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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
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===Critical response=== [[File:Cabinet of Dr Caligari 1920 Lobby Card.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Goldwyn Releasing lobby card from ''Caligari'' showing doctors examining Cesare|alt=An image of a lobby card with a photograph in the center, and small text captions underneath it. The image shows a man in a dark coat, cape, and top hat standing to the right, while two men investigate another man who is sitting upright inside an open box.]] There are differing accounts as to how ''Caligari'' was first received by audiences and critics immediately after its release. Stephen Brockmann, Anton Kaes and film theorist [[Kristin Thompson]] say it was popular with both the general public and well-respected by critics.<ref name="Brockmann59" /><ref name="Kaes42">{{Harvnb|Kaes|2006|p=42}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Thompson|1990|p=124}}</ref> Robinson wrote, "The German critics, almost without exception, ranged from favourable to ecstatic".<ref name="Robinson47" /> Kracauer said critics were "unanimous in praising ''Caligari'' as the first work of art on the screen",<ref name="Kracauer71" /> but also said it was "too high-brow to become popular in Germany".<ref name="Kracauer77">{{Harvnb|Kracauer|1947|p=77}}</ref> Barlow said it was often the subject of critical disapproval, which he believes is because early film reviewers attempted to assign fixed definitions to the young art of cinema, and thus had trouble accepting the bizarre and unusual elements of ''Caligari''.<ref name="Barlow29" /> Some critics felt it imitated a stage production too closely.<ref name="Kracauer76"/> Other commentators, like critic [[Herbert Ihering]] and novelist [[Blaise Cendrars]], objected to the presentation of the story as a madman's delusion because they felt it belittled Expressionism as an artform.<ref name="Robinson33" /> Theatre critic Helmut Grosse condemned the film's visual design as clichéd and derivative, calling it a "cartoon and [a] reproduction of designs rather than from what actually took place on stage".<ref>{{Harvnb|Patterson|1981|p=106}}</ref> Several reviewers, like [[Kurt Tucholsky]] and Blaise Cendrars, criticised the use of real actors in front of artificially-painted sets, saying it created an inconsistent level of stylisation. Critic Herbert Ihering echoed this point in a 1920 review: "If actors are acting without energy and are playing within landscapes and rooms which are formally 'excessive', the continuity of the principle is missing".<ref>{{Harvnb|Budd|1990b|pp=36–37}}</ref> While Robinson said the response from American critics was largely positive and enthusiastic,<ref name="Robinson50">{{Harvnb|Robinson|1997|pp=50}}</ref> Kaes said American critics and audiences were divided: some praised its artistic value and others, particularly those distrustful of Germany following World War I, wished to ban it altogether.<ref name="Kaes42" /> Some in the Hollywood film industry felt threatened by the potential rivalry and spoke out against ''Caligari''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s release, condemning it as a "foreign invasion".<ref name="Kaes42" /> Nevertheless, the film remained popular in the United States.<ref name="Barlow29" /> Several American reviewers compared it to an [[Edgar Allan Poe]] story,<ref name="Robinson50" /> including in a 1921 review in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine, which praised the direction and "perfect tempo" of the film, as well as the sets that "squeeze and turn and adjust the eye, and through the eye the mentality".<ref name="Robinson48" /> A ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' review likened it to [[Modern art|modernist art]], comparing the film's sets to [[Marcel Duchamp]]'s ''[[Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2]]'', and said the film "gives dimensions and meaning to shape, making it an active part of the story, instead of merely the conventional and inert background", which was key to the film's "importance as a work of cinematography".<ref>{{cite news |title=The Screen |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=4 April 1921 |page=5}}</ref> [[Albert Lewin]], a critic who eventually became a film director and screenwriter, called ''Caligari'' "the only serious picture, exhibited in America so far, that in anything like the same degree has the authentic thrills and shock of art".<ref name="Robinson50" /> A story in a November 1921 edition of ''Exceptional Photoplays'', an independent publication issued by the [[National Board of Review|National Board of Review of Motion Pictures]], said it "occupies the position of unique artistic merit", and said American films in comparison looked like they were made for "a group of defective adults at the nine-year-old level".<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari |journal=Exceptional Photoplays |publisher=[[National Board of Review|National Board of Review of Motion Pictures]] |issue=10 |date=November 1921 |page=2}}</ref> ''Caligari'' was a critical success in France, but French filmmakers were divided in their opinions after its release. [[Abel Gance]] called it "superb" and wrote, "What a lesson to all directors!"<ref name="Robinson52">{{Harvnb|Robinson|1997|p=52}}</ref> and [[René Clair]] said it "overthrew the realist dogma" of filmmaking.<ref>{{Harvnb|Scheunemann|2003a|p=6}}</ref> Film critic and director [[Louis Delluc]] said the film has a compelling rhythm: "At first slow, deliberately laborious, it attempts to irritate. Then when the zigzag motifs of the fairground start turning, the pace leaps forward, agitato, accelerando, and leaves off only at the word 'End', as abruptly as a slap in the face."<ref name="Eisner17">{{Harvnb|Eisner|1974|p=17}}</ref> [[Jean Epstein]], however, called it "a prize example of the abuse of décor in the cinema" and said it "represents a grave sickness of cinema".<ref name="Robinson52" /> Likewise, [[Jean Cocteau]] called it "the first step towards a grave error which consists of flat photography of eccentric decors, instead of obtaining surprise by means of the camera".<ref name="Robinson53">{{Harvnb|Robinson|1997|p=53}}</ref> French critic Frédéric-Philippe Amiguet wrote of the film: "It has the odor of tainted food. It leaves a taste of cinders in the mouth."<ref>{{Harvnb|Amiguet|1923|p=87}}</ref> The Russian director [[Sergei Eisenstein]] especially disliked ''Caligari'', calling it a "combination of silent hysteria, partially coloured canvases, daubed flats, painted faces, and the unnatural broken gestures and action of monstrous chimaeras".<ref name="Finler69">{{Harvnb|Finler|1997|p=69}}</ref> While early reviews were more divided, modern film critics and historians have largely praised ''Caligari'' as a revolutionary film. Film reviewer [[Roger Ebert]] called it arguably "the first true horror film",<ref name="Ebert" /> and critic [[Danny Peary]] called it cinema's first [[cult film]] and a precursor for [[Art film|arthouse films]].<ref name="Peary48" /> In October 1958, ''Caligari'' was ranked as the twelfth-best film of all time during a poll organised at the [[Expo 58|Brussels World's Fair]]. With input from 117 film critics, filmmakers and historians from around the world, it was the first universal film poll in history.<ref name="Robinson54">{{Harvnb|Robinson|1997|p=54}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Thompson|1990|p=121}}</ref> American film historian Lewis Jacobs said "its stylized rendition, brooding quality, lack of explanation, and distorted settings were new to the film world".<ref>{{Harvnb|Jacobs|1939}}</ref> Film historian and critic [[Paul Rotha]] wrote of it, "For the first time in the history of the cinema, the director has worked ''through'' the camera and broken with realism on the screen; that a film could be effective dramatically when not photographic and finally, of the greatest possible importance, that the mind of the audience was brought into play psychologically".<ref name="Robinson55">{{Harvnb|Robinson|1997|p=55}}</ref> Likewise, Arthur Knight wrote in ''[[Rogue (magazine)|Rogue]]'': "More than any other film, (''Caligari'') convinced artists, critics and audiences that the movie was a medium for artistic expression".<ref name="Peary48" /> ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' included ''Caligari'' in their 1994 "Guide to the Greatest Movies Ever Made", calling it a "landmark silent film" and saying, "No other film's art direction has ever come up with so original a visualization of dementia".<ref>{{Harvnb|Entertainment Weekly|1997|p=174}}</ref> The film holds an approval rating of 96% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 80 reviews, with a [[weighted arithmetic mean|weighted average]] of 9.30/10.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rotten-tomatoes-highest-rated-movies_n_3187897 |title=Highest-Rated Movies On Rotten Tomatoes: 100 Must-See Films |last=Jacobs |first=Matthew |date=30 April 2013 |access-date=25 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425024340/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rotten-tomatoes-highest-rated-movies_n_3187897 |archive-date=25 April 2019 |url-status=live |work=[[The Huffington Post]]}}</ref> The site's critics' consensus states: "Arguably the first true horror film, ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' set a brilliantly high bar for the genre – and remains terrifying nearly a century after it first stalked the screen."<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003361_cabinet_of_dr_caligari |title=The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |access-date=3 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425024030/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003361_cabinet_of_dr_caligari |archive-date=25 April 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Akira Kurosawa]], the Japanese director, named this movie as one of his 100 favourite films.<ref name="farout">{{cite web |last1=Thomas-Mason |first1=Lee |title=From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/akira-kurosawa-100-favourite-films-list/ |website=Far Out Magazine |date=12 January 2021 |access-date=23 January 2023}}</ref>
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