Originally written February 6, 2012

This is the first film I had to watch in my Cinema class in college. My professor wanted us to go back and see the “classics.” This is one of the earliest ones out there. And it shows, especially because it’s a silent film. It’s not that I have a problem with silent films necessarily, it’s just so hard to watch them because they don’t seem that good in comparison to newer movies. I know that sounds bad to say, it just makes it feel dated and a lot longer. This movie is only about an hour and 10 minutes. I watched a 2 hour movie that same day, and this movie felt longer.

The movie is basically about a doctor named Caligari. Caligari brings around his somnambulist, Cesare, who he shows off to people. Cesare makes deadly predictions about people, such as “You’ll be dead by dawn.” And when these predictions become true and people start turning up murdered, people in the town expect the pair to be responsible for the deaths.

It’s interesting enough. It’s just not the kind of movie I want to watch if you know what I mean. That’s the problem with some classics. Like they’re fantastically made, you just don’t feel like watching them sometimes. And I don’t deny that this was a landmark movie that set a good precedent for movies to come. Even with how old it is, it has really great music, and the movie has its own kind of atmosphere. As opposed to other movies back in the day that were black and white, Caligari has more of a sepia look to it most of the time. It has some interesting sets. Overall, this is a good movie, it’s just not the kind I would want to watch over and over.

3.5/5