Just what I expected

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Every scene looks like Picasso' painting. Absolute art. For that time even for our time its very very modern look. Buildings, rooms, windows, streets, town looks very interesting shape.

My review for the Kino-Lorber DVD of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: It would be a gross understatement to say the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is one of the most influential films ever made. But it doesn't seem that way. Unlike something like John Carpenter's Halloween which has been ripped off so many times that one feels like they've already seen it upon first viewing, Caligari has a disturbing originality about it. Comparisons to Tim Burton or Rob Zombie music videos are fair, but they don't quite do justice to how extremely cracked the world view in Caligari is. Every object, whether it is a door or a building or a chair, is in fun house mirror mode with contours sharper than the finest blade. The actors are painted up to the point of vulgarity: check the title character's Bugs Bunny gloves or Conrad Veidt, who sports a look one would expect at a Nine Inch Nails or My Chemical Romance concert, not in a film made almost a hundred years ago. This is the kind of live action cartoon look that would, in our day and age, totally tank any chance of being taken serious, engaging an audience, or sharing a very real point. But it does. For some reason, all the art department hijinks work with the dramatic story not against it. Which might be why this film is remembered as both an important milestone in the development of both art house fair and escapist entertainment pieces: its relevance as the first German expressionist film and its intellectual depth are well known but equally important is its role as a pioneer horror film; bringing all the Gothic shadows, psychological terror, and even giving birth to the famous "twist" ending. All have become staples of the genre. If you doubt the role Caligari plays in development of the horror film, just look for images of Cesare carrying our unconscious heroine and compare back to Dracula, The Wolfman, the Swampthing, whatever. Its one of the most recognizable clichés in the genre. But on the other side of the spectrum, it is a brilliantly made film that many people see as the beginning of the era of German dominated cinema: within the next 7 years Germany would see Nosferatu, Metropolis, The Golem, the Last Laugh, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, Genuine, etc. All pretty well put the foreign competition to shame. In fact if it weren't for the rise of Nazism, who knows how far Germany's hold on the cinema could have gone? The Cabinet of Dr. Calagari is public domain I believe and as such there a lot of versions floating around of varying quality. The Kino Classics DVD is the 4th version I have seen and I must say it far and away the best. I am very impressed by the numerous steps taken to smooth out the jump cuts, flickering lights, and various other damages to produce the best version possible. The textures on the sets and detail in the art have never been clearer and its presented in the color tinted style originally intended. In addition there are several special features of high quality, including an additional score, an image gallery, two featurettes detailing the before mentioned film restoration, and an excellent German documentary of the history of expressionism and how Germany went from the seat of modern art and culture to the tyranny of Hitler and how Caligari more or less predicted this would happen. Although I miss the audio commentary from the Image Entertainment release, this edition scores higher marksin every other category. And unlike much of Kino's releases, its reasonably priced and easy to find. A must own.

Of course, back in the 1920s you would expect to watch bad quality but really, none of it made sense to me. I don't usually watch silent films but the poster made me want to watch it and it reminded me of David Bowie in dark version like! What was so annoying as well in silent movies like this, you would miss half the words they say, like if the text screen pops up and then disappears, you would still see them still talking! I have to say, this one was even worse and gave me a headache really lol! Its not that i don't like silent movies, its just that well they can be very hard to follow. Whereas the talkies were easier to know what the hell is going on with the characters! Its a pity I didn't get to enjoy it since the Joker inspired actor Conrad Veidt was on this...

Back in the day when movies were new, you could film anything and people would watch it.Most movies you can speed up to 1.2x maybe 1.5x. This one was watchable at a whopping 3x-4x. You don't even have to be a fast reader! The actors pull faces and hardly move, which feels cartoonish. There are a couple of bits near the end where I slowed down to 2x but for the most part....Even at 4x speed not much happens.If you can't speed it up, prepare for a snore fest, a predictable plot and a twist that wasn't worth waiting for.The wacky cheaply made sets might pique your interest if you are into that sort of thing so I gave it an extra star for that.