The directors Influence On: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

I am going to write a short overview of the formalist film 'the cabinet of dr. caligari' and comment on the directors influence on the film. I will look at a number of features of the film, including camerawork,mis-en-scene, plot, sound and lighting.

A 1920s silent film directed by Robert Wiene. 'the cabinet of dr. caligari' was at the fronteir of the german expresionism movement and is one of the earliest and most influential films of this genre. Critics comment on how 'dr. caligari' has influenced the film noir genre and is known to be one of the earliest made horror films.

The plot follows the story of a deranged Doctor and his sleepwalking partner, they both are linked to a number of murders in a small german town. The story is told by a sequence of flashbacks from the perspective of francis.

The setting is mainly situated in a fair ground. The backdrop is almost sereal, the set is distorted and has a big part to play in contrubuting to a artistic formalist setting, which is displayed frequently throughout. Irregular shaped shadows and eerie manic music also adds to the insain atmosphere created by the director. The set director used techniques to create this mentalist set e.g. flat back drops and painted on shadows on the set walls.

The director Robert Wiene and writers Carl Mayer and Hanz Janowitz, lived in post world war one Germany, during a very unstable period when Adolf Hitler was atempting to secure control over germany. The writers of the plot were heavily influenced by there past experiences. Carl Mayer and Hanz Janowitz were working together to create the story to 'dr. caligari' and met in berlin, Mayer experienced sessions with a cycotic military pychiatrist after the war which he said influenced the character, dr. caligari. Janowitz also included personal experiences in the film, once when he left a fair ground he said he glimpsed a strange figure in the dark, the next day a woman was found dead near the same area. The film created a feeling of mystery and depression which related to the times they all lived in, it dealt with many important political issues in a diverse formalist way.