Details

Movie Description In this silent, classic example of early German expressionism, this cinematic landmark relates the stylized tale of a Dr. Caligari, a fairground showman who hypnotizes an innocent villager--turning him into a sleepwalking "zombie"--and compels him to carry out fiendish murders. Inarguably a landmark in world cinema, Robert Weine's one-of-a-kind thriller features fantastical, heavily stylized sets, antirealist acting, and evocative subjective camerawork.
Synopsis A classic example of early German expressionism, this cinematic landmark relates the stylized tale of a fairground showman who murders innocents through his hypnotic control of a sleepwalking "zombie". A must see; the twist ending is legendary.
Film Notes A silent film.
Producer Erich Pommer originally hired Fritz Lang to direct, but when Lang's busy schedule kept him from working on the film he was replaced by Robert Wiene. Pommer is responsible for writing the film's famous surprise ending.
The film's production cost is estimated at under $20,000.
DVD Features:
Region 1 Keep Case Full Frame - 1.33
Industry Reviews "...Exhibit A for the whole German Expressionist movement....A classic." -- Rating: A Entertainment Weekly - p.69 - Steve Simels
"...This is an impressive color-tinted rendering of the German silent classic..." USA Today - Mike Clark (05/24/1996)
"...One of the first -- and still one of the greatest -- psychological horror movies..." Total Film - Alan Morrison (12/01/2000)
"...[An] eerie classic..." Sight and Sound - Geoffrey Macnab (04/01/2001)
Quotations "See the sleepwalker, floating down the street, ripped from some nightmare! A street of misshapen houses with brooding windows, streaked by dagger strokes of light and darkened by blots of shadow! You will immediately feel the terror in the movements of that floating grotesque!" -- from the American advertising campaign for "Caligari".
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