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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
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===Legacy=== ''Caligari'' is the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema, and by far the most famous example of it.<ref name="Barlow29" /><ref name="Brockmann59" /><ref name="Scheunemann125">{{Harvnb|Scheunemann|2003b|p=125}}</ref><ref name="Hirsch54" /><ref name="Robinson50" /><ref name="LoBrutto60">{{Harvnb|LoBrutto|2005|p=60}}</ref> It is considered a classic film, often shown in introductory film courses, film societies and museums,<ref name="Budd1" /> and is one of the most famous German films from the silent era.<ref name="Barlow29" /> Film scholar Lewis Jacobs called it the "most widely discussed film of the time".<ref name="Kracauer72" /> ''Caligari'' helped draw worldwide attention to the artistic merit of German cinema,<ref name="Finler70" /><ref name="Brockmann59" /><ref name="Kaes42" /> while also bringing legitimacy to the cinema among literary intellectuals within Germany itself.<ref name="Budd23" /> Lotte Eisner has said it was in Expressionism, as epitomised in ''Caligari'', that "the German cinema found its true nature".<ref name="Brockmann59" /> The term ''caligarism'' was coined as a result, referring to a style of similar films that focus on such themes as bizarre madness and obsession, particularly through the use of visual distortion.<ref name="Barlow29" /> Expressionism was late in coming to cinema, and by the time ''Caligari'' was released, many German critics felt the art form had become commercialised and trivialised;<ref>{{Harvnb|Kaes|2006|pp=43}}</ref><ref name="Scheunemann25">{{Harvnb|Scheunemann|2003a|pp=25}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Robinson|1997|p=37}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Budd|1990b|p=18}}</ref> such well-known writers as [[Kasimir Edschmid]], [[RenΓ© Schickele]], and [[Yvan Goll]] had already pronounced the Expressionist movement dead by the time ''Caligari'' arrived in theatres.<ref name="Scheunemann25" /> Few other purely Expressionistic films were produced, and ''Caligari'' was the only one readily accessible for several decades.<ref name="Finler70" /><ref name="Barlow63">{{Harvnb|Barlow|1982|p=63}}</ref> Among the few films to fully embrace the Expressionist style were ''[[Genuine (film)|Genuine]]'' (1920) and ''[[Raskolnikow (film)|Raskolnikow]]'' (1923), both directed by Wiene, as well as ''[[From Morn to Midnight]]'' (1920), ''[[Torgus]]'' (1921), ''[[Das Haus zum Mond]]'' (1921), ''[[Haus ohne TΓΌr und ohne Fenster]]'' (1921) and ''[[Waxworks (film)|Waxworks]]''.<ref name="Robinson53" /><ref name="Barlow26">{{Harvnb|Barlow|1982|p=26}}</ref> While few other purely Expressionistic films were made, ''Caligari'' still had a major influence over other German directors,<ref name="Everson4">{{Harvnb|Everson|1978|p=4}}</ref> and many of the film's Expressionist elements β particularly the use of setting, light and shadow to represent the specific psychology of its characters β became prevalent in German cinema.<ref name="Kracauer77" /><ref name="Robinson54" /> Among the films to use these elements were Murnau's ''[[Nosferatu]]'' (1922) and ''[[The Last Laugh (1924 film)|The Last Laugh]]'' (1924),<ref name="Peary51" /><ref name="Brockmann59" /><ref name="Hirsch56">{{Harvnb|Hirsch|1981|pp=56}}</ref> [[G. W. Pabst]]'s ''[[Secrets of a Soul]]'' (1926),<ref name="Finler70" /> and Lang's ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'' (1927) and ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]'' (1931).<ref name="Barlow26" /><ref name="Hirsch56" /> The success of ''Caligari'' also affected the way in which German films were produced during the 1920s. For example, the majority of major German films over the next few years moved away from location shooting and were fully filmed in studios,<ref name="Kracauer74" /><ref name="Robinson54" /> which assigned much more importance to designers in German cinema.<ref name="Robinson54" /> Robinson argues this led to the rise of a large number of film designers β such as [[Hans Dreier]], [[Rochus Gliese]], [[Albin Grau]], [[Otto Hunte]], [[Alfred Junge]], [[Erich Kettelhut]] and [[Paul Leni]] β and that effect was felt abroad as many of these talents later emigrated from Germany with the rise of the [[Nazi Party]].<ref name="Robinson54" /> Additionally, the success of ''Caligari''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s collaborative effort β including its director, set designers and actors β influenced subsequent film production in Germany for many years, making teamwork a hallmark of German cinema in the Weimar Republic.<ref name="Barlow34" /> The effect of ''Caligari'' was felt not just in German cinema, but internationally as well.<ref name="LoBrutto60" /><ref name="Barlow63" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Scheunemann|2003a|pp=7}}</ref> Both Rotha and film historian [[William K. Everson]] wrote that the film probably had as much of a long-term effect on Hollywood directors as ''[[Battleship Potemkin]]'' (1925).<ref name="Everson174">{{Harvnb|Everson|1978|p=174}}</ref> In his book ''The Film Til Now'', Rotha wrote that ''Caligari'' and ''Potemkin'' were the "two most momentous advances in the development of the cinema", and said ''Caligari'' "served to attract to the cinema audience many people who had hitherto regarded the film as the low watermark of intelligence".<ref name="Robinson55" /> ''Caligari'' influenced the style and content of Hollywood films in the 1920s and early 1930s,<ref name="Everson4" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Everson|1978|p=317}}</ref> particularly in films such as ''[[The Bells (1926 film)|The Bells]]'' (1926), ''[[The Man Who Laughs (1928 film)|The Man Who Laughs]]'' (1928) and ''[[Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932 film)|Murders in the Rue Morgue]]'' (1932),<ref name="Kaes57" /><ref name="Everson174" /> and had a major influence on American horror films of the 1930s, some of which featured an antagonist using Caligari-like supernatural abilities to control others, such as ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]'' (1931), ''[[Svengali (1931 film)|Svengali]]'' (1931) and ''[[The Mad Genius]]'' (1931).<ref>{{Harvnb|Hantke|2006|p=5}}</ref> Kaes said both ''Caligari''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s stylistic elements, and the Cesare character in particular, influenced the [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] horror films of the 1930s, which often prominently featured some sort of monster, such as ''[[Frankenstein (1931 film)|Frankenstein]]'' (1931), ''[[The Mummy (1932 film)|The Mummy]]'' (1932), ''[[The Black Cat (1934 film)|The Black Cat]]'' (1934), and ''[[Bride of Frankenstein]]'' (1935).<ref name="Peary51" /><ref name="Kaes57" /> The Expressionism of ''Caligari'' also influenced American [[avant-garde film]], particularly those that used fantastic settings to illustrate an inhuman environment overpowering an individual. Early examples include ''[[The Fall of the House of Usher (1928 American film)|The Fall of the House of Usher]]'' (1928), ''[[The Last Moment (1928 film)|The Last Moment]]'' (1928) and ''[[The Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra]]'' (1928).<ref>{{Harvnb|Barlow|1982|pp=170β172}}</ref> LoBrutto wrote, "Few films throughout motion picture history have had more influence on the avant-garde, art, and student cinema than ''Caligari''".<ref name="LoBrutto60" /> ''Caligari'' and German Expressionism heavily influenced the American [[film noir]] period of the 1940s and '50s, both in visual style and narrative tone.<ref name="Kaes42" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Barlow|1982|p=186}}</ref><ref name="Hirsch53">{{Harvnb|Hirsch|1981|pp=53}}</ref> Noir films tended to portray everyone, even the innocent, as the object of suspicion, a common thread in ''Caligari''. The genre also employs several Expressionistic elements in its dark and shadowy visual style, stylised and abstract photography, and distorted and expressive make-up and acting.<ref name="Kaes57" /> ''Caligari'' also influenced films produced in the [[Soviet Union]], such as ''[[Aelita]]'' (1924) and ''[[The Overcoat (1926 film)|The Overcoat]]'' (1926).<ref>{{Harvnb|Eisner|1974|p=27}}</ref> Observers have noted the black and white films of [[Ingmar Bergman]] bear a resemblance to the German films of the 1920s, and film historian Roy Armes has called him "the true heir" of ''Caligari''. Bergman himself, however, has downplayed the influence of German Expressionism on his work.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barlow|1982|p=198}}</ref> ''Caligari'' has also affected stage theatre. Siegfried Kracauer wrote that the film's use of the [[iris shot]] has been mimicked in theatrical productions, with lighting used to single out a lone actor.<ref name="Kracauer76" /> ''Caligari'' continues to be one of the most discussed and debated films from the Weimar Republic.<ref name="Brockmann60" /> Two major books have played a large part in shaping the perception of the film and its effect on cinema as a whole: Siegfried Kracauer's ''From Caligari to Hitler'' (1947) and Lotte Eisner's ''The Haunted Screen'' (1974).<ref name="Budd1" /><ref name="Scheunemann125" /><ref name="Robinson56">{{Harvnb|Robinson|1997|p=56}}</ref> ''From Caligari to Hitler'' based its claims about the film largely on an unpublished typescript by Hans Janowitz called ''Caligari: The Story of a Famous Story'',<ref name="Kracauer61" /> which gave Janowitz and Carl Mayer principal credit for the making of ''Caligari''.<ref name="Janowitz222" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Budd|1990a|p=3}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Robinson|1997|p=8}}</ref> Mike Budd wrote of Kracauer's book: "Perhaps no film or period has been so thoroughly understood through a particular interpretation as has ''Caligari'', and Weimar cinema generally, through Kracauer's social-psychological approach".<ref name="Budd2">{{Harvnb|Budd|1990a|p=2}}</ref> Prior to the publication of ''From Caligari to Hitler'', few critics had derived any symbolic political meaning from the film, but Kracauer's argument that it symbolised German obedience toward authority and a premonition of the rise of Adolf Hitler drastically changed attitudes about ''Caligari''. Many of his interpretations of the film are still embraced,<ref name="Scheunemann126" /><ref name="Robinson32" /><ref name="Robinson56" /><ref name="Budd2" /> even by those who have strongly disagreed with his general premise,<ref name="Scheunemann126" /><ref name="Budd2" /> and even as certain claims Kracauer made have been disproven, such as his statement that the original script included no frame story.<ref name="Robinson56" /> Eisner's book, meanwhile, placed ''Caligari'' into historical context by identifying how it influenced Expressionist features in other films of the 1920s.<ref name="Scheunemann125" /><ref name="Robinson56" /> Film historian David Robinson claimed Wiene, despite being the director of ''Caligari'', is often given the least amount of credit for its production.<ref name="Robinson24" /> He believes this is in part because Wiene died in 1938, closer to the release of the film than any other major collaborators, and was therefore unable to defend his involvement in the work while others took credit.<ref name="Robinson7" /> In fact, Robinson argues ''Caligari'' ultimately hurt Wiene's reputation because his subsequent films did not match its success, so he is often wrongly considered "a one-film director" for whom ''Caligari'' was "a lucky fluke".<ref name="Robinson24" /> Japanese [[visual kei]] rock band [[Cali Gari]] derived their name from the film.<ref>{{cite web|author=Dejima, Kouji|url=http://www.bounce.com/article/article.php/3419/2/|title=Bounce Di(s)ctionary Number 13 β Visual Kei|work=[[Tower Records|Bounce]]|language=ja|date=24 May 2007|access-date=30 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080223190824/http://www.bounce.com/article/article.php/3419/2/|archive-date=23 February 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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