The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Though appearing to foreshadow the tyrannical horrors of the Nazi regime, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was originally conceived by the Czech author Hans Janowitz in 1913 and was filmed in the immediate aftermath of World War I. As directed by Robert Wiene, Caligari invokes a paranoid postwar Europe awash in dreams, shadows, and madness. This benchmark of German Expressionist cinema still dazzles with its elaborately jagged sets, dramatic lighting, and stylized performances. Werner Krauss stars as Dr. Caligari, a sideshow mesmerist who uses hypnotism to compel his assistant (Conrad Veidt) to perform somnambulist acts of murder and abduction. Wiene employs the film’s distorted décor as a reflection of the inwardly chaotic double lives of its disoriented protagonists.

Live musical accompaniment by Robert Israel.