Thursday, May 08, 2008

MYOFNF #17: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (dir. Robert Wiene, 1920)

This is the first, and probably only, silent film of MYOFNF. It's a foundational work of German Expressionism, a profoundly influential filmic style that I don't know nearly enough about. The most striking aspect of this film is the set design, which avoids realistic, or even theatrical renderings of the character's environment. Instead, the interiors and exteriors of buildings are canted at mad angles, chairs and table are vertiginously high, mountain passes appear to be melting. In short, it's the scale and proportion of a dream (or nightmare). Even in a silent film, which suffers from the constraints of the technology available, this approach provokes unease and deepens the horror of a plot that deals with psychic repression and madness.

1 comment:

Nobody said...

I've been browsing your blog and haven't found anything so far that you said was Worse Than Hitler (not even this particularly disturbing German film). If you do say something is worse than Hitler, please go to www.JustLikeHitler.com and let me know so that I can link to you. Thanks for the cool blog!