Galway Film Fleadh 2011 Programme

A man named Francis relates a story about his best friend Alan and his fiancée Jane. Alan takes him to a fair where they meet Dr Caligari, who exhibits Cesare, a somnambulist that can predict the future. When Alan asks how long he has to live, Cesare says he has until dawn. The prophecy comes to pass when Alan is murdered and Cesare is a prime suspect. With its jagged, stylised sets, evocative shadows and themes of murder, madness and delirium, Wiene’s film remains the source and essence of German Expressionist cinema. Fusing carnival spectacle with the paranoia of the psychological thriller, it centres on the haunting, sexually ambivalent presence of Conrad Veidt (Cesare), as a somnambulist exploited as an instrument of murder by the sinister Dr Caligari.

Running Time 73 mins | B&W | 35 mm

Producer Rudolf Meinert, Erich Pommer

Script Hans Janowitz, Carl Mayer

Cast Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Frederich Feher

Production Decla-Bioscop AG

Print Source British Film Institute