100 YEARS OF THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI

By: Casandra Vicario

Come one, come all! Come meet Dr. Caligari! You'll get to meet the somnambulist “Cesare”, capable of reading the future… and of doing other things…

Directed by Robert Wiene in 1920, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, is celebrating its 100th birthday today, to be exact, and to mark the occasion, we've gathered here to share with you 10 fun facts about this important film of horror and German Expressionism.

1.- This film marked the start of what many of us know as “German Expressionism”, but its impact was so great that many film critics refer to this period in film history as “caligarism”.

2.- Fritz Lang was originally chosen to direct it, but he turned down the project to make another film, so the second choice was Robert Wiene; another well-known film of his is “Orlak Hande” or “Las Manos de Orlak”.

3.- For many horror film scholars, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, is the first film of the genre.

4.- In 1962 it got a remake with the same title, but directed by Roger Kay and with a screenplay forced together by Robert Bloch. (Famous for being the author of Psycho)

5.- In 2006, they once again fell into the folly of making a new version of this classic; this time, the director's chair was occupied by David Lee Fisher, and as for the cast, good old Doug Jones brought life to Cesare.

6.- It premiered in Mexico on December 8, 1921, and in New York in April of that same year, except that, during that New York premiere, the audience booed and demanded their money back. (Really?)

7.- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari began filming in December 1919 and wrapped in January 1920. No outdoor shots were taken; everything was filmed inside a small film studio in Germany.

8.- Robert Wiene bought the rights to the film to make a sound version, but he died unexpectedly in 1938.

9.- In 1997, the story of “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” was turned into an opera, written by composer John Mora.

10.- In 2014, the film was restored to 4K and released at a film festival in the Netherlands, with a soundtrack created by the Dutch group Monomyth,

11.- Joseph Kahn and Rob Zombie directed the video, in 1999, for the rocker's song “Living Dead Girl” as a tribute to “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, Sheri Moon Zombie brought to life a female version of “Cesare”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvsMPOfblfg (abre en nueva pestaña)