COM198: CINEMA BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS

German Expressionism: An
Analysis through the film
‘The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

V Akshita
1810110311
Bachelors of Management Studies

Submitted on: December 14, 2020

Submitted to: Prof. Shahid Jamal
Shiv Nadar University
Table of Contents

Introduction 2
Socio - Political Setting 3
Analysis Of ‘The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari’ 6
Conclusion 11
References 12

1
INTRODUCTION

“Helldunkel,” was the word Lotte Eisner, a German film critic, used to describe the German
Expressionist movies. She defined ‘helldunkel’ as “a sort of twilight of the German soul,
expressing itself in shadowy, enigmatic interiors, or misty, insubstantial landscapes”
(Studiobinder, 2020).

German Expressionism was an art movement, which started towards the end of the First World
War in Germany. True to its name, it focused on not depicting objectively, but rather the
emotions behind the subject to evoke an idea or a response from the audience (Britannica, 2020).
It is heavily dependent on making the subject distorted, exaggerated and showcasing high
contrast between the light and the dark, and hence, became popular for its distorted and
exaggerated mise-en-scene. The art revolution left its mark in cinema, painting, sculpture, dance
and even architecture.

In her book, ‘The Haunted Screen: Expressionism in the German Cinema and the Influence of
Max Reinhardt’ (1952, p.10), Eisner said, “Expressionist phraseology is ruled by a desire to
amplify the 'metaphysical' meaning of words.” She went on to describe that the elements of the
movie were purposefully vague and obscure to create allegories, compelling the audience to read
between the lines and think hard.

German Expressionism though lasted for only a short period (the 1910s-1930s) in Germany, it
was however kept alive for longer in Hollywood since many German directors migrated to the
States when Hitler came to power. This also happens to be the reason why most Hollywood’s
Film Noir movies have a heavy influence of German Expressionism (Yamout, 2018). Film Noir
and the horror genre of Hollywood are said to have stemmed from this movement.

2
SOCIO – POLITICAL SETTING

After the First World War, Germany was in dismay due to its loss against the Allied Forces.
During this period (1919-1933) the Weimar Republic was the government which was in power in
Germany until the Nazi Party took over (Facing History, n.d.). The Weimar Republic was
Germany's first democracy, where both men and women above the age of 20 were given the
chance to vote and elect their leaders. Though this was a bold “experiment” and was established
to bring about some degree of stability, this period in Germany was anything but stable, in terms
of not only the political structure but also the economy and also the social implications which
followed them.

After its loss, Germany had to sign the Treaty of Versailles which decreased their military
power, along with which they had to relinquish som territory, take responsibility for the First
World War and at the same time, pay an excessive amount of money as reparations to the Allied
Forces (History, 2017). Since the war had already drained them of their entire treasury, they had
no money and huge amounts of debt (Facing History, n.d.). German’s population was deprived
of food, money and even employable youth - many of whom had died in the war.

The country did enjoy a short period of prosperity when Germany started taking loans from the
United States of America, and also due to the tax and financial reforms which the Weimar
government had set in place. But this period did not last long as the American economy crashed,
and with it so did the German Economy (Facing History, n.d.). Hyper-inflation was a constant
challenge that Germany had to face, due to which the country descended into anarchy very fast.

Not able to trust the Weimar government, the German population turned towards extremists,
people like Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, who promised to get Germany out of the despairing
condition it was in then. This led to Germany becoming a fascist regime.

During this time, the country had banned the sale and import of foreign goods, including cinema.
This meant Germany had to produce their films to have any kind of cinema present in the
country. The country was in ruins at this time, haunted by their past which was filled with death
due to the war. This had created a sense of unease and fear amongst the German people. German
Expressionism is said to have been born out of this fear (Crabbe, 2016). This along with the

3
newfound freedom of expression from Universum Film-Aktien Gesellschaft (UFA) gave birth to
German Expressionism. UFA no longer dictated what needed to be produced as it did before and
during the First World War to produce propaganda, its aim shifted to enhance Germany’s
international image.

Writers, directors and artists took inspiration from these fears and with their newfound freedom
created art like never before. German Expressionist movies were not released under UFA at first,
but under independent production companies like Decla.

One example of this would be the writers Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, writers of one of the
most famous German Expressionist movies - ‘The Cabinet of Dr Caligari’. Both the writers were
pacifists and wanted to express their experience and opinion on authority figures and the wars.
The movie was released under Decla and was one of the first movies to do so (CrashCourse,
2017).

Siegfried Kracauer, in his book ‘From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of German
Film’ (1974), mentioned that the ending of the movie was supposed to express the triumph of the
common man, where authority, no matter how strong or tyrannical, had to fall and also that
“madness inherent in authority” (p.67). Though this was what the German population was
feeling at that time, the director of the movie, Robert Wiene had changed the ending much to the
protests of the two writers. In the words of Kracauer, “a revolutionary film was thus turned into a
conformist one - following the much-used pattern of declaring some normal but troublesome
individual insane and sending him to a lunatic asylum”, though critics have mentioned that the
film’s storyline was better than that of the original script.

Once movies like ‘The Cabinet of Dr Caligari’ became famous, UFA also started borrowing their
style, and since UFA was not only the largest film studio in the world at that time (as many of
the European film studios had died down due to the war), and one of the only ones who could
compete with Hollywood, not only on scale but also on techniques of production, an inflow of
technicians and aspirant filmmakers was seen in Germany, one of whom was Alfred Hitchcock
(CrashCourse, 2017).

Germany’s filmmaking attempts were not only applauded by other countries, they were also
appreciated in Germany by the German people. German Expressionist movies were not only new

4
to them, but they were also refreshing as they have only ever seen movies which were either
created as propaganda by the previous government during the First World War or were
‘Kostumfilme’ which were created by UFA after the war, which focused more on costumes than
the inner psychology of the characters, like German Expressionist movies. They could relate
their inner conflicts and their surroundings of post-war Germany to the depictions and metaphors
which were shown in these films.

Not only were the German films great to watch for the German population, but since
hyperinflation was a constant state in Germany at that time, people knew that the money they
had that day would hold little value the next day, hence expenditure on cinema had increased
during this time.

5
ANALYSIS OF ‘THE CABINET OF DR CALIGARI’

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is a German silent

horror film which was released in 1920. It was
directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans
Janowitz and Carl Mayer. It was not only the
first film in the German Expressionist
movement but also one of the first movies to
ever have had a non-linear narrative, i.e., not in
chronological order.

The movie recounts a series of brutal murders

that are committed in a north German town by
a somnambulist at the bidding of a madman
who thinks he is the incarnation of a homicidal
18th-century hypnotist named Dr Caligari.

German Expressionism can be understood

better with the help of the film analysis of the
Cabinet of Dr Caligari. The following analysis
also talks about why the film is celebrated
Figure 1: Poster of the Film
worldwide to this day:

● The choice of background made this movie exceptional. It was hand-painted by German
Expressionist artists - Hermann Warm, Walter Rohrig and Walter Reimann, even the
shadows were painted by hand too to not rely on the actual lighting and give the movie a
better effect. Though this later became an element which most German Expressionist
movies used, it was originally painted by hand because Delca, the independent studio
which was producing this film did not have the funding to pay the electricity bills, and
hence the director had to come up with a way to overcome this problem.

Every element in the film was given high importance when they were drawn. None of the
houses and the roads was drawn straight which gave the movie an eerie effect. In his

6
 book ‘Expressionism and
Film’ (1926), Rudolf Kurtz
points out, as quoted by
Eisner (1952), “the curves
and slanting lines have a
meaning which is decidedly
metaphysical. For the
psychic reaction caused in
the spectator by oblique
lines is entirely different
from that caused in him by
Figure 2: Distorted Background
straight lines. Similarly,
unexpected curves and sudden ups and downs provoke emotions quite different from
those induced harmonious and gentle gradients”.

Kracauer mentioned in his book, “In addition, the ornamental system expanded through
space, annulling its conventional aspect through painted shadows in disharmony with the
lighting effects, and zigzag delineations designed to efface all rules of perspective. Space
now dwindled to a flat plane, now augmented its dimensions to become what one writer
called a ‘stereoscopic universe’.”

● Expressionism is not only seen in the background but also in the exaggerated make-up
and the acting of the actors - for example, you know that Dr Caligari is a villain as soon
as he enters the scene. His make-up is very dark and he enters the scene in a jittery style
which shows that he's a villain rather than telling it to us. Conrad Veidt, the actor who
played Cesare, made sure that each and every moment made by him is deliberate. This
causes the audience to wonder if Cesare has a motive for every action he takes, and the
same is true for Dr Caligari.

● There were many techniques which went on to become popular later, not only in German
Expressionism but also other revolutions. Playing with the shadows was a technique
which was never used before. At the time of release, there were certain guidelines which

7
 did not allow scenes of murder or any other ‘unparliamentary’ scenes to be shown on
screen. Hence, the scene where Cesare is seen killing Alan is shown in the shadows,

● therefore bypassing the guidelines. A famous movie which was inspired by this technique
was ‘Psycho’, made by Alfred Hitchcock.

Lettering was also used in

this film, something which
had not been used previously.
Kracauer said, “Lettering was
introduced as an essential
element of the settings
appropriately enough,
considering the close
relationship between lettering
Figure 3: Lettering and drawing.” Lettering in
this movie was not only used for its aesthetic value but also to amplify the psychological
breakdown Dr Caligrari was having, which could not have been done with the use of
expressionist drawings.

● There were many symbols used throughout the whole film. Kracauer says in his book that
there are 2 polar opposite 'narrative and pictorial' elements in the film. One is that of
tyranny, the tyranny of those in authority. This is shown through the difference between
the common folk and those in authority:

o The high tables and chairs, while those in authority look

down at the common people
o The chair in Alan's room had an enormous back, signifying
the invisible powers at hand
o Staircase with numerous stairs to signify the hierarchy in
place

Figure 4: Difference
8 in
Authority
 o The houses were shown on hills with a castle on top of it showing the oppression
of the common folk by those in charge and those with wealth

The other element would have been the love for freedom if the film was made according
to what the writers had originally written, but once Wiene changed the prologue and the
epilogue, that was no longer the case. In the words of Kracauer, “The fair is not freedom,
but anarchy entailing chaos”.

● The characters of the movie do not only express emotion but also symbolize emotions
and feelings themselves. Kracauer mentioned, “The character of Caligari embodies these
tendencies; he stands for an unlimited authority that idolizes power as such, and, to
satisfy its lust for domination, ruthlessly violates all human rights and values.
Functioning as a mere instrument, Cesare is not so much a guilty murderer as Caligari's
innocent victim. According to the Janowitz (the writer), they had created Cesare with the
dim design of portraying the common man who, under the pressure of compulsory
military service, is drilled to kill and to be killed. The revolutionary meaning of the story
reveals itself unmistakably at the end, with the disclosure of the psychiatrist as Caligari:
reason overpowers unreasonable power, insane authority is symbolically abolished”.

Figure 5: Cesare was portrayed as a common man pressured to kill

9
 Eisner added to this in her book saying, “the characters of Caligari and Cesare conform to
Expressionist conception; the somnambulist, detached from his everyday ambience,
deprived of all individuality, an abstract creature, kills without motive or logic. And his
master, the mysterious Dr Caligari, who lacks the merest shadow of human scruple, acts
with the criminal insensibility and defiance of conventional morality which the
Expressionists exalted”.

● The movie also deceives the audience by providing a fake plot twist where they show Dr
Caligari as director of the asylum which, for a moment, gave the audience the closure that
they needed. By showing the ending where the narrator - Francis himself as a patient in
the asylum, the closure is taken away from the audience. This is when the audience
realises that they have an unreliable narrator and whatever they have seen may have been
unreliable as well.

Kracauer mentioned in his book that the changed epilogue, i.e., the plot twist, made it
more acceptable by the audience of backgrounds. He said, “in its changed form [the film]
was no longer a product expressing, at best, sentiments characteristic of the intelligentsia,
but a film "supposed equally to be in harmony with what the less educated felt and liked.

10
CONCLUSION

German Expressionism still acts as an inspiration to modern directors, a famous one being Tim
Burton, whose films such as ‘Edward Scissorhands’ and ‘Sweeney Tood: The Demon Barber of
Fleet Street’ (Yamout, 2018) were said to have taken inspiration from the psychological and the
gothic elements of German Expressionism.

Figure 6: Tim Burton was inspired by German Expressionism

German Expression, today, is celebrated for its contribution towards the history of cinema, not
only because of the role it played in inspiring different genres of horror but also for its
innovations in special effects (Crabbe, 2016).

11
REFERENCES:

Studio Binder (2020). What is German Expressionism in Film? Defining the Style.
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/german-expressionism-film/

Britannica (2020). Expressionism. https://www.britannica.com/art/Expressionism

Eisner, L. H. (1974) The Haunted Screen. Thames and Hudson.

Yamout, D. (2018). The Influence of German Expressionist Cinema on the Films of Tim Burton.
Medium. https://medium.com/@DaniaAtHome/the-influence-of-german-expressionist-cinema-
on-the-films-of-tim-burton-7e660e36f583

Facing History (n.d.). 1929: A Turning Point During the Weimar Republic.
https://www.facinghistory.org/weimar-republic-fragility-democracy/readings/1929-turning-point

History (2017). Weimar Republic. https://www.history.com/topics/germany/weimar-

republic#section_3

Crabbe, E. (2016) The Shadow Of German Expressionism In Cinema. Film Theory.

https://www.filminquiry.com/german-expressionism/

CrashCourse (2017). German Expressionism: Crash Course Film History #7. [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6XDyth0qxc

Kracauer, S. (1974) From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of German Film.

Princeton University Press.

12