April 27 - Robert Wiene

Happy Birthday, Robert Wiene! Born today in 1873, this Polish screenwriter and film director was a filmmaker during the silent era of German cinema. 

  

Among his credits, Wiene is bestt known for directing the 1920 German silent black and white horror film 'Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari' ('The Cabinet of Dr, Caligari'). The film is considered to be the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema. 

  

At a carnival in Germany, Francis (Friedrich Feher) and his friend Alan (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) encounter the crazed Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss).  

  

The men see Dr. Caligari showing off his somnambulist, Cesare (Conrad Veidt), a hypnotized man who the doctor claims can see into the future.  

  

Shockingly, Cesare then predicts Alan's death, and by morning his chilling prophecy has come true -- making Cesare the prime suspect. However, is Cesare guilty, or is the doctor controlling him? 

  

Te film contains one of the best early examples of the lighting techniques used to inspire the genre.  

  

Wiene used visual elements to help define the title character’s madness, including crooked architectures and tilted cameras to present skewed images and a dark atmosphere in which only the faces of the actors were visible. 

  

This German Expressionistic style was later used by German directors such as Fritz Lang ('Dr. Mabuse: Parts 1 and 2','Metropolis', 'M', 'Secret Beyond the Door', 'The Big Heat'). 

This also included F.W. Murnau ('Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror', 'The Last Laugh', 'Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans', 'Tabu: A Story of the South Seas'). 

  

The isolation from society of the typical noir hero was underscored by the use of stark high-contrast lighting—the most notable visual feature of film noir. The shadowy noir style can be traced to the German Expressionist cinema of the silent era. 

  

The inherent subjectivity of German Expressionism is also evident in film noir’s use of narration and flashback.  

  

For example, an omniscient, metaphor-spouting narrator (often the central character, a world-weary private eye) frequently clarifies a characteristically labyrinthine noir plot or offers a subjective, jaded point of view.  

  

Wiene was later known for directing a succession of other expressionist films. He also directed a variety of other films of varying styles and genres. 

  

Following the Nazi rise to power in Germany, Wiene, who was of Jewish descent, fled into exile. 

  

Wiene had been active from 1913–1938. 

  

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