Review of The Cabinet of Caligari (1962) by Chris S — 31 May 2011

[font=Courier New]While glancing over some television listings the past couple of days, I noticed Fox Movie Channel was showing [i]The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari[/i]. But for some reason they kept omitting the ?Dr.? part of the title. When I watched it, I realized this wasn?t the silent classic I thought it was, but a psychological thriller written by the man who brought us the classic [i]Psycho[/i].

I figured the combination of one of my favorite movies with the writer of another one of my favorite movies would be a good deal. Man was I wrong. Not only does this movie have nothing to do with the original, it shows that writer Robert Bloch has had some bumps in his career.

The movie is about a beautiful woman named Jane Lindstrom (Glynis Johns? Mrs. Winifred Banks from [i]Mary Poppins[/i], another movie I like). Jane is driving one day, and gets a flat tire. She walks for what seems like a million miles and ends up at the door of Caligari (Dan O?Herlihy).

While he seems like a gentleman at first, he turns into one dickhead of a host. He keeps Jane locked within his property. He peeks in at her, talks dirty to her and pokes her with numerous mental questions. All adding up to pretty much nothing but a lot of overacting, and poor scriptwriting.

It is amazing at how bad this movie gets. At first, I was mildly into it. But once Caligari?s dark side turns up, the movies interest dims down. And we have to sit through frustrating moments over and over and over and over? until out minds are fried. Much like Caligari seems to be doing to Jane. But I doubt that was the film-makers intention.

I will give the movie some points for dealing with a somewhat sexual story during that time period of film-making. While it isn't played out all that well, it still is a nice aspect of the movie.

The overly talking resolution to the film just about kills the whole movie. And just when you think it can?t get any worst, there is yet another pointless twist for the hell of it. I haven?t been this frustrated with a movie in a long time. Seeing this movie however makes me appreciate the original [i]The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari[/i].[/font].