The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is the first film by Germany to be an Expressionist film. Authorities of an avant-garde movement believed that by using Expressionism in films (as they did in paintings, theater, literature, and architecture) this might be a selling point in the international market. The film proved that to be true and because of its success other films in the Expressionist style soon followed.
Siegfried Kracauer discusses The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in his thesis. I will discuss what Kracauer states in his thesis. I will also discuss the changes made to the original story. Finally, I will state what the expressionist elements are in the film.
The film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, is written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer based upon their shared experiences. Kracauer states "Janowitz calls himself 'the father who planted the seed' and Mayer 'the mother who conceived and ripened it'" (347). Mayer chose his main character, the psychiatrist, to be like his archenemy during the war. Janowitz while skimming through a volume called Unknown Letters of Stendhal noticed the name of an officer named Caligari. He and Mayer liked that name for their character, so they used it. After that both authors finished writing the story and they submitted the script to Erich Pommer, chief executive of Decla-Bioskop an independent production company, who accepted it immediately. Pommer assigned Fritz Lang, an Austrian director, to film the story. Lang, going against the author's wishes, convinced Pommer to add a framing story to the film. Lang thought that by changing the reality frame it would enhance the Expressionistic elements of the mise-en-scene in the film. It also converts the body of ...
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...s the police sitting on the high chairs in the police station. Weine uses balanced composition in the film. For instance, Francis is in the police station talking to the police. In this scene Francis is in the middle and on both of sides there are equal amounts of policemen, stools, and triangular window.
In conclusion, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a film that with its "Expressionist stylization functions to convey the distorted viewpoints of a madman" (Bordwell and Thompson, 408). This film uses the elements of mise-en-scene to depict the story through Francis eyes. We see the world of this film through the eyes of a crazy man.
Bibliography:
Bordwell, David, and Kristen Thompson. Film Art an Introduction. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2001.
Kracauer, Siegfried. "Caligari." New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1947.
Braudy, Leo and Marshall Cohen, eds. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, Fifth Edition. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.
In the Early years of film one can easily say that Germany lead the way in experimentation, with such striking examples as Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu and Dr. Mabuse the Gambler. How when looking at two of these film, Nosferatu and Dr Mabuse the Gambler one can find a similar theme that run throughout. This theme is that of Weimar’s insecurity about outsiders and otherness different cultures. While both films have different stories at their very simplest both films see someone come into the idyllic lives of the protagonist not only wrecking their lives but the lives of ordinary people as well. It’s worth noting that borth Nosferatu and Dr. Mabuse the Gambler were filmed in the turbulent early 20’s of the Weimar period where Germany was still dealing with the aftermath of the war and outside powers such as France encroaching on German territory and at the same time political unrest had reached its high. With all these changes going on it easy to see why Germany might have felt that outsider were at work trying to remold modern Germany. This is why in these turbulent early years befor the Weimar Golden age we see such strong use of the other/outsider as a stand in for events taken place in Germany
Lewis, J. (2008). American Film: A History. New York, NY. W.W. Norton and Co. Inc. (p. 405,406,502).
As Nichols explains, the relationship between form and content in a film expands the abstract ideas of a film into solid, concrete figures. Providing concrete representations of these otherwise intangible figments solidifies these ideas for the viewer. The director of Germany Year Zero tackles many abstract concepts and provides them with a physical representation. One strong concept throughout the film is uncertainty.
BIBLIOGRAPHY An Introduction to Film Studies Jill Nelmes (ed.) Routledge 1996 Anatomy of Film Bernard H. Dick St. Martins Press 1998 Key Concepts in Cinema Studies Susan Hayward Routledge 1996 Teach Yourself Film Studies Warren Buckland Hodder & Stoughton 1998 Interpreting the Moving Image Noel Carroll Cambridge University Press 1998 The Cinema Book Pam Cook (ed.) BFI 1985 FILMOGRAPHY All That Heaven Allows Dir. Douglas Sirk Universal 1955 Being There Dir. Hal Ashby 1979
Bordwell David and Thompson, Kristen. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
While the script is often one of the most crucial elements in a film, the brevity of speech and precise movements of the primary character accentuate the changing nature of his integrity. As viewers follow Captain Wiesler of the East German secret police, it is soon clear that he only says what is necessary, such as when noting his surveillance partner’s lateness or setting instructions for the surveillance bugging team (“twenty minutes”). It is important to note that Wiesler does not say a single word when Axel Stiegler cracks a joke in the cafeteria about Honecker, or when Grubitz himself makes a joke. Only
The majority of Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari is told through a series of flashbacks, with the scenes having expressionist-inspired set design and deformed locations to emphasize the unreliable and deluded state of mind of the storyteller. The young protagonist Francis tells the...
It was not until the mid 1930s that the brutish dictator truly recognized the potential power of media, where in 1935 a special funding was given to the production of Italian films which was used to open up film institutions like the ‘Centro Sperimenale di Cinematografia’ (CSC) film school, and ‘Cinecitta’ (Cinema City) studios in 1937 (Ruberto and Wilson, 2007). The development of these institutions sparked the appearance of early sound cinema, specializing in genres such as comedies, melodramas, musicals and historical films, but were all categorized as ‘propaganda’ and ‘white telephone’ films by many critics due...
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
There are four crucial scenes of this film in which Hitchcock shows a change in perspective and identity through the mise-en-scène. Hitchcock’s signature motifs, style, and themes are conveyed through the mise-en-scène.
Barsam, R. M., Monahan, D., & Gocsik, K. M. (2012). Looking at movies: an introduction to film (4th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co..
Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.
John Gibbs and Douglas Pye (2005) Style and meaning : studies in the detailed analysis of film. Engalnd: Manchester University Press, pp 42-52.
Barsam, Richard. Looking at Movies An Introduction to Film, Second Edition (Set with DVD). New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. Print.