The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a German silent film about a young man named Francis, who recounts a series of disturbing events that he, his friend Alan and his fiancée Jane have recently lived through. At a fair in a small town, the mysterious showman Dr. Caligari presents a somnambulist named Cesare, who is kept in a death-like sleep and wakes only briefly to answer questions about the future. When Alan asks how long he has left to live, Cesare tells him he will not survive until dawn, and the prediction comes true. Francis sets out to find those responsible, and his investigation leads him toward Cesare and the doctor himself, whose true identity proves more unsettling than his act.

Robert Wiene directed the film, working from a screenplay by Carl Mayer and Hans Janowitz, with Erich Pommer and Rudolf Meinert producing. It was Wiene's second feature, following The Robber Bride in 1916 and preceding The Hands of Orlac. The cast is headed by Werner Krauß as Caligari, Conrad Veidt as Cesare, Friedrich Fehér as Francis, Lil Dagover as Jane and Hans Heinrich von Twardowski as Alan. Made by Decla Film in Germany, the film runs seventy-seven minutes.

Its standing has held up over a century later. On IMDb it rates 8 out of 10 from roughly 76,000 votes, on TMDB 7.9 out of 10 from about 1,800 votes, and the critics' rating of 9.3 out of 10 from 83 reviews is higher than both audience scores.