The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari (1919) in Silent Horror Forum

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The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari (1919)

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Tripod.aic	The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari (1919)	Lead	[-]
Oct 19 09 12:15 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This is one of the most influencial films of all-time, which can be credited as being the very first horror movie. The fact that it's still popular today----and still relevant-----is a statement to its artistic grandeur. There's a constant duality and tension in the film between the storyline and the warped, surreal backgrounds. This expressionistic decor ultimately loses the battle, however, as you become focused on the story. And the classic twist at the end finally gives a logical explanation for the dreamlike, skewed backdrop. I love this film, and have been a fan since the first time I ever watched it when I was 14, after taping it off the tv on VHS. I watched it numerous times back then, then didn't see the film for many years. Recently, I bought a nice edition of "The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari" on DVD, complete with a great audio essay by a leading expert on the film.
Bifocals		#1	[-]
Oct 19 09 1:42 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This is in my top ten for sure. The first 'full length' movie I ever owned: three 400' reels of Super 8 delightful eeriness from Blackhawk Films! I wore that print out.
Tripod.aic		#2	[-]
Oct 19 09 2:28 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wow, Bifocals, you actually owned it on Super 8? That must've been a long time ago.
BijouBob8mm		#3	[-]
Oct 19 09 2:48 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bifocals, I remember my best friend in high school getting the Blackhawk Super 8 feature of CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI and inviting me over to watch it with him when it arrived. After years of those little reels of highlights from Castle Films and Ken Films, we couldn't believe we could actually own a feature film. That must've been a long time ago. The format's not dead, even if it's not as widely sold as it was in the pre-home video days. There are a number of companies putting out new Super 8 product, including some Disney animated features. I just recently got my hands on the 50th anniversary restoration trailer the BFI did for HORROR OF DRACULA in Super 8. Throwing that thing up on a six to eight foot wide screen...looks pretty sweet. (Run a cable from the projector through a good sound system, and you'd be amazed at how great these things can sound.)
bgart13.thelatarniaforums		#4	[-]
Oct 19 09 3:06 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Is the Kino DVD the way to go on this for sure, or, is there a UK or German dvd that's better? Kundun Rat Terrier: 8/16/02 - 3/26/11. RIP, Ku.
Tripod.aic		#5	[-]
Oct 19 09 4:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	bgart13 wrote: Is the Kino DVD the way to go on this for sure, or, is there a UK or German dvd that's better? The DVD that I bought is not Kino (I have the Kino for Nosferatu), but it claims to be the definitive version of the film. It is remastered in Dolby Digital and features "expressionistic" cards that are alledgedly reproductions of the original cards from 1919 (which were later replaced with more standard ones in order to "normalize" the film). The picture quality is quite good, but still contains dirt and scratches here and there, and an annoying translucent line near the top of the screen during most of the film. This is said to be a defect on the original master. I'm wondering----do any of you have the film on DVD, and if so, do you have that translucent line?
Scoundrel		#6	[-]
Oct 19 09 4:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	" The picture quality is quite good, but still contains dirt and scratches here and there, and an annoying translucent line near the top of the screen during most of the film. This is said to be a defect on the original master. I'm wondering----do any of you have the film on DVD, and if so, do you have that translucent line? .." Sounds like you have the 1997 Image version of the film: http://www.silentera.com/...inetofDrCaligariDVD.html While KINO has the best version on disc currently,..there is the bit of picture damage at the beginning of the film. This emulsion damage is also on the R2 Films Sans Frontieres disc as well. The Image DVD is worth having in spite of the frame line situation for the wonderful score from Timothy Brock.
Tripod.aic		#7	[-]
Oct 20 09 8:34 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Scoundrel, thank you. Yes, it is the one I have. I guess I'll make do with the version I have, since I paid over $32 for it.
Robert Summit		#8	[-]
Oct 22 09 10:56 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yes, the music score makes the Image version the must own for me. "If you had a face like mine, you'd punch me right in the nose, and I'm just the fella that can do it!"
Tripod.aic		#9	[-]
Oct 25 09 10:29 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Robert Summit wrote: Yes, the music score makes the Image version the must own for me. I haven't heard the score on the Kino version, but it's true that the one on the version I have is great.
FanOfHorror		#10	[-]
Oct 25 09 11:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks for Posting this Tripod as this is a remarkable film indeed. This is so much more scary than anything of the Hack N Slash genre. Again, gore is not scary, but the sets, mood & story, as you say, make this film, some 8 + decades later, still a great horrof film to watch! And yes, as you & others, I have my DVD copy & hope to be watching it sometime this week! Along the lines of CODC, is The Cat & the Canary. Tripod wrote: This is one of the most influencial films of all-time, which can be credited as being the very first horror movie. The fact that it's still popular today----and still relevant-----is a statement to its artistic grandeur. There's a constant duality and tension in the film between the storyline and the warped, surreal backgrounds. This expressionistic decor ultimately loses the battle, however, as you become focused on the story. And the classic twist at the end finally gives a logical explanation for the dreamlike, skewed backdrop. I love this film, and have been a fan since the first time I ever watched it when I was 14, after taping it off the tv on VHS. I watched it numerous times back then, then didn't see the film for many years. Recently, I bought a nice edition of "The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari" on DVD, complete with a great audio essay by a leading expert on the film.
Tripod.aic		#11	[-]
Oct 26 09 12:24 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	FanOfHorror, I've never seen "The Cat And The Canary". I take it it's also very good?
Scoundrel		#12	[-]
Oct 26 09 2:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	THE CAT AND THE CANARY is one of my Desert Island discs. It is one of the original " stay the night in a haunted house " genre films and .....Yes, it's very good.
Tripod.aic		#13	[-]
Oct 26 09 3:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks Scoundrel. I'll be looking for it, then.
Southern Beau		#14	[-]
Oct 24 10 1:01 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts
clore103051		#15	[-]
Jan 30 12 9:55 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This is as good a place as any to ask since the thread title refers to CALIGARI as being a 1919 film. On another web site, someone "corrected" another person for citing the film as a 1919 film, it seems the IMDb has it as a 1920 film. I have a near photographic memory and all of my recollections are of references to it as being a 1919 film. I even checked three reference books at arm's length, by Halliwell, Peary and Hardy and they all have it as 1919. IMDb itself is inconsistent in dating a film by the copyright or the release date. COBRA WOMAN carries a 1943 copyright, but IMDb has it as a 1944 film as that was when it was released. A Google search on CALIGARI turns up many references to either 1919 or 1920 and even a few for 1921. I don't have any copy of it besides my 8mm print which I can't play. Does anyone out there have a copy with the original titles to verify the copyright date? Thanks for any assistance.
todmichel		#16	[-]
Jan 30 12 11:49 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	CALIGARI was shot in 1919 but released in 1920. Many sources list it as a 1919 film. It was the same case (exactly) forty years later with Georges Franju's EYES WITHOUT A FACE. Most sources give the 1959 date (its shooting date), but this French/Italian co-production was only released the following year: Jan 11 in France [March 2 for Paris, where I saw it], May 3 in Italy.
PhantomXCI		#17	[-]
Jan 30 12 12:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	CALIGARI was released in February 1920. The French and American preimeres were in 1921.
Melkes		#18	[-]
Jan 30 12 3:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	clore103051 wrote: On another web site, someone "corrected" another person for citing the film as a 1919 film, it seems the IMDb has it as a 1920 film. I have a near photographic memory and all of my recollections are of references to it as being a 1919 film. I even checked three reference books at arm's length, by Halliwell, Peary and Hardy and they all have it as 1919. Shooting of the film began in December 1919 and ended in January 1920. It then premiered in February 1920. So regardless of whether you go by production or release year, the "correct" year for the film is 1920 (unless you go by the year of production start, which would be somewhat unusual). The 1919 year is probably one of the most cited incorrect years for a movie and has been repeated so often it has taken on a life on its own.
clore103051		#19	[-]
Jan 30 12 4:16 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Melkes wrote: Shooting of the film began in December 1919 and ended in January 1920. It then premiered in February 1920. So regardless of whether you go by production or release year, the "correct" year for the film is 1920 (unless you go by the year of production start, which would be somewhat unusual). The 1919 year is probably one of the most cited incorrect years for a movie and has been repeated so often it has taken on a life on its own. You are so in line with my response on the other site where I wrote "Maybe that's a copyright date or just an error made in print so long ago that it lived on like those phony birth years of the Marx Brothers." Even in separate articles, I found the usually reliable DVD Savant to have referred to both years with the more recent article referencing 1920. Thanks to all who have responded, I appreciate your assistance.
MYST0		#20	[-]
Jan 31 12 9:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	No matter what the date, it is hardly the FIRST horror film. Edison's FRANKENSTEIN, for example was 1910. Somewhere on YouTube is a very short ghost film (I can't remember the title) and it is possibly the very first horror film. I don't know if anyone has ever agreed as to what the very first one actually is.

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The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari (1919)

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