Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Pros: Extravagant sets; good story with classic twist ending
Cons: It's rather difficult to find a good print of this film

Following the horrors of World War I, the nation of Germany was suffering some incredibly torturous times. Due to the strict sanctions of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to pay back the countries ravaged during the First World War. With...

Pros: Classic performances in the two villain roles; moody, atmospheric expressionism; plot twist
Cons: Director and writers working at thematic cross-purposes

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) is the movie often cited as the apogee of the German film movement called Expressionism. It's also a silent film that stands up pretty well for modern audiences, with enough innovative, modernistic visual style ...

Pros: Creepy, plenty of atmosphere, lots of twists and turns
Cons: It's a silent movie, you have to have an open mind to watch it

Halloween. Most people who plan on getting spooked, are going to watch a popular horror movie like Scream, or Halloween, or Nightmare on Elm Street. A minority will watch a classing movie like The Changeling or The...

Pros: Superb acting. Fantastic plot twists and turns. Great cinematography.
Cons: Wiene's pacing at times it too slow which bogs down the suspense.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is one of the most important and influential pictures of the early silent film era, as well as in film history in general. The first expressionist film, its effect on 20th century cinema is incalculable in its ...

Pros: Brilliant, pivotal example of German expressionism; captivating style and story. Seminal 20th-century film art.
Cons: Film: none. Each of the transfers--Image and Kino--has its own quirks.

"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," directed by Robert Wiene and issued in 1920, is perhaps the first important work of cinema, as well as the first horror film, with images that echo through the genre to this day. The story is relatively simple, but strange. ...

Pros: good cinematic elements
Cons: plot is confusing

I am not particularly enthused about silent films, but I do feel
that they are important. The element of the surprise ending worked
for me, for I was completely taken in by it. I think that this was part
of Weine’s distortion of the film....

Pros: surrealistic, impressionistic sets and direction
Cons: silent, sometimes campy

The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, a silent film from Germany, may be the best feature made prior to 1921. Certainly it is better than the overripe Birth of a Nation, and nearly as influential. Perhaps the first great horror film,...

Pros: engrossing design, a landmark film
Cons: often criticized simply for being a silent film, camera shots without movement, "1919" folks!

DAS KABINETT DES DR. CALIGARI, 1919 progenitor of expressionist cinema of Germany's Weimar Period, is a thematically dark, visually bizarre and engrossing silent film that echoes the modernist preoccupation with the passions and feelings of the...

Pros: Creepy atmosphere, cool set designs.
Cons: Story is poorly explained.

One of the earliest horror movies, predating the original Nosferatu by two years. It's definitely strange and a bit creepy, but it's also hard to follow. Guess that's the price you pay when you watch a German Expressionistic flick. Some of that stuff ...

Pros: legendary milestone with awesome atmosphere and great actors
Cons: nope

These were the times when movies in Germany had some great innovations and actors still worked for their money...it was the time of silent movies - this film is a truly classic, one of the first ever movie adaptions with a mad doctor in it.
...

Pros: compelling visuals
Cons: may seem dated to some

I must admit that while I consider myself a film buff, it is hard for me to really appreciate the silent “classics” like those of DW Griffith. It is not because of the lack of spoken dialogue—I love Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd comedies for...

Pros: visual quality, plot
Cons: silent movies are death to some

There are several reasons to see The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. For one thing, Caligari is the closest film representation of expressionism ever made. If the paintings of Munsch, Beckmann, or Kirchner appeal to you, the exaggerated scenery and visual...

Pros: Imaginative and terrifying
Cons: it's really old

This film is amazing. I thought about how unfathomable and awe inspiring seeing this film in the 1920s would have been. It is one of the first films to engulf the viewer visually into a foreign and bizarre world. Imagination is at its peak when Cesare ...