The Mise-en-scene of Dr. Caligari

The film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a film that went against all film form previous to its release. It was released during the German Expressionist period in history, which had its heyday after World War I. During this period, Germans were interested in art, such as fictional stories, theatre, painting, and films. They felt that these different aspects of the arts should show the psychological thoughts and feelings of the main character. Many …

…the people in different perspectives. These crazy disoriented diagonal sets reveal the true madness of Dr. Caligari himself. An innovator in the cinema, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, was released in 1920 but shot in 1919. It was one of the first Expressionist films to come out of Germany. The mise-en-scene is perhaps one of the most important aspects to this film and so influenced not only other Expressionist films but all future horror films to come.