Now I picked this movie because two reasons. One, I think its always nice to introduce people to some of the early history that cinema went through. Two, I think it is a genuinely creepy movie.
Despite the lack of technology and the problems faced with early film making, I feel that this movie has an atmosphere that can never be recreated. You have the twisted and mangled sets that were just as much a work of art as the movie itself. You have the inherent emptiness in Cesares eyes, because he's a hypnotized slave forced to kill for an evil master. You have the insanity of Dr. Caligari himself and how well he pulls off his madness despite the drawbacks of early film. Many today would consider this cheesey what with the melodramatic acting. There was no dialogue. They were conveying emotion the only way they knew how. I honestly feel that they pulled off pretty well. Not many moments passed in this film that I felt that actors were over acting. I would imagine most of these people got their start in acting while performing in plays. So that might be where the melodrama comes from. Many believe that this is the first horror movie. Not to mention one of the first movies with a twist ending.
To watch such a movie you have to put yourself in the mind of a person from the 1920's. Maybe you might have been familiar with the Grand Guginol theater in France at the time. Lots of shocking plays were put on at that theater. If only they were captured on film... I digress though. Just imagine, being only vaguely familiar with these "moving pictures." Imagine how shocked you would have been when you first saw Cesare walk in the shadows and kill his first victim with a knife. It should hit home pretty well. I would agree that this was one of the first horror movies. Along with Nosferatu(Fave of all time. Nothing in the vampire genre holds a candle to it to me.) These were expressionism at it's finest. The actors's faces convey horror, sadness, insanity so well that I really don't need dialogue.
Make no mistake. I love modern cinema. It has come a long way. But if I want it completely distilled to its essence, I will watch a silent movie. One thing of note, notice how the sets are made in the movie. Conveying that their is danger and doom all around. Sometimes when things are horrifying the world isn't always what it seems. Ever notice how the night can play tricks on you when its dark? Keep that in mind for the twist.
Interesting fact I found out from imdb: Weeks before the initial release of the film, posters with the tag-line "Du mußt Caligari werden!" ("You have to become Caligari!") were put up in Berlin without the slightest hint that they where promotion for the upcoming movie.
Hmmmm. An early attempt at viral marketing maybe, and does anybody think that Edward Scissorhands has an eerie resemblance to Cesare?
That's funny that'd you close with what you said. First time I saw Cesar, I wondered if Johnny Depp had stumbled upon a time machine.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Mr. Burton had took some of his design cues from this movie for Edward. The plot has a few similarities too. Murder isn't the main thing in Scissorhands but Edward had a master just like Cesare. He happens to have a very pale dark and strange appearance like Cesare. And if we wanted to go that direction we could even say that Scissorhands was a re-telling Caligari with the similarities. Caligari and Scissorhands both depend quite heftily on set design. They both have a fairy tale like quality. The parallels seem to great to be a coincidence. This is not the word though. I'm just making observations.
ReplyDeleteWhen he first opens his eyes (Cesare) i thought that was well done
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