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

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The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari (1919)

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Rick		#21	[-]
Jan 31 12 10:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Probably not possible to pin down a true first, because of ascertaining dates, titles, and deciding just what makes a horror film. But I'm sure there would be votes for Melies' LE MANOIR DU DIABLE (1896) which one of the books called the "first vampire film." I think that's a stretch, but it's certainly an early something-or-other.
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MYST0		#22	[-]
Feb 1 12 2:20 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I agree that it isn't possible. I wonder if it is possible to say what is the first feature length true horror film? Not a film that just contains a scene or two, but a real full length horror film. Maybe CALIGARI might qualify then. Has there been a thread on this subject anywhere? This might be a good topic to create if there isn't one.
TServo4		#23	[-]
Feb 1 12 3:58 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Keep in mind, that most dramatic pre-1914 "shorts" (by today's standards) WERE considered features. Even then, even if we narrow it by the current standard of five or more (thousand foot) reels as "feature" status, CALIGARI still remains a bit of a long-shot. LIFE WITHOUT SOUL (5 reels) is an early adaption of FRANKENSTEIN which pre-dates CALIGARI by five years. J. Theakston Capitol Theatre, Rome, NY
pulp novelties		#24	[-]
Feb 1 12 3:59 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'd be more tempted to give first horror-film honors to NOSFERATU. I know there are plenty of fantastic and mysterious happenings in dozens before it, but for me it comes down to intent. NOSFERATU is essentially Dracula and even a distillation of the more "horrific" parts of that story. Though nightmarish, CALIGARI is post WWI German Expressionist art-film to me, HAXAN surely has it's incredible, demonic moments, but it professes to be a quasi-documentary. I don't see any loftier intent from Murnau that to create a straight-up horror-film. Last Edited By: pulp novelties Feb 1 12 11:58 AM. Edited 1 times.
Wich2		#25	[-]
Feb 1 12 9:54 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Unless we're limited to ones we can see today, I'd go with Jack's call on LIFE WITHOUT SOUL. (Unless it finally shows up one day, and it turns out to have been soap-operaed right out of the Genre!)
Rick		#26	[-]
Feb 1 12 10:19 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	There's also THE AVENGING CONSCIENCE which appeared a year or more before LIFE WITHOUT SOUL. Granted it's got less genre oomph than a Frankenstein adaptation, but I do think it qualifies as horror. As for something truly intended to be a horror, I think Pulp Novelties is more right than I would have previously thought with NOSFERATU, though I certainly think CALIGARI had creepy intent beyond just expressionism. THE GOLEM is not so horrifying, perhaps, but it does have a lumbering, nonhuman monster. I think the first time I ever heard of CALIGARI was in a column by a movie reviewer in the Louisville Courier-Journal celebrating some anniversary at his job. This was around 1960, so he'd been at it since pretty much the beginning. He listed his 10 Greatest Films of all time. CALIGARI made the list and I distinctly remember him calling it "the grandfather of all horror movies."
Rick		#27	[-]
Feb 1 12 10:37 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Was just looking at LIFE WITHOUT SOUL on IMDb. According to those guys, Pauline Curley, whom they bill 4th in the cast, survived till the year 2000 (she was evidently about 11 years old when the movie was made). That might have been a sadly missed interview opportunity.
pulp novelties		#28	[-]
Feb 1 12 12:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Rick wrote: As for something truly intended to be a horror, I think Pulp Novelties is more right than I would have previously thought with NOSFERATU, though I certainly think CALIGARI had creepy intent beyond just expressionism. THE GOLEM is not so horrifying, perhaps, but it does have a lumbering, nonhuman monster. I think there is also a case for the notion that Murnau groomed Stoker's book for future horror movies than it might have otherwise been considered. For that matter NOSFERATU is more a full-blooded horror film than Browning's DRACULA. Last Edited By: pulp novelties Feb 1 12 12:09 PM. Edited 1 times.
Melkes		#29	[-]
Feb 1 12 3:35 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	While I have always been skeptical about the often repeated claim that Georges Méliès' Le Manoir du diable was the first horror film, I must say that after finally seeing it I think the claim can be justified. Unlike just about any other extant Méliès film it does not seem to play for laughs or amazement but instead seems to try to invoke a sense of eeriness. As for the first feature-length horror film, the original Der Student von Prag from 1913 could lay claim to the title. It's more overtly horror than most other films up until the 1920's and is not merely a drama with fantastic content - it seems to knowingly play on the horror elements in the same way that Nosferatu does, even though that film does it more extensively.
PhantomXCI		#30	[-]
Feb 1 12 4:19 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Some early horror/fantasy features: 1912 L'Inferno (Italy) This is probably the first feature length genre film. Satana (Italy) 1913 Der Andere (Germany) 65 minutes Atlantis (Denmark) 83 minutes Die Insel der Seligen (Germany) 69 minutes Der Student von Prag (Germany) 56 minutes
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Hunch and Judy		#31	[-]
Feb 1 12 4:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wich2 wrote: Unless we're limited to ones we can see today, I'd go with Jack's call on LIFE WITHOUT SOUL. (Unless it finally shows up one day, and it turns out to have been soap-operaed right out of the Genre!) Perhaps it should be limited to extant films only because like you say, it may pop up one day and not be as horrific as is sometimes implied. Tim may be onto something with Nosferatu. It is the only film without question that is certainly, positively HORROR! That film still packs a punch! Jim and Judy's Horror Models WWW.jimandjudyshorrormodels.com The Music WWW.earthmanout.com
MYST0		#32	[-]
Feb 1 12 10:39 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This is such an interesting topic, I am going to start a thread about it and perhaps the last posts could be duplicated there. This important info will get lost in this thread.
skatta		#33	[-]
Feb 2 12 12:16 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Rick wrote: Probably not possible to pin down a true first, because of ascertaining dates, titles, and deciding just what makes a horror film. But I'm sure there would be votes for Melies' LE MANOIR DU DIABLE (1896) which one of the books called the "first vampire film." I think that's a stretch, but it's certainly an early something-or-other. Horror film maybe. Vampire film - definitely not. Before the film was rediscovered the idea that it was a vampire film arose from sales catalogue descriptions which described a bat transforming into Mephistopheles. However the idea of vampires transforming into bats wasn't part of the folklore tradition about vampires but an invention of Bram Stokers. When Dracula was published (May/June 1897) Méliès film was already being shown (in fact it was probably already being shown in the UK). Méliès was specifically making a film about the devil and neither he nor contemporary audiences would have recognised any reference to vampires.
Rick		#34	[-]
Feb 2 12 12:25 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Which raises a question I've never seen posed before. It's probably a stretch, but I wonder if there's any chance Stoker took in an early movie, saw Melies' film and thought, "hmm, a bat turning into an evil guy...yeah, I like it."
skatta		#35	[-]
Feb 2 12 12:53 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's barely possible he might have seen the film before the book was published but not before it was written. On tour in America with the Lyceum company in February 1896 he clipped out an article from the New York World about vampire legends which also referred to South American vampire bats (it's preserved in his working notes). The linkage between vampires and vampire bats almost certainly derived from accounts like that.
pulp novelties		#36	[-]
Feb 2 12 4:07 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hunch and Judy wrote: Wich2 wrote: Unless we're limited to ones we can see today, I'd go with Jack's call on LIFE WITHOUT SOUL. (Unless it finally shows up one day, and it turns out to have been soap-operaed right out of the Genre!) Perhaps it should be limited to extant films only because like you say, it may pop up one day and not be as horrific as is sometimes implied. Tim may be onto something with Nosferatu. It is the only film without question that is certainly, positively HORROR! That film still packs a punch! I actually can't think of another silent who's general aim is more purely horror, but then I don't even think of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA as full-blooded "horror" per-se. The phantom is a grotesque, tragic figure but he's neither truly evil nor supernatural.
Rakshasa		#37	[-]
Jun 21 12 8:00 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Watched THE CABINET OF DOCTOR CALIGARI for the first time ever last night via Netflix Streaming. I'm happy to report that I really loved it (so did the fiance). From the descriptions earlier in this thread, I'm guessing Netflix has the IMAGE DVD version (the title cards were impressionistic-looking and the score was hauntingly scary) ? Can anybody confirm this? Though I have always wanted to see this film, I'm ashamed to admit that I was afraid I'd be bored sitting through it. Not so at all! The film truly lived up to its reputation as a hauntingly beautiful, spooky, atmospheric nightmare. Links To All The Classic Monster Stills I've Posted: http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/30758
Gojira		#38	[-]
Jun 21 12 10:38 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The Image is the one with the eerie string score and the whopping great fat black line on the top of the...image!
Rakshasa		#39	[-]
Jun 21 12 10:44 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Gojira wrote: The Image is the one with the eerie string score and the whopping great fat black line on the top of the...image! I'm pretty sure that's the one I saw on Netflix. The score was excellent. Links To All The Classic Monster Stills I've Posted: http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/30758
Liz.stoogeworld		#40	[-]
Jun 21 12 4:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I enjoyed this film a lot. I loved the use of weird visual imagery. Check out a full review on my blog. Why don't you do something to help me? The Psycho Ward's Classic Film Reviews - request a film to be reviewed!
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The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari (1919)