This essay is discussed on the similarities of the two great movies that is ‘The cabinet of Dr

This essay is discussed on the similarities of the two great movies that is ‘The cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ by Robert Wiene’s 1920 and ‘Noir D.O.A’ by Rudolph Mates film 1949. German expressionism style and the influential factor in both the films are discussed further. This thesis statement, states that the two classic films and their similarities on horror mystery with the influential factors of film noir from German expressionism.
German expressionism is an artistic genre that originated in Europe in the 1920s, and it is defined in the film world as the refusal of Western agreements, and the artist’s impression on reality that is widely inaccurate for emotional effect. The relationship between art and society was indulged in this movement which was surrounded by architecture, painting, and film. Expressionist films were originated from German’s relative isolation during 1910s and it started spreading in high demand as the government banned foreign films at that time period. These kinds of films soon started to spread internationally by 1920s. Many European filmmakers had already been influenced by German expressionism and hence started to work on this genre of films such as ‘Metropolis’ (1927), by Fritz Lang (Austrian, 1877–1961), and ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ (1920), by Robert Wiene (German, 1873–1938).
The movie ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ filmed in 1920 directed by Robert Wiene and produced by Erich Pommer. This film is a psychological horror in the salient era. The story is told by Francis and his experiences which surrounds around the terrifying experiences at a carnival in a small village of Germany. In this carnival Dr.Caligari introduced himself to the crowd to his powers to control a man who has been sleeping for 20 years. Then there has been going mysterious murders and a police investigation is held. There is a twist in the story. That the storyteller Francis is actually in natively silent and Dr. Caligari is the director.
This film is one of the most important works of German expressionism as the goal of earlier films was to capture the moment of the life as it really was but expressionism run in direct and ponderous difference to seek and not resend the world as it was by using images, acting and lighting to express a subjective perception of the world particularly exploring emotional and mental state through its imagery (Shrader, p.p 585-586). Set designer Walter Reimann used twisted buildings and streets in different angles, shadows painted to reflect the mental state of the protagonist and to also expression of detention, distrust and anxiety of post-world war of Germany. ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ story is the visual representation of German people’s feelings towards German government. It has themes of control and subservience (Shrader, p.p 587). Francis also represents the German government who was left alone to die in the dungeon. Shadows play the most important part of the film which influences the film Noir which is similar between both the films. Caligari was cinema’s first masterpiece due to these elements.
The film Noir ‘D.O.A’ made in the year 1950 directed by Rudolph Mate. This is a dark horror mysterious film. This film is dramatically intense on the Noir theme on an average person who is living an ordinary life who is suddenly in a desperate situation to know about his mysterious murderer (Shrader, p.p 587). This theme is also used in many other classical Noir films. This film starts with the protagonist entering to the police station to complain about his own murder and then flashbacks happen and the story starts. The plot is the protagonist gets his drink poisoned and he got one week to live and he tries to find his murderer. Following the trails he gets to know about the murderer and then the flashback ends. The police make his report and marks “D.O.A.”
In film Noir from 1940s Hollywood used urban landscape cities to shoot like Los Angeles and San Francisco due to cheap budget. Most of the films were filmed on that location. In the film D.O.A there are untrustworthy characters, people trying to murder or harm each other by mysterious ways. In the film the first scenes opens with the dialogue or quote “I want to report a murder.”(2:32), this dialogue itself made suspense in the first scene of the film. This scene said by the protagonist reporting his own murder and then narration is story by flashback. D.O.A is also best known for its plot and exceptional role played by the actors. The film noir has astonishing set and it is very different from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as the D.O.A had crowed jazz bar and beautiful architectural buildings and scenes shot on different locations whereas on the other hand, the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has twisted buildings and streets with hand painted by German expressionist. In both the movies shadow plays a vital role as they shadow gave audience a glare that there is a deep mystery which is going to be solved in the end (Shrader, p.p 586).
The study of stylistics of film noir is correlated on its techniques, themes, and casual elements into a stylistic scene (Shrader, p.p 585-586). Most of the scenes are lit for night. And as in German expressionism in film noir, they prefer horizontal lines which are opposite to American tradition. Also, the shadow effect speaks a lot and is a big part of the film noir. There is also a love romantic narration in this film noir D.O.A. Film noir is influenced by German expressionism as D.O.A has the similar elements as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari such as horror mystery, lighting and shadows used to create suspense and tension. These two films also have similar themes such as paranoia and scepticism, crime drama and romance. Both the films are narrated and took the audience towards dark topics such as insanity or issues from the society.
Both the films are classics and best at its genre that is horror mystery. And both the films starts with the protagonist narrating the story to the other character and then the flashbacks happen. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is silent expressionist film in 1920. Film noir was influenced by German expressionism as the scene in films where the shadow effects are similar and the sharp lines used in the sets to make it look realistic.