"The film that forged the dark, ominous cinematic movement known as German Expressionism - and influenced vanguard filmmakers for generations - at last regains its original, electrifying authority in this definitive presentation of Robert Wiene's THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. "Werner Krauss stars as a deranged hypnotist who spreads death through the countryside from a ramshackle traveling carnival. Before the naive eyes of the townspeople, he unveils the contents of his coffin-like cabinet: Cesare (Conrad Veidt), a spidery sleepwalker who obeys his every command. But at night, once the crowds have disappeared, Caligari lifts the lid on darker intentions, unleashing the dreadful Cesare to act upon his master's murderous whims and carnal desires.
"In making CALIGARI, director Wiene and designers Warm, Reimann and Rohrig combined techniques of painting, theatre and film to conjure a nightmare world of splintered reality... boldly creating a visual representation of insanity... taking the art of cinema a lengthy stride into unexplored stylistic and psychological terrain, hinting at the terrifying power the medium might possess.
"Also featured in this DVD is an excerpt of GENUINE, which reunited CALIGARI's creative team to continue their radical experiments with expressionistic sets of imagery.
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