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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

35. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI

35. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
(1919)
Director Robert Wiene

Here we have the oldest film on the list and it's the first true horror masterpiece. The silent era was a period of constant innovation as filmmakers wrestled with the constraints of the new medium and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" was a monstrous leap forward. It was completed in the bloody wake of the First World War when all manner of convention-smashing artistic waves came emanating off the ravaged European continent, from the cubism of Picasso to the dissonant musical experiments of Schoenberg and Stravinsky. "Caligari" found it's inspiration in the expressionistic movement and it's distinct style would have a huge influence on horror films to follow, especially the celebrated cycle of Universal monster movies made in the 1930's (particularly the Frankenstein pictures directed by James Whale). But none of those movies that followed dared to replicate the extreme appearance of Wiene's world. The action takes place in a dream landscape, filled with warped angular buildings and painted shadows intended to be visual manifestations of the disordered mind. This incredibly stylized universe is the backdrop for a yarn about a magician (Werner Krauss) and his star attraction the somnambulist (Conrad Veidt) who slumbers in a coffin shaped box. The magician sends his sleeping meal ticket on nocturnal missions to carry out murders. This is necessary viewing for any horror fan and ladies with morbid leanings are sure to swoon at the sight of the insect thin and strikingly handsome somnambulist.

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