The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari

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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, and directed by Robert Weine. It was produced in 1919 by Erich Pommer for Decla-Bioscop. 1919 was a year in which the movie industry was transformed into a giant industry (Robert Wiene, 1919).Although the movie was produced in 1919, it was not released in the United States until 1921. A time when film makers were out to prove that film was indeed art. In the year1921, 525 films were released out of those 525, 50 still exist today; one of those 50 is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. At the time of its release in America, horror films were virtually unheard of because filmakers felt that the subject matter was tasteless or even repulsive, not to mention difficult to adjust to the silent screen. The first horror film on record was Frankenstein in 1910. Elements from Frankenstein is evident in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (F.W. Murnau, 1922). When the demonic somnambulist Cesare creeps into Lil Dagover's bedchamber, director Robert Wiene was exploiting a fear common to us all. The sleeping woman is utterly helpless. She is carried off into the expressionist labyrinth that Wiene used to symbolize the darkest torments of the human mind and soul. A beautiful woman is carried off by evil, a play on the Beauty and the Beast themes that would become so popular in horror films. Used expressionism, films that explored dream, nightmare and psyche and that found their narrative shape determined less by action than emotion. Used angular sets and heavy shadows to develop a macabre and horrific atmosphere for its tale of murder and madness. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari intentionally uses sets that look artificial. Whether a painted backdrop or a more malleable prop though, all of Dr. Caligari’s aesthetics share the same otherworldly values. Created

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