Today I watched a movie that no doubt influenced Tim Burton and if your a fan of him you'll love The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Its a classic silent film and the most well know German Expressionist film. This Would also be on the list of top silent horror films. The story deals with a unnamed man who I shall call Mac to make it easier to follow. Mac and his pal Alan are at a fair where they meet Dr. Caligari and his sleepwalking pal Cesare. Cesare sleeps all day and when he is sleepwalking Caligari has trained him to kill. Alan dies so Mac takes it on his own hands to go after Caligari. He does this way to easy and then the movie ends with a big plot twist.
I've talked about this movie before when I talked about The Bride of Frankenstein. This movie uses the dutch shot and the movie's crazy sets reflect the characters mindset. It uses the set as part of its mise-en -scene which is often overlooked today but in a movie like this you can't do anything but stare at the mind of all the people in the movie. This will put off some people because this movie doesn't look normal at all, but it's an expressionist film so it isn't supposed to.
I would say that this movie is good and it deserves to be on this list but this movie felt slow compared to all the silents I've watched so far. They also used the iris shot to much witch is one thing that makes me pull my hair out. The iris shot is where the camera blacks out the screen except the small part you're supposed to see. I feel like this is a slap in the face as clearly I know whats important and also because I want to see all the actors react to the thing the camera is focused on. This movie isn't bad but there is something there that isn't worth the full forth star.
Ebert's score 4 stars
Tyler's score 3.5 stars
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