The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Wiene directs. Willy Hameister behind the camera. Giuseppe Becce scores. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Germany. Dialogue in No Language.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Tight 77-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
• 2Shot for just $0.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 3Earned back only 49% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
• 4106 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 5Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 6Directed by Robert Wiene, shot by Willy Hameister. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 7Original score by Giuseppe Becce. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 8Werner Krauss and Conrad Veidt and Friedrich Fehér carry the top of the cast.
• 9Marketing tagline: "You must become Caligari!".
• 10IMDB entry: tt0010323 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 11Classified under 16 themes, including "insane asylum", "black and white", "silent film", "unreliable narrator".
• 12Released under 20 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Willy Hameister

Original score

Giuseppe Becce

Production design

Walter Reimann

Runtime

77 min · 1h 17m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$18,000

Box office

$8,811

Return

49% of budget

Original language

DE

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

96% 🍅 Fresh

IMDB rating

8/10 · 74,697 votes

MPAA

Not Rated

Also by

Robert Wiene

• 
  Die berühmte Frau

  1927 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Prosecutor Hallers

  1930 · ★ 10.0
• 
  A Night in Venice

  1934 · ★ 9.0
• 
  The Love Express

  1931 · ★ 9.0
• 
  Leontines Ehemänner

  1928 · ★ 9.0
• 
  Unfug der Liebe

  1928 · ★ 9.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Masters of Cinema Official Trailer

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  DAS CABINET DES DR. CALIGARI "Murder...help...Murder!" Clip

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  DAS CABINET DES DR CALIGARI "Cesare sneaks into Jane's home as she sleeps" Clip

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  DAS CABINET DES DR. CALIGARI "The time is short. You die at dawn!" Clip

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  4K Restoration Trailer

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  2014 Theatrical Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2022-06-06
  ★ 8/10

  This is a seriously creepy affair that follows the story of the young "Franzis" (Friedrich Feher) who goes to a fairground one night with his friend "Alan" (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski). They happen upon the performance of the coffin-dwelling somnambulist prophesier "Cesare" (Conrad Veidt) and his spooky master "Dr. Caligari" (Werner Krauss). "Casare" - who is all but skeletal in appearance, portends looming disaster for "Alan", and when he is found murdered next morning suspicions turn to this enigmatic pair- even though there is no real "evidence" at all! Things take an even darker twist when the anaemic seer predicts that "Jane" (Lil Dagover), a gentle creature admired by both the deceased and his surviving friend, is not long for this mortal coil either... It falls to "Franzis" to solve the mystery and save his love from... The story is bleak at times, the settings stark and angular, frequently almost abstract in appearance. Veidt is outstanding, as if he were in a nightmare in an Escher drawing, or some other such challenging structure for our minds to comprehend; and Krauss, too, with his maniacal eyes and almost orchestra leading hand gestures is wonderful too. The photography has a tendency to draw out the shots a little too much, but again - they help create a genuine sense of scariness. Nothing gory, or bloody - just eerie, and enormously effective. Unlike so many films that have attained critical acclaim, or cult status, this is actually a really good story with strong acting talent and wonderfully vivid visuals from Robert Wiene (and Willy Hameister) that really is amongst the best of it's - or any other - genre..

  Read full review ↓
• Horseface2022-07-24
  ★ 1/10

  This is the worst movie I've ever watched 15 minutes of. Lars von Trier once said he knew at the latest fifteen minutes into a movie whether it was worth continuing, and I took that advice to heart, so here we are. Okay. Seriously. SERIOUSLY? Yes, 102 years ago, "cinema" was in its early years. Silent movies, someone on a piano going plonkty plonk while people were drinking moonshine, smoking plutonium and coughing up pneumonia. Great. How fantastically interesting in a historical perspective. (Seriously, though, it is.) But hello, and welcome to reality in the now. This is absolute garbage. The only way this is useful in any way is as a source for memes. I'd like to see this with a death metal soundtrack. Or in MST3K form. Anything. Or simply as something displayed on the wall at a rave, for kitsch. This is TERRIBLE. Anyone who rates this more than 1 stars is either a movie historian (thumbs up, dudes, I do appreciate you work, whatever it is, maybe not actually) or a pretentious dumbbell, who has never enjoyed a movie in his or her life for fear of being wrong about enjoying it. Christ on a mongoloid horse. Garbage.

  Read full review ↓
• honeybee <32026-08-30
  ★ 9/10

  "There are spirits. They are all around us." My thoughts throughout the film... 1. The first half was a little boring and seemed cut and dry, but the second half ate 2. Caligari was going to town ringing that bell 3. His gloves are Mickey's gloves, could not take him seriously at all 4. It almost looked like Cesare had sparkly gold eyeshadow when his eyes were shut and I love that 5. TCODC's blue tint walked so Twilight could run 6. The music when Jane was being kidnapped did not fit the mood 7. At first, I thought Caligari and Cesare were immortal and I thought that was really cool, but they actually just used the original Caligari and Cesare's names and that's not as cool 8. When Caligari first met Cesare it was giving gay lovers 9. Justice for Franzis, they put my man in a straight jacket (4.5/5, originally reviewed 1/24/25)

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• DE

  Decla Film Gesellschaft Holz & Co.

  DE

Key crew

• Production DesignWalter Reimann
• Production DesignWalter Röhrig
• Production DesignHermann Warm
• ProducerErich Pommer
• ProducerRudolf Meinert

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• insane asylum
• black and white
• silent film
• unreliable narrator
• expressionism
• somnambulist
• megalomania
• madman
• somnambulism
• mysterious
• german expressionism
• dramatic
• suspenseful
• foreboding
• ghoulish
• ominous

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere1921-04-03· New York
• Theatrical (limited)2003-06-14NR· Los Angeles Film Festival
• Theatrical (limited)2014-09-20NR· San Francisco Silent Film Festival
• Theatrical (limited)2014-10-25NR· MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation
• Theatrical (limited)2014-10-31NR· New York
• Theatrical (limited)2015-04-11NR· Wisconsin Film Festival
• Physical1996-05-01NR· Video premiere

Also known as

International titles

• The Cabinet of Dr. CaligariUS
• Das Kabinett des Doktor CaligariDE
• Das Cabinet des Dr. CaligariDE
• Il gabinetto del dottor CaligariIT
• Tohtori Caligarin kabinettiFI
• Kabinet doktora CaligarihoCZ
• Doktor Caligaris KabinetDK
• El gabinet del doctor CaligariES
• El gabinete del Dr. CaligariES
• Tri Caligarin kabinettiFI
• Le cabinet du docteur CaligariFR
• Kabinet doktora CaligarijaHR
• CaligariHU
• Caligaris kabinettNO
• Gabinet doktora CaligariPL