Discussion/Review of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

1. What is the essential story?
2. How does the film tell its story?
3. What conventions of cinematic storytelling does it use?
4. Explain the final "plot twist." 
5. How does the final plot twist comment upon cinematic storytelling?
6. What do the set designs say about early filmmaking?
7. What do the set designs imply about stories and storytelling?
8. How do the answers to questions 6 and 7 move us to contemplate the cultural relevance of this film?
9. If you had to think about a more modern, 20th century film with traces to Caligari, what would they be? Why?
10. How do questions about the reliability of a narrator suggest meanings, cultural relevance, and the nature of film?

Answers: 

1. The essential story is about a man who rolled into town and had an act where a sleepwalker would awaken and tell people their wishes. Shortly after murders started occurring and a man named Francis is trying to figure out who killed his friend and almost his lover. 

2. The film tells the story as a flashback originally but at the end takes place in present time. Most of the film is through the perspective of Francis and how these murders were happening.  This is one of the first films to not be linear in story, we as the viewers are observing from another perspective of someone rather than an entire setting. 

3. One of the first things I pointed out was the different uses of color, specifically when something horrid or eerie is happening. It would be a dark, gloomy, blueish color. There was also use of a gold, brighter color representing daytime. In the beginning of many there were establishing shoots, so the viewers can get an understanding of the setting and characters. Lots of the transitions between scenes would be fade in/fade outs. Lastly, when the camera was focused on one characters emotions it would be a close up with a 'window" to encapsulate their emotion. 

4. Francis heads back to the insane asylum and sees Caesre, as well as Dr. Caligari. Francis exclaims that he's the one that committed all of those murders and frantically was placed in a straight jacket by doctors. The director comes to the conclusion that Francis believes that he is Dr. Caligari from the books of the story that Francis was reading earlier in the story. 

5. In present filmmaking, we've seen plenty plot twists in movies before. In the early stages of film making, this picture was "first of a kind" in showcasing that. At times, we can be confused of how much of the story is true, were there even any murders or was Francis making it up? Lots of these questions are to be answered by the viewer making it somewhat difficult to process. 

6. Obviously in the early films, it looked like there wasn't a lot of budget to make the designs as real as possible. Most of settings were created by illusion, of course they didn't have special effects back then. For example, when the Cesare was approaching Alan, we were showed a shadowy figure, that was created by specfic camera angles and lighting. Lots of settings were with oddly shaped buildings, it kind of felt like a different reality because we as viewers are not used to seeing a building appear like that. 

7. I felt the selections of characters, clothing, setting, make-up, etc was meant to create a uneasy feeling, and sort of eerie nature for the films entirety. Some of the those set desgins were purposefully make us feel somewhat "scared" just to elevate the overall mood of the plot. For example, when Dr. Caligari would open that box with the sleepwalker and you looked at his face, you felt an almost stomach turning feeling because he did look frightening. 

8. As stated before, many of the settings did not look realistic to how buildings and settings actually occur. The usage of music does actually improve the overall culture relevance because music helps showcase how a person might feel in a similar situation. 

9. The first film that comes to mind is Halloween, especially with that use of that piano in intense and frightening moments. I can instantly relate it back to Dr. Caligari and the use of a guitar/synthesizer. I think music in film is under appreciated, it truly does help invigorate how we are feeling. With John Carpenter's Halloween, the usage of shadows and gloomy lighting traces back the similar lighting choices made in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. 

10. Mentioning before,  you don't know if these events were actually true or not after witnessing the plot twist. Looking back on the narration by Francis some moments seemed way more intense then they should've been or lacking substance. For example, when Caesre was carrying Jane, and then all of sudden drops her. I was a bit thrown off that was how the sleepwalker was caught. Another film that also made me question the overall nature of a film was Inception, that ending scene was a make or break for the films overall message. 

Did you know that remade the movie back in 1989?! I might have to check this one out just to see the differences between the two films.