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:
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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.
Gunning, Tom., “Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler (1922) in Weimar Cinema, ed. Noah Isenberg, New York: Columbia University Press, 2009
Lewis, J. (2008). American Film: A History. New York, NY. W.W. Norton and Co. Inc. (p. 405,406,502).
Bordwell David and Thompson, Kristen. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
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
John Gibbs and Douglas Pye (2005) Style and meaning : studies in the detailed analysis of film. Engalnd: Manchester University Press, pp 42-52.
Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.
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Barsam, Richard. Looking at Movies An Introduction to Film, Second Edition (Set with DVD). New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. Print.
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Barsam, R. M., Monahan, D., & Gocsik, K. M. (2012). Looking at movies: an introduction to film (4th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co..