The Cabinet of Caligari

Something just that little bit different here and something really rather good. The slightly odd or seeming unlikely happenings, including the casting of Glynis Johns all make sense by the end, at least as far as I am concerned. Great sets help create a 'modern' but nevertheless creepy feel and Gerald Fried's score is most effective. A very simple idea is admirably sustained and every now and then when we feel things cannot go on like this for much longer we are jolted, either by the outrageousness of Caligari or by the sudden appearance of another guest. I had never even heard of this film before the appearance of the DVD and wonder if indeed it ever opened in the UK. The sexual references and physical violence certainly surprised me for a film of the early 60's. Well worth seeing.

There's one little moment that stood out for me when I watched this movie years ago on the USA network:

Glynis Johns spends most of the movie in some sort of conflict with Dan O'Herlihy playing Dr. Caligari...it's the sort of psych-out contest seen in every episode of The Prisoner and other war-of-wills dramas. Up to this point Ms. Johns is rather prim and after a while this can become irritating to viewers who are used to seeing female protagonists stand up for themselves more vigorously. After a frustrating argument with Dr. C, she runs upstairs, throws herself on the bed and (instead of sobbing or sulking, as her uptight character has behaved so far) lets out a huge WAAAAAA-HAAAAAAH! My girlfriend and I both collapsed with laughter ...but after that moment found ourselves much more in sympathy with her, and that is precisely the effect intended by Robert Bloch.

Overall the movie was worth the time it took to watch, but didn't stand out as a favorite for either of us. But when we encountered something frustrating after that, we'd look at each other and shout, "Waaaa-Hahhh!"

I was an impressionable 17-year-old back in 1962 when CALIGARI shocked the living daylights out of me. And to this day -- though, naturally, to a far lesser (suspenseful) degree (and despite some of its obvious flaws) -- I can still sit through a performance of this haunting film in nearly rapt attention.

The main reasons for this are twofold: (1) The ever present youth in me can be easily summoned, so that contextually I am back in the early '60s, eager to reimmerse myself in the intensity of the dark psychodrama about to be played out, and blithely unencumbered by the need for (or expectation of) today's technologically superior special effects; and (2) Gerald Fried's ubiquitous, compelling film score music (especially the bittersweet main theme, played repeatedly in a multitude of beguiling variations) adds an immeasurable degree of enjoyment to this sadly underrated film.

Fortunately, the commercial-free Fox Movie Channel has featured THE CABINET OF CALIGARI, which has been, for the most part, unavailable for purchase by the general public.

I had originally seen this movie at the age of fifteen; it continues to make a deep impression upon me. Though the plot does seem to move rather slowly by today's standards, it remains an amazing story of a young girl who has decided to come into touch with herself. Jane's validity depends upon her own understanding of reality versus fantasy. I am fortunate to have explored, through the DVD, the pleasures and horrors, as she leads the path that ultimately forces her to confront her inner fears. This "remake" may go beyond the original, but still exemplifies the importance of the caring and needs that we need to provide to our own. We are their caregivers. I was especially impressed by Constance Ford's role.

I suppose, strange sounds fair to define this film, reminding more Psycho than The Cabinet of doctor Caligary.

But the mansion and Glynis Johns are the good points of a movie who seems adaptation, free, of course, of Cehov short story.

A young woman becomes prisoner in house who she expected help.

A strange doctor explores, in direct, profound manner, the life of his presumed guests becoming patients. The end is a sort of return to Expressionist masterpiece.

Sure, difficult to judge it and, comparing with the last version, maybe just a reasonable work. But the term eccentric just works in this case, with all, good and bad senses.