Customer Reviews

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Restored Authorized Edition)

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2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Amazon does NOT differentiate its reviews of titles (be it book/DVD's/vhs etc) by this or that edition by any of the many companies that release them....so your review of the cheapy public domain Alpha dvd(to name just one of the several CRAP distributors of old movies)and the words you write about the restored fine print Kino International(to name one of the very excellent distributors of old movies)will be all on the same page, WHATEVER version you have selected!!

Having said that , my review is of the KINO dvd release , a very fine one as this company does not distribute anything less(you pay more, but if you know anything about silent and classic movies it will be no secret to you that if you pay peanuts that is exactly what you will get....)...it is however disconserting to see that even the best available dvd release still hasn't been cleaned up to the degree that other classic silent masterpieces have..surely with todays technology a digital "hoovering" of this film is not too much to ask.

Wonderful film of course, but you know that otherwise you wouldn't even be reading these reviews, and the KINO version is , so far, the best you can get for your money.

I'm not going to spend time raving about the movie, because I'm going to assume that if you've got this far you already know how wonderful it is. What I think could be far more useful (as this is an area where I have been burned) is some comparison between the two DVD editions I know of.

I have copies of both the Kino Video edition and the Image Entertainment edition. My preference is for Image Entertainment for the following reasons:

(1) The print seems slightly cleaner (and most helpfully, the DVD packaging warns you about the horizontal line across the top of some scenes which is a defect on the original film)

(2) The intertitles on Image use the correct expressionistic style as per the 1920 release. from what I recall, Kino's are the 'normalised' printed intertitles from 1923.

(3) The Kino version has possibly the most insensitive layer transition location I have ever come across. For reasons of their own Kino put an intertitle before the final sequence in the asylum, and it would have been a natural place for a layer transition. Instead they put it a few seconds into the final sequence (and only a couple of minutes before the end of the film!). Image has no layer transition.

(4) Both scores on the Kino version are dreadful. One consists of strange electronic noises, while the 'orchestral' one is pretty inappropriate. Instead Image chose a very nice specially composed score by Timothy Brock which is a remarkably effective pastiche in the style of Alban Berg (very appropriate for an expressionist film).

(5) Image has a commentary track; it's not clear that Kino does (I can't remember, but certainly it isn't mentioned in the blurb on the back).

Just about the only plus of Kino is that there is considerably more bonus material (43 minutes from 'Genuine: the tale of a vampire' as compared to about 3 on Image). However, if the price for that is the awful layer transition, then I know which I prefer.


So that's why I prefer the Image version and wish I hadn't bought the Kino version.

I had watched many poorly-made VHS tapes of this film and was very happy a restored version came out on video. There's probably no better way to see this film. This visual stunning silent German film tells the story of a mad doctor who trains a sleepwalker to kill people in order to study the effects of somnambulism. Filled with images resembling one's nightmare (or the mind state of a mentally-ill) -- distorted views, deformed spaces, bizarre lights and shadows -- this film in 1919 helped usher in a new era of German Expressionism, a period that produced such classics as The Last Laugh, Nosferatu, and Metropolis.

This DVD is identical in content to the laserdisc from Image a few years ago, with the exception that the LD included a detailed letter explaining why there is a faint horizontal line near the top of the screen in certain scenes (it's a misplaced "frame line" that is supposed to mark the edge of a frame). The DVD merely mentions on the jacket case that this is a "defect" on the film negative. Like the LD, this DVD also presents the film in a "windowbox", ensuring every frame can be seen in full.

The audio commentary on the alternate sound track is thoughtful and insightful, but the commentator reiterates much of what appears on the jacket essay. Other extras include a few comtemporary photographs related to the film, and a short silent film from the Expressionist era.

This is one of my favorite films of all time, and if must own it (yes, you must own it), DON'T get this edition -- get the Image Entertainment one (the other, more expensive edition). It's worth the extra 10 or so dollars. And let me tell you why:

1. The Image edition has the original film-stock color tinting, an important creative device and a big part of what makes this such a beautiful film (especially for its time), this version does not.
2. The Image edition is beautifully transfered from a very nice print of the film, you can see everything as it was intended to be seen. I'm sure this is how the film looked when it was originally released. This edition is a terrible transfer from an already terrible print.
3. The Image edition has better music.
4. The Image edition has better intertitles.
5. The Image edition has an aditional audio commentary.

To sum it up, the Image edition isn't a piece of garbage, and it does this masterpiece justice. Don't waste your time with this edition. Sell your shoes if you can't afford the extra scratch, watching this DVD is painful. Trust me.

I'd like to add my two cent's worth here. Not going in to the film itself, I just want to discuss the 2 main versions out there, the Image "Special Collector's Edition" disc from about 10 years ago and the new Kino "Restored Authorized Edition". I watched both side to side (2 TVs & 2 DVD players)

Despite some raves about the Kino version (which I can't really understand), the Image version wins hands down. Kino, which normally puts out a superior product whatever movie they are releasing, I believe really dropped the ball with this one. For one, they went totally overboard with tinting...most scenes now appear to be a deep, dark blue, and the black areas have a weird, mottled, speckley, "wavy" look, like TV reception that isn't quite coming in. Granted, this is mostly only really bad during the first reel, in the opening garden scene, improving slightly as the film goes on, but it's still annoying.

The Image disc, by comparision, is brightly lit, scenes being either a "regular" grey like you see on the usual b/w silent film, or an amberish tint that still shows up fine. The entire Kino version just seems too dark & murky. The intertitles of both are in that funky, abstract font, but each has slightly different wording for the same scenes (and I don't know which is actually more accurate to the original, but both convey basically the same information). For example, one may say "Listen while I tell you a story" while the other says "I will now tell you a story" (I made both those up, but it was to get the idea across!). However, the intertitles on the Kino version are, again, much darker than the Image disc. Also, the Image print in general just seems much sharper & clearer than the Kino, and the musical score is much better & more fitting. Kino gives you a choice of 2 musical scorings & both are atrocious and do not seem to fit the "mood" of the story.

On the other hand, Kino does have more extras, particularly a much longer segment of GENUINE: THE TALE OF A VAMPIRE (43 minutes) while Image gives you about a 3-minute snippet. Also, and most important, that annoying horizontal line that cuts across the top of certain scenes on nearly every version out there (including the one shown on TCM) has been removed on the Kino disc. Long considered to be a flaw in the original film, it's most likely a goof in the converting process somewhere, and this shows that we DO have the technology to remove it, which we did not have back when the Image disc was made. Quite frankly, this was the ONLY main advantage I could find in the Kino print, and it does not make up for a blue, murky, dark movie. I'd much rather have a clean, crisp, clear, brightly lit film & deal with the line (it's not in every scene in the movie, just certain ones anyway).

I guess the best of both worlds would be if Image put out a new version, using it's same print but removing the line as Kino did. THAT would really be the "Ultimate Edition" in my opinion.

Five minutes into the Kino restoration of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," I had to stop the movie. Having spent years with the cheap Alpha Video release, I was amazed to see that the quality of this Kino restoration was actually WORSE than the Alpha video release. Just to be sure, I put in the Alpha Video release, and then the Kino release again, comparing them shot-by-shot.

There is absolutely no doubt that the Alpha Video version is MUCH clearer. While it lacks the original color tinting that the Kino version offers, there are no blurs, dark spots, or contrast issues when viewing the Alpha version. The picture is entirely clear.

The Kino release seems to sacrifice everything else for the sake of providing a cut that contains the original color tinting, but the picture is far worse. Additionally, the Kino release contains just as many jumps and scratches as (if not more than) The Alpha Video release. And, while the Alpha soundtrack doesn't always match the action of the film, the modernized brass ensemble soundtrack on the Kino restoration just feels wholly inappropriate.

In short, I see absolutely no reason to spend more for the Kino restoration of this film. I own both the expensive Kino release and the cheap Alpha Video release, and I'll be watching my Alpha copy from now on. Besides, Kino just made their "Restored Authorized Edition" of Nosferatu obsolete last month by creating an Ultimate edition that is far cleaner and contains the original score. Considering the popularity of Dr. Caligari, I'm sure an Ultimate edition is on the way for this film, as well. Don't waste your money on this edition.

I'd seen pictures from this film for years. Whenever people would talk about "German Expressionism" it seems like stills from this film would follow. I took a risk and ordered it and got a great surprise!

First of all, this film is crafted incredibly well considering the year (1919 I think ...) it was made. The story telling is great. You can see cinematic tricks that modern filmmakers have aped (*see BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA by Coppolla. It's full of "silent movie" techniques).

This DVD features "tinted" scenes. There is a horrible line across the top of the film that the DVD "editors" chose to keep for this edition instead of cropping it out. ** All the more reason for FILM PRESERVATION! There's a great commentary audio track. I think they've done an incredible job with the technical aspects of the presentation.

I've seen this movie from time to time since about 1970, but, with Image Entertainment's DVD, I feel like I'm seeing it for the first time -- it's that good!
The picture on my public domain DVD (which I just threw out) basically looked like a few light areas (faces, lamps, etc.) surrounded by large black areas with no details - actually, I should say large dark gray areas with no details. It was often hard to see where the characters were and what they were doing.
The picture on Image's DVD has a much-closer-to-normal gray scale and shows much finer detail. You can see things in the shadows. The gray scale still isn't quite up to modern standards, but I'm sure that's not Image's fault. You're watching an 85-year-old movie. They used the best print they could find, and it's a vast improvement over anything else I've seen.
There's a string quartet score which works very well with the movie. If you didn't know better, you'd think it was the original score.
They recreated the expressionist style of the original intertitles, and even added some "digi-dirt" to make them better match the rest of the film. The translation doesn't use obscure words like "mountebank" and "fakir," like my public domain copy did. (Yes, of course you can look them up, but who wants to run to the dictionary while they're watching a movie?)
Plus, it has been tinted to match the original. That helps this movie a lot, because with its odd sets, it's often hard to tell if a scene is set indoors or out, or if it's day or night.
As picky as I am, I didn't find the frame line to be too distracting! It's not in that many scenes. I'm glad they allowed us to see the whole picture, rather than cropping the shots.
I haven't seen Kino's version, so I can't compare the two, but I can recommend this version without reservations.

Image Entertainment over the last few years has built a reputation for high-quality DVD releases of classic films from the silent era, and Image's special edition treatment of THE CABINET OF DR CALIGARI is no exception. It goes without saying that Robert Weine's 1919 masterpiece was a groundbreaking moment in the history of Expressionist cinema, so I will confine my remarks to assessing the DVD release.

In short, I find Image's video and audio transfer here to be superb, and a vast improvement over other available video releases. Many reviewers have expressed concern over the black bar that frequently runs through the top of the frame. As I understand it, the black bar is found on the negative itself, which is otherwise in relatively good condition given the film's age. This is NOT Image's fault. They had the choice between either cropping the top of the image, which is how the film has often been presented, or preserving the full frame, inspite of the black bar. Image chose the later option and, in my view, it was the right one, though some viewers might disagree. Otherwise, the tinted black and white image is quite good, and is complemented by a highly effective musical score (the sound is crisp and full). Finally, the Image DVD features a very informative audio commentary with film scholar Mike Budd. This DVD deserves viewing by anyone serious about film, and not fortunate enough to have seen a theatrical print. Moreover, if you are interested in Expressionist cinema, I would highly recommend that you add this DVD to your library.

This DVD is a good quality transfer. The picture is good considering it is from 1920. It is in full-screen, with color-tinting (blue for night scenes, yellow for interior scenes, etc.)

The soundtrack on this version (Image) is great! It is an eerily, serialism-esque score written just for this film. Some silent films have been given a "modern treatment" with contemporary scores, but this DVD is judiciouly been given an appropriately "period-feel" in relation to the time and place that this movie was made. The score fits the film extremely well and is a well crafted work.

The DVD also comes with a commentary soundtrack that teaches the viewer about the film and the time in which it was shot in Germany. There is plenty of explanation about Expressionism as an art form in film, literature, and art of that time. A must for any film student!

I highly reccomend this DVD. It was well worth the price! It's literally amazing that an eighty year old film can still entertain and surprise a completely foreign audience, but some things about human beings are just universal and this film encompasses much that is universal in mankind.