'Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari'- Film Review (1-1)

'Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari'- Film Review (1-1)

[1211 words]

‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’, is a silent film, directed by Robert Wiene, written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, and released back in 1920 Germany.

The film explores the psychological torment and horror around a mysterious doctor, and his imprisoned somnambulist: Cesare… suspected of murder by main protagonist: Francis. Having lost his friend Alan in a visit to ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’, and fearing for the life of his future fiancée, Jane, Francis goes on a journey to find out the truth behind the murders. The film ends in a psychological twist, when the very authenticity of the main character is questioned. We see the initially suspected antagonist Dr. Caligari turning out to be the asylum director, and Francis, an inmate for the ‘clinically insane’.
Whether Francis is in fact right, and Dr. Caligari has managed to convince everyone that Francis is delusive, and paranoid… or is in fact suffering a genuinely debilitating disorder that alters his perception of reality… remains a non-decisive, and interpretive ending.
Regardless to the films plot ambiguity, however, there is undoubtedly insight into what was typically seen as ‘madness’ in 1920’s Germany, and how this was translated in the visual concept of the film.

The earliest influences for cinematic ‘horror’ dates were influences by expressionist painters and 1860s ‘spirit photography’ – as a means of visualising the intangible. The latter, involved the practise of faking the presence of ghosts using double exposures and superimpositions, to capture mysterious clouded figures, within a frame of film.
Though early tales (including the Lumière brothers film of a dancing skeleton – 1895), were referred to ‘Spook Tales’ up until 1930’s when the official name of horror immerged….George Méliès’s ‘Le Manoir du Diable’ (1896) included all the typical horror imagery seen as cliché in modern day cinema; bats, devils, witches, cauldrons, ghosts, troll etc.
In regards to media: ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ was a step away from existing conventions of terror and ‘spook tales’… away from the supernatural (photos of ‘ghosts’), and towards the more psychological side of horror- present today. Mental Illness prior to 1920 is a topic of obscurity… something that could be a product of the culture at the time. Examples of attitudes towards ‘insanity’ can be seen Sian Busby’s novel ‘The Cruel Mother’, recalling the events of Beth Wood (her great- grandmother) who’d drowned two of her children and was sent to Broadmoor. Though specific details might have questionable authenticity (with the time gap), and it being recalled by a secondary-source… Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum indeed, officially opened in Berkshire back in 1863. Mental institutions and it’s relation to prison and criminal asylums gives insight into how mental health was viewed by the public at this time, in Europe. The mental health act 1983, allowed ‘mentally disordered persons’ to be sectioned and treated against their wishes. The Ministry of Health Act of 1919 was established a year prior to the film, which established a Minister of Health to ‘secure the health of the people, including the treatment of physical mental defects’.

Victims of PTSD, a lot closer to home upon fighting in WW1, demanded a greater understanding of mental health. With limited understanding by authorities, (Dr. Jonathan Tom, 2005) “concept of citizen soldier” was introduced to help change public ideas around mental health. The period of time between the two world wars had Freudians Theory on psychological behaviour, help in the understanding of mental health. Talking treatments (as we see in ‘Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari’), was a change to psychiatry that encouraged out-patient treatment. Having this film in Germany also struck a chord with audiences, who could relate to the “puppet humans controlled by a sadistic madman”, as they suffered “from the economic consequences of war reparations, helpless in the face of spiralling inflation” (Wilson, 2016).

Cesare, the films first antagonist, is a sleepwalker with an elegant stance and gentle curve of the body, which seems to juxtapose unnervingly against the blank stare and unnatural stillness. When seeing him emerge through the window and gently step across the floor towards the films ‘Ingenue’, one could almost describe him as alien-like. Not quite fitting what’s expected of a male character in this time period… giving the film industry its first visualisation of mental health- as something that can be seen, and influential to concept design.

The set design itself is made of sharp, dis-proportionate angles, hinting at claustrophobia and possibly the emotional perception of the main characters. A visual representation of distorted reality- with distorted angles and unrealistic architecture born from the mind, than that of reality. Vocal Point and space play massive parts in this films means of communication. Particularly how Francis views the other characters, or perceives how others views himself.

Fig. 1

Additionally their arrangement and relation to nearby props/walls, help convey their progressing emotional states. See Fig. 1 and 2. Lines lead towards the center of the floor, where Francis stands. Perhaps an emphasis on his inner unease, assuming he feels conspicuous or unsure of his logic (which is only natural considering the plot has been shrouded to him, and the viewer alike, up to this point). Or perhaps to let viewers know we should be looking out for him in preparation for the sequence, later down the line, when the tables turn and we see our ‘beloved’ protagonist restrained, screaming his innocence, against life-long imprisonment.


Fig. 2



Fig. 3

They both work hand in hand (even today), regardless as to what Robert Wiene’s original intentions were. 

Fig. 4

This includes personal moments of contemplation where the characters are deep thought, or in moments of fear (when the character’s mental state blacks out as a means of self-preservation), as shown by the subject being isolated in black. The vignetting in two or more corners (though possibly a matter of filming equipment back in the 1920’s, as opposed to a conscious thought) helps give the illusion of internal space.

With Germany facing the horrors of post ww1, and the eve of the second world war… Expressionism emerged as an outlet of “the artist’s inner feelings or ideas over replicating reality” ('TATE', 2017). Particularly for soldiers, and the public who’d experienced psychological scars of war.

There are visual links from expressionism, to the intertitles, set design, and visual concept. See below (Fig. 7) Franz Marc’s use of sharp angles, and abstract imagery in relation to ‘Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari’s’ use of intertitles.

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

These are the three points that make up the most part of the films cinematography… using mental illness as a device of fear. 1920’s views of mental health (with expressionism, the aftermath of the war, and existing ‘treatments’) contributed to this visual concept. Though not staying true to cinematic prior representations of ‘horror’, (mainly supernatural before), it paved a new potential for subject- though being used only within the horror genre. The inclusion of mental health in film was an important starting point, but its inaccurate portrayal enforced existing stigmatisation. Additionally, (as mentioned by  Siegfried Kracauer, 1947), 1920’s audience saw it as “too high-brow to become popular in Germany”. Limiting who’d watched it at the time of release. Those who did see it also felt “it imitated a stage production too closely” (Kracauer, 1947), which was particularly troublesome for those who saw cinema: a new, emerging platform of art.

References
Book
Kracauer, Siegfried (1947). From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film.
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Videos
One Hundred Years of Cinema’, (2016), ‘1920: How The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) was the first psychological horror’, [Online Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIx-D47Mp_A [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Websites
Crabbe, Eoghan (2016), ‘The Shadow of German Expressionism In Cinema’, [Online]. Available at: https://www.filminquiry.com/german-expressionism/ [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
‘divadaniela’, (2012-2017), ‘Expressionist Film or Weimar Cinema?’, [Online]. Available at: http://cinecollage.net/german-expressionism.html [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Doll, Merrick (2010), ‘The Cabinent of Dr. Caligari’, [Online]. Available at: http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/The_Cabinet_of_Dr._Caligari [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Ebert, Roger (2009), ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920 [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Hanley, Erika (2015), ‘Perception of Mental Illness Based Upon its Portrayal in Film’, [Online]. Available at: http://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1608&context=honorstheses1990-2015 [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
‘IMDb’ (\), ‘Synopsis for The Cabinent of Dr. Caligari’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010323/synopsis [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Poseck, Beatriz V. (2007), ‘Asylums for the insane in the cinema: the representation of mental institutions and their procedures on the wide screen’, [Online]. Available at: http://revistamedicinacine.usal.es/en/volumes/volume3/num2/1015 [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017
Saporito, Jeff (2015), ‘Q: Why is “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” considered the definitive German expressionist film?’, [Online]. Available at: http://screenprism.com/insights/article/why-is-the-cabinet-of-dr.-caligari-considered-the-definitive-german-express [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
‘sberinhout3’, (2011), ‘My Analysis of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’, [Online]. Available at: https://lcc2500summer2011.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/my-analysis-of-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari/ [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
‘TATE’, (2017), ‘Art Term: German Expressionism’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/g/german-expressionism [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Toms, Jonathan (2005), 'Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War', [Online]. Available at: http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/488 [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Wendler, Sam, Ackley, Johnny and McCready, Lindsey (\), 'The Historical Evolution of Fear and Scare Tactics: Early Horror (20's)', [Online]. Available at: http://fearincinema.umwblogs.org/silent-films/ [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Wilson, Karina (2001-2016), ‘The Silent Era of Horror Movies’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.horrorfilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=1920s [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Roberts, Andrew (1981-), 'Mental Health History Timeline', [Online]. Available at: http://studymore.org.uk/mhhtim.htm#1920 [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Illustrations
Fig. 1 Wiene, Robert (director), Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari [Motion Picture]. Germany:
Fig. 2 'Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari' (1920), [Film Still]. Available at: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mayk1rZEuI1rvh840o1_1280.jpg  [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Fig. 3 'Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari' (1920), [Film Still]. Available at:
https://vaguevisages.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/werner-krauss-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari.png  [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Fig. 4 'Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari' (1920), [Film Still]. Available at:
https://i2.wp.com/vaguevisages.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/lil-dagover-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari.png?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1 [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Fig. 5 'Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari' (1920), [Film Still]. Available at:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7CqYC_vuSK1ScRM1HlTJ2TTzSf3ON4EEE_V6GqNBXgBKrfiQvgagYaLxJVFiEtoonBNQVAl9THFi-khjP8Mgb_DX459sQLzzBUaV5rIYzpyRDhnXzcS88uMJWXlauwLwFFdc8fmk43pM/s1600/caligari2.jpg [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]
Fig. 6 Marc, Franz (1913), 'Fate of the Animals', [Painting]. Available at: http://www.franzmarc.org/images/paintings/fate-of-the-animals.jpg [Accessed Date: 29/06/2017]