''The Cabinet of Caligari'' is a 1962 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

by Roger Kay, starring

Glynis Johns Glynis Margaret Payne Johns (born 5 October 1923) is a South African-born British former actress, dancer, musician and singer. Recognised as a film and Broadway icon, Johns has a career spanning eight decades, in which she appeared in more than ...

Dan O'Herlihy Daniel Peter O'Herlihy (May 1, 1919 – February 17, 2005) was an Irish actor of film, television, and radio. With a distinguished appearance and rich, resonant speaking voice, O'Herlihy's best known-roles included his Oscar-nominated portraya ...

, and

Richard Davalos Richard Davalos (November 5, 1930 – March 8, 2016) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Early life Davalos was born in New York City of Spanish and Finnish descent. At age six, he acted in a school performance of ''Cinderel ...

, and released by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. Although the film's title is very similar to the German silent

'' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), it shares very few similarities except for the main plot twist. The film's script was written by

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...

, author of the novel '' Psycho''. The cinematographer for ''The Cabinet of Caligari'' was John L. Russell, who also worked on

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

's film '' Psycho'' (1960).

Plot

Motorist Jane Lindstrom (

) has a tire blowout and seeks assistance at an estate owned by Caligari (

), a very polite man with an Irish accent. After spending the night there, she finds that Caligari will not let her leave; he proceeds to ask some personal questions and shows her pictures that offend her. Prevented by guards from leaving and unable to use the telephone, Jane seeks allies among the other guests. She finds only three possible candidates: the older Paul, the younger Mark ( Dick Davalos), for whom she has romantic desires, and a lively elderly woman named Ruth (

Estelle Winwood Estelle Winwood (born Estelle Ruth Goodwin, 24 January 1883 – 20 June 1984) was an English actress who moved to the United States in mid-career and became celebrated for her wit and longevity. Early life and early career Born Estelle Ruth Go ...

). After seeing Ruth tortured, Jane goes to Paul who convinces her to confront Caligari. Jane does so and tries to seduce him, as she suspects he has been spying on her in the bath. After her attempts fail, Caligari reveals that he and Paul are one and the same person, Jane runs down a corridor of wildly shifting imagery that acts as a transition. Finally, it is revealed that Jane is a mental patient and everything the audience has seen up to this point has been her distortion of the institute she was in: the personal questions were

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

, the pictures were Rorschach blots, Ruth's torture was

shock treatment ''Shock Treatment'' is a 1981 American musical comedy film directed by Jim Sharman, and co-written by Sharman and Richard O'Brien. It is a follow-up to the 1975 film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show''. While not an outright sequel, the film doe ...

, and even Caligari's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

was a distorted version of the medical

caduceus The caduceus (☤; ; la, cādūceus, from grc-gre, κηρύκειον "herald's wand, or staff") is the staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology and consequently by Hermes Trismegistus in Greco-Egyptian mythology. The same staff was also ...

symbol. Cured, Jane is taken from the asylum by Mark, now revealed to be her son.

Cast

as Jane *

as Paul/Caligari * Dick Davalos as Mark *

Lawrence Dobkin Lawrence Dobkin (September 16, 1919 – October 28, 2002) was an American television director, character actor and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades. Dobkin was a prolific performer during the Golden Age of Radio. He narrat ...

as David *

Constance Ford Constance Ford (born Cornelia M. Ford; July 1, 1923 – February 26, 1993) was an American actress and model. She is best known for her long-running role as Ada Lucas Hobson on the daytime soap opera '' Another World'', which she played from 1 ...

as Christine *

as Ruth * J. Pat O'Malley as Perkins

Production

Sam Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; yi, שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor an ...

bought the remake rights in 1921. He assigned the project to French-born Roger Kay, who had directed

Grand Guignol ''Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol'' (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet")—known as the Grand Guignol–was a theatre in the Quartier Pigalle, Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it spe ...

theatre in Paris and New York. He also had degrees in psychology. The director Roger Kay persuaded Robert Bloch "to drop the Dr from the original title but do a story with enough similarity to be recognizable as an homage."''Once Around the Bloch: An Autobiography'', p. 258. At one stage, the film was just known as ''Caligari''. The story of the way director Roger Kay tried to rob Bloch of the writing credit for the film and how Bloch won is told in Bloch's autobiography.

Robert Lippert Robert Lenard Lippert (March 31, 1909 – November 16, 1976) was an American film producer and cinema chain owner. He was president and chief operating officer of Lippert Theatres, Affiliated Theatres and Transcontinental Theatres, all based in ...

's movies around this time normally cost $500,000, but Lippert allowed extra funds for this movie. It was shot over 25 days.

Harry Spalding Harry Spalding (1913-2008) was an American writer best known for the films he wrote for Robert L. Lippert and director Maury Dexter. He later worked for the Walt Disney Company. He sometimes wrote under the name "Henry Cross". Select Credits * ...

, who worked for Lippert, later recalled that everyone in their organization thought making the film was a bad idea except for Lippert. He says the director hired Robert Bloch to write the script, but they had a falling out and the director wrote the script himself. Bloch's signing was announced in July 1961. Glynis Johns was signed in November.

Maury Dexter Maury Dexter (born Morris Gene Poindexter; June 12, 1927 – May 28, 2017) was an American producer and director of film and TV. He worked several times for Robert Lippert and American International Pictures. Life and career Dexter was born in P ...

, head of Lippert's company, says Lippert told him "to give Roger aya wide berth because he expected great things from him." Kay used a color chart when making the film. He went through the script and allocated a color representing the emotion the audience was to feel." The new ''Caligari'' is completely modern", said Kay during filming. "I don't want to sound presumptuous but I am trying to get the Pirandello approach that says nothing is what it appears to be. The thesis behind the damsel in distress, behind the little thrills and shocks is, What is reality?""This picture is going to cause a lot of talk", said Lippert. Dexter says once he read the script and saw how different the film would be from the original, he advised Lippert to fire Kay, but Lippert backed the director. He also says Kay yelled at

during filming and Johns ran off the set; Lippert forced Kay to apologize so filming could continue.

Reception

Dexter says the film was a critical and financial failure. In 1963, Kay said he "disowns" the film, blaming Fox for turning it into a "lurid, sex charged picture" and claiming the version released was "considerably different" from his version. He said a copy of his original cut was with the Museum of Modern Art. Lippert wanted to reunite O'Herily and Johns in an adaptation of ''

Trilby A trilby is a narrow-brimmed type of hat. The trilby was once viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is sometimes called the "brown trilby" in Britain Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. Barnes & Noble. and ...

'', but no film resulted.

References

External links