Crawford and Mick Jagger (HUGE!). Anyway, when Alan visits the carnival he asks Cesare "How long will I live?" Cesare informs Alan that he'll die by tomorrow morning. Naturally, Alan freaks. That night, Alan's fortune comes true when he is found stabbed to death. We see a fleeing shadow of the murderer who looks an awful lot like Cesare. Soon, Jane is kidnapped by a man that also looks like Cesare, yet Cesare's whereabouts are confirmed by police to have been sleeping in his cabinet/coffin/bed, whatever it is. This proves very puzzling until Cesare is inspected a little more closely by police and a dummy is found in the cabinet instead. Francis is enraged and chases Dr. Caligari who flees to an asylum. Francis asks if a patient named Caligari is a resident of the asylum, but is met with confusion and brought to the asylum Director's office. Guess who the asylum Director is... that's right, Dr. Caligari.
That night while Dr. Caligari is asleep, an investigation ensues. Francis and some friends raid Caligari's office and read his diary. They learn that his main course of study is somnambulism (sleepwalking). They also find a book containing information about a mystic, also named Dr. Caligari, who in 1703 toured with a carnival, exhibiting a somnambulist who he had enslaved into doing his bidding and committing crimes that kept many towns in a panic for months on end. Having the sleepwalker committing Caligari's crimes proved beneficial in relieving Caligari from being caught as the actual killer. In the present day, Dr. Caligari (his real name is never given) begins to obsess over his idol, the previous Dr. Caligari from 1703 who could make a sleepwalker do all his bidding. His diary reveals his desire to become Caligari and also his elation that a somnambulist has finally been committed to the asylum in which he is the Director. This means that he can finally study and unravel the secrets of how the original Dr. Caligari from 1703 succeeded in making somnambulists do his will.
The present-day doctor's plans are finally discovered, he is put in a straight jacket and hauled off to his crooked paper cell.
In the next scene, we see what seems to be the inside of the asylum. Francis is there telling another inmate not to talk to Cesare or you'll end up dead. He then asks a comatose Jane to marry him. She responds with a nonsensical answer that only an asylum inmate would come up with. When the doctor approaches, Francis exclaims "I'm not crazy, he IS Caligari!" The doctor then mumbles something to himself about how he now knows what the cause of his mania is and how to cure him.
OK, so we're left asking ourselves... Was Francis also an inmate at the asylum? Did he simply fabricate a story using other inmates as the characters? Was the present asylum Director really obsessed with an old mystic named Caligari? Was Francis just displaying his own insanity by accusing the Director of being the real Dr. Caligari? Who exactly is the insane one? My guess is that it's made up of a little of all of these possibilities. Whether it makes sense to you or not, it's still a cinematic masterpiece.
Made in 1920, it's often regarded as the first horror movie. It isn't really that frightening, but for the time it was released, it was probably pretty disturbing, and a cerebral twist ending like that was not at all common in films. The sets definitely give you that surrealistic dreamlike sort of feeling and are sometimes almost dizzying because everything is straight-lined but at completely crooked angles.
Common sense tells you that this was obviously a black-and-white film when it came out, but on the DVD release, almost every scene is tinted by a wide range of colors. Tense scenes were tinted brown, tender scenes in pink or purple, and asylum scenes in various shades of blue. This colorization technique is subtle, effective, and works so well, whereas a full colorization might be fun, but would completely destroy the feel of the story.
Overall, it's one of the most artistic and beautifully conceived movies I've ever seen. A little confusing, but what a boring world it would be if every movie was plainly explained and bluntly predictable. Being quite the opposite, this movie can be watched and discussed over and over again. And possibly with the right drugs, it could actually make sense.
A side note for Rob Zombie fans, Zombie used this film as his inspiration for the video for his hit song "Living Dead Girl". He plays Caligari and his wife Kitty plays a combination character of Jane and Cesare.
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