The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Last tuesday night was my first experience with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and I found it to be a very peculiar little film. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is considered one of the most influential German Expressionist films and one of the greatest horror movies of the silent film era. What I found most interesting about the film was the choice of set-pieces the director, Robert Wiene, employed to suggest an emotional state through each scene. The world of the characters, which is mostly told through the means of a flashback, is created with very stylized sets. The buildings and walkways are very jagged and angled, and the walls are never solid shades of gray, but rather are painted in brooding shapes and pigments. The hallway of the asylum is stands out to me as a great example. When you think of a real life asylum, you could probably imagine a very sterile environment, white walls, and a simple but organized design. In this film, however, the walls seem to be as insane and unstable as the patients they house. Intentional or not, Director Robert Wiene's set pieces create a very vivid idea of a dream (or nightmare) turned into reality for this film.