The Roots Vol. 2

Speaking of involuntary plagiarism and secret influences of the student film I made in high school, "Lucidity," somehow, I managed to rip off a classic German Expressionist film which I had never seen before.

The twist ending of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" is basically the same as the twist ending of our film. This is also the one contribution I made to the plot of the film. I thought it was a useful frame that made sense of the story and also offered a sense of closure. The ending of Dr. Caligari was similarly tacked on to the original film at the insistence of the studio, completely changing the message of the film. They too thought it was a useful frame, but most critics agree it compromised the piece. Oops. Did I ruin "Lucidity" by ripping off films that ripped off this film?

The world may never know. But, anyway, thanks to the magic of the public domain, here is the entirety of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." There are other cuts that are about 20 minutes shorter, but I have erred on the side of caution by picking the fullest cut I could find, and even then it's only slightly longer than an hour. I find it hard to watch and can't really imagine it being scary, but the distorted mise-en-scene is pretty rad, and it has been a pretty damn influential film.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari