Das Cabinet Des Dr Caligari (UK)
Robert Weine`s Classic German Horror Film
Certificate: U
Running Time: 72 mins
Retail Price: £19.99
Release Date:
Content Type: Movie
Synopsis:
In the little village of Holstenwall on the Dutch border, fairground hypnotist Dr Caligari (Werner Krauss) puts on show a somnambulist called Cesare (Conrad Veidt) who has been asleep for twenty-three years. At night, dressed in a black body-stocking and with a ghostly white face, he slithers through the town murdering people on the doctor`s orders. A student (Friedrich Feher) has his suspicions about Caligari after a friend is found dead and it transpires that the doctor is the director of a lunatic asylum. The story also has a sting in the tail added by the producer!
This classic German horror film was inspired by the unsolved murder of a girl during a carnival. Fritz Lang was approached to direct but was too busy. The task was undertaken by Robert Wiene who hired Expressionistic designers Hermann Warm, Walter Roehrig and Walter Reimann, all affiliated to the magazine Sturm, to design the innovative painted sets that included distorted perspectives, twisted shapes and sharp angles. The idea was to try and expand the cinema beyond its obsession with re-creating reality.
The finished film originally released with an elaborate green, brown and cold blue tints thrust German cinema to world prominence and had a tremendous influence on cinematic art worldwide and has a quality that still impresses today. Wiene tried to repeat his success in later years, but failed miserably.
Special Features:
Photos, advertising and art
`Genuine` (Tale Of A Vampire) featurette
Commentary
Video Tracks:
Standard 1.33:1
Directed By:
Robert Wiene
Written By:
Carl Mayer
Hans Janowitz
Starring:
Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Rudolf Lettinger
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
Lil Dagover
Friedrich Feher
Conrad Veidt
Werner Krauss
Director of Photography:
Willy Hameister
Costume Designer:
Walter Reimann
Production Designer:
Hermann Warm
Walter Röhrig
Walter Reimann
Producer:
Erich Pommer
Rudolf Meinert
Distributor:
Eureka Video
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