The Cabinet of Dr.
Caligari (1920)
(German: Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) is a German silent horror film
directed by Robert Wiene from a screenplay written by first-time screenwriters Hans
Janowitz and Carl Mayer.
Shortly after
World War I Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer met in Berlin, Germany and found that
they shared a common interest in film. They both share in the belief that the film
medium was the perfect medium to call attention to the rising pacifism in
postwar Germany.
Hans Janowitz
drew from an experience he had while attending a fair during 1913 in Hamburg.
He spotted a young woman as she disappeared in to a hedge followed by a man. He
then heard what he thought was the woman laughing and then saw the man emerge
from the hedge alone. The next day the newspapers reported that a woman's body
had been discovered at the fair and was apparently the victium of a brutal
attack. Janowitz, remembering the incident the night before, attended the
woman's funeral. There he recognized one of the mourners as the man he had seen
in the park and the man, it seemed to Janowitz, recognized him. These events
would haunt Janowitz for years to come.
Mayer had
just as disturbing experiences with a sadistic Army psychologist and a father
who gambled away the family’s money. His father then penniless, turned16-year-old
Carl is three younger brothers out of the house and then committed suicide.
Drawing from
these disturbing experiences and their mistrust of authority figures, the two young
men weaved an eerie tale of a mysterious stranger who enslaves an allegedly
psychic somnambulist (sleepwalker) in a coffin as a carnival attraction. Unconsciously
the two riders managed to create the character, Dr. Caligari, as a symbol of
the authoritarian repression they had both experienced.
Janowitz would later write:
"It was years after the
completion of the screenplay that I realized our subconscious intention, and
this explanation of our characters, Doctor Caligari and Cesare, his medium,
that is: The corresponding connection between Doctor Caligari, and the great
authoritative power of a Government that we hated, and which had subdued us
into an oath, forcing conscription on those in opposition to its official war
aims, compelling us to murder and to be murdered."
It is rumored
that German movie producer Erich Pommel tried to have Janowitz and Mayer thrown
out of his studio before the writers sold him on the concept of their story. They
managed to persuade Pommel to consider their story. The producer relented and agreed
to produce their film. Pommel later
explained his reason behind making The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
The German film industry made
'stylized film' to make money. Let me explain .At the end of World War I the Hollywood
industry moved toward world supremacy. The Danes had a film industry. The
French had a very active film industry, which suffered an eclipse at the end of
the war. Germany was defeated: how could she make films that would compete with
the others? It would have been impossible to try and imitate Hollywood or the
French. So we tried something new: the Expressionist or stylized films. This
was possible because Germany had an overflow of good artists and writers, a strong
literary tradition and a great tradition of theater. This provided a basis of good,
trained actors. World War I finished the French film industry; the problem for Germany
was to compete with Hollywood.
The film was
first offered to director Fritz Lang, in the early part of his career, who is
best known for directing Metropolis (1927) but for uncertain
reasons Lang left the project to direct another film and Wiene was then hired
to direct the film. Robert Wiene (27
April 1873 – 17 July 1938) was hired to direct the film. Wiene would later become
an important film director of the German silent cinema.
Hermann Warm
and painters Walter Reimann and Walter Röhrigto were hired to create the set
design. The trio of designers managed to convince Pommel that the lights and
shadows should be painted directly on the sets walls, floors and that the
background canvases should the placed flat behind the actors. This not only saved money but produced an
eerie effect that seemed to appropriate for the film.
The film
premiered at the Marmorhaus in Berlin on February 26, 1920 for a four week run
but the film proved so popular that it was held over for an extra week. Kenneth
MacGown, a New York film critic called The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) “The most extraordinary production yet seen.”
While the film did receive rave reviews in Europe and on the east coast of the
United States, it had a less than warm reception in Los Angeles. When Miller’s
theater attempted to open the movie on May 15, 1921 approximate 2000 protesters
demonstrated from noon and to 8 PM, the mob made up of members of the Hollywood
post of the American Legion, sailors from the Pacific Fleet, members of the
Motion Picture Directors Association and scores of wounded veterans and
outraged citizens carried signs that read “Why
Pay War Taxes To See German-Made Pictures?”
By nightfall
the demonstration had turned into a riot and local police and MPs attempted to
subdue the protesters but they were unsuccessful. Finally Roy H. Marshall,
adjunct of the Hollywood post of American Legion, announced to the crowd the
theater owner Fred Miller removed them from his program. He replaced The
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) with an American-made drama titled The
Money Changers (1920). To show their support the protesters swamped the
theater to see the new feature.
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