The Cabinet of Dr Caligari was made in 1920 and drected by Robert Wiene. This Film is the bench mark for all horrors up to this date. the film is a silent film, and I have to admit its the first silent film I've ever watch. At first i didnt like his aspect but I then began to notice the aspect in this film that are most of the time hiden in other films. Hiden possibly by the script. What I noticed first was the overlaid music, the music was a calm classical of violin, piano and other orcistra instruments. It was calm thoughout until 'scary' parts arose in the film, at these points the music's tempo would increase and so would the volume. this technique is used in a lot of films, mainly all of them, but is a lot more subtle than this flm because it is mainly covered with script or special effects
Julia Merriam says in his review, 'The set is unlike anything seen by many modern viewers'
http://classic-horror.com/reviews/cabinet_of_dr_caligari_1920 . He is truely correct, the production set, was really something that wasn't seen in this era of film. It was so thought about, and blended with the film in such a way that it strengthen the madness the film was trying to create. The backdrop set is all painted on to a large 2D canvas, with inside that painting are 3D structure people, which adds a weird insaned feel to the film. Theres plenty of odd shapes, like triangular doors and building added into the scenary. Also to finish it off there are the shadows of the characters on the backdrop, so even if these characters move, the shadows will not; making the whole film and the audience go into madness.
Tim Eaton says 'In the film, they make you uneasy. The whole atmosphere is of a world gone wrong; like a dream worthy of Salvador Dalí'
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010323/ . I can see by this qoute that the set of the film effects everyone that watches the film. Which i believe links back to my first point, the whole silence of the film punches out the imagary. Other imagery that punches out to me, is the make up on the characters faces and what they were wearing. the eyes are harshly blacked out, but with the male character the make up highlights an evil but in the woman, the make up highlights her eyes and hr beauty is then more visable. also when it comes to the point where she is in shock of the kidnapping, the eyes are widened and the make up once again accent the eyes fear and struggle to get loose. What i noticed was that the evil, or potentially evil where wearing black ( for example Dr Caligari, Cesare and Francis). On the other hand, the character's that weren'y involved in the evil or insane were wearing white ( for example ( Jane and the doctors).
'The first dimension of the film is eminently artistic, and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is effectively a full fledged work of art.'
http://www.plume-noire.com/movies/cult/caligari.html
