Brayden Stallman

Film Critique: Film Review

9/30/16

The Critique of Dr. Caligari

When we think of early silent films, our minds tend to go to comedys like Charlie
Chaplin films, and short clips like the train coming into the station. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,
an early cinematic German-Expressionist film, is a very different style and genre than those films
we think of. Though is is credited to be the first horror film, is was not conventionally scary
to todays standards, the film really tries to play with suspense and is most somewhat freaky
rather than frightening. The film is a frame story, meaning it has a prologue and epilogue, and
our protagonist, Francis tells us the story of his experience with the potentially murderous Dr.
Caligari and his Somnambulist, Cesare.

One of the most prominent features of this film was its unique and unconventional
approach at lighting. Light and shadows were arranged to go
against what you are naturally used to, and is the opposite of
what youd expect. There are also separate shadows painted
onto the set, that go against the real shadows. The approach
throws the viewer off, and makes you wonder what is real and
what isn't, forming an extremely important parallel with the
mystery, confusion, and convolution of the plot. A prominent moment in the film where shadow
and lighting is put to amazing use is where [SPOILER] is murdered and all we see is the shadow
of him being stabbed.
The set itself was very surreal, not realistic, but reminiscent of reality. The set was meant
to suggest what things were, a house here, a shop
here, without giving it an order, rhyme, or reason,
giving off a sort of unnerving feeling, not really
creeping, just unsettling and confusing, again in
alignment with the plot. This was an extremely bold
choice, that came close to hitting the mark of its
intent, however simply came off very cheesy and distracting. The set seemed to be something
Doctor Seuss designed, and would have served better in a movie adapted from one of him books,
not a horror film about murder and insanity.
The design of hair and makeup, was a very intriguing, unexpected aspect of this film. The
dark and over exaggerated features, such as dark shadowed eyes and darkly tinted lips, helped
the very gothic feel of the characters personalities and the dark plot. It was an attempt to

distinguish the doctor from the director, Dr. Caligari had very strange contouring through his
hair, and to put it very simply it was lazy, executed at a very substandard level, not obvious
enough, and took away from the rest of the doctors appearance.
In regards to the actors themselves there was much to be desired.
The cast of the film failed to draw me in and simply made me wish
[SPOILER] would kill more of them off. The actors seem to
alternate between three or four simple expressions at best. However,
this doesnt include Lil Dagover (Jane), who maintains one primary slightly glassy expression,
nearly the entire film, not including one slightly scared reaction when she is almost murdered.
Perhaps the best actor in the film was Conrad Veidt (Cesare), who did an amazing job at sleeping
most of the film, and sleepwalking, in the few scenes he had actions in.
The best film to compare The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with is The Wizard of Oz, no
offense to the latter. The major similarity is in the
style of the plot, both are frame stories, and make
you wonder if the story is real or not, and what
really happened. We run into the problem in both
films of whether our narrator/protagonists
perspective is trustworthy. There is an element of
both stories that The Wizard of Oz pulls off so much better than The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and
that is the surreal and fantastical set. It works in former, but screws up the latter.
Overall I would say that this is not a good film, but I still recommend watching it. There
are enough innovative aspects and the plot is interesting enough, that it is worth it, even if some
scenes are drawn out way too long and you feel impatient. I would rate this film at PG-13,

because of the amount of murders, yes, but more of it takes a more

mature mind to be able to understand the film, as well as have the
constitution to be able to sit through it. This film gets two and a half pies
thrown at it:

1.

Inappropriate and misconstrued set choices

2. Bad acting (Im looking at you Lil)

2 . Dr. Caligaris weird distracting makeup

Brayden Stallman is a Sophomore at PVPA, and a member of Spectrum. He works as a

Teen Leader at Starlight's Youth Theatre and as an actor. You may recognize him from his
YouTube channel, Theatre Kid Vlogs, or from one of the many shows hes done with Starlight,

Black Cat Theatre, Chicopee Comp Drama, and Farm Theatre. Brayden is also a former crosscountry runner with league champions Chicopee Comprehensive High School.