Space Oddities: La Belle et la Bête (1946) film review

La Belle et la Bête, Director: Jean Cocteau (1946)

This review will cover the impact of the set design to contemporary films and audiences. As the director, Jean Cocteau uses the genre of the film as a fantasy fairy tale to influence his set design. The themes of the film that are left in the symbolisation as characters visit the Beast’s castle become prominent as this is where the film becomes focused on this element. It is set in the 16^th century, however the castle designs are far more abstract and juxtaposing to the more realistic depictions of forest are villages with a mystical tone. It was a concept by Christian Bérard who was a fashion illustrator for Coco Chanel and Nina Ricci and was brought in to be the films’ production designer. Minimalistic darkness interspersed with arms holding candle sticks give the film a memorable aestheticism without having to have a large budget or expensively designed set. In this comparison of La Belle et la Bête to the 1991 animated adaptation Beauty and the Beast by the Disney production company, Eric D. Snider of the film blog website Film.com, who has said that “Cocteau was part of the avant-garde movement that also loosely included the Dadaists and Surrealists,” and talking over what it influenced for design in the Disney adaption and for other cinema, he went on “They [Disney] took Cocteau’s idea of talking doors and food that magically serves itself a step further, giving the sentient inanimate objects actual voices and personalities. In Cocteau’s version, the hallways are lined with candles held by human arms coming out of the walls; rather eerily, details like that are never explained… you can also see Cocteau’s whimsical, imaginative visual style reflected in the films of Tim Burton, Michel Gondry, and Terry Gilliam”. (Snider, 2011)

As a poet and a painter himself, a thought about Cocteau by audiences and reviewers is that in his direction, he wanted to bring greater impact of moods and a feeling of dissatisfaction after the end of World War 2, which brought a difficultly to filming as well. In film critic Roger Ebert’s Review of the film on his website, he writes “Cocteau, a poet and surrealist, was not making a "children's film" but was adapting a classic French tale that he felt had a special message after the suffering of World War II: Anyone who has an unhappy childhood may grow up to be a Beast.” (Ebert, 1999) The film lingers on feelings of dissatisfaction and even after a happy conclusion there is still lingering discontentment. At the end of the film, the Beast is transformed back into the archetypal ‘Prince Charming’ character, and Belle appears to be left slightly dissatisfied by this, as an ordinary fairy tale ending. As Michelle Aldredge of Gwarlingo, an online journal or creative media says, “Cocteau implores his audience to suspend disbelief—to watch the film as a child would. Just as the opening credits on the chalkboard are erased, and the shot of the erasable clapperboard stopped, the filmmaker asks us to erase our preconceptions and expectations.” (Aldredge, 2012)

The film is notable for using camera tricks and stylistic choices prevalent in cinema before computer effects were used in modern filmmaking. Aldredge also describes the effects that Cocteau and the film’s cinematographer Henri Alekan used, including “reverse and slow-motion shots, mirrors, and other camera tricks to striking effect. Cocteau’s decision to keep the camera still was against the prevailing fashion of the time. According to Cocteau’s diary, this was a source of some friction with Alekan.” (Aldredge, 2012) The surreal imagery of the film influenced the 1991 animated adaption for the anthropomorphic servants of the enchanted castle and the film is still hailed for its heavy poetic style, notably by Ebert himself, who described it as “one of the most magical of all films”, according Snider’s review.

Bibliography

Sources

Snider, E.D.

2011

What’s the Big Deal?: Beauty and the Beast (1946)

http://www.film.com/movies/whats-the-big-deal-beauty-and-the-beast-1946

Ebert, R.

1999

Beauty and the Beast Review

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-beauty-and-the-beast-1946

Aldredge, M.

2012

Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast: More Than Meets the Eye

http://www.gwarlingo.com/2012/jean-cocteau-beauty-and-the-beast/

Images

Film Poster

La Belle et la Bête

http://vintagemoviepostersforum.com/discussion/40/la-belle-et-la-bete-1946 [Accessed on 07/11/15]

Fig 1

La Belle et la Bête film still

https://scribehardonfilm.wordpress.com/2012/05/ [Accessed on 07/11/15]

Fig 2

La Belle et la Bête film still

www.cineplex.com [Accessed on 07/11/15]

Fig 3

La Belle et la Bête film still

www.literature.hss.ed.ac.uk [Accessed on 07/11/15]

Space Oddities- 2001: A Space Odyssey Film Review

2001: A Space Odyssey, Director: Stanley Kubrick (1968)

This essay will discuss the meanings and thoughts behind 2001: A Space Odyssey. As a film which has notable acclaim, it still divides audiences, who may be taken in by the how the film looks in the cinematography, beyond to the deeper meaning behind certain moments, whereas the rest of the audience may be put off by the slow pace of the film, which leaves the audience expectant but unsatisfied when tension is built up but goes on building. Like many of the long zooming shots of space crafts, which take up a few minutes of screen time, the director Stanley Kubrick challenges the viewer and establishes his dominance over expectation. This quote from the Guardian review of the rerelease of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Peter Bradshaw can explain some of the theories the viewer may have of the film as a whole: “Maybe only rocket science and deep space could absorb Kubrick’s famous coldness and control and tendency to visionary gigantism. It has become customary to place 2001 in a challenging or dark or dystopian sci-fi tradition... actually, 2001 doesn’t exactly fit that first camp either: something in its mandarin blankness and balletic vastness, and refusal to trade in the emollient dramatic forms of human interest and human sympathy.” (Bradshaw, 2014)

Kubrick can be described as an auteur director, as many of his other projects such as The Shining (1980) have the same detail of focus to symmetry into compositions, as well as lighting and simplistic design. Symmetry has effect, such as when one of the focus characters, Dave walks down the tunnel of his exploration spaceship. The tight and constricting area is set into a octagon and shoot with white light so it almost glows, and has the effect of conveying perfectness and control which lends itself to unease, which is the embodiment of the state of control the character of the HAL 9000 has in that section of the film.

The film raises a number of symbols that tie into the climax and ending including the large monolith or monoliths that appear multiple times in the film, the foetus that appears in Space looking over Earth and the scene of the focus character Dave in the Victorian-style luxury house, looking at himself aging and dying. There is little explanation to the significance of these objects, but it is presented so that the audience cannot help question the meanings of film or whether there are any deeper meanings at all. Symbolism of rebirth, evolution and the control of God and the unexplained mysteries of the universe can be called into question and in analysis of audience reaction to the considered confusing nature of the film and for points that are never expressly explained the film, Film Critic Roger Ebert writes on his website, in regards to the bedroom scene “My intuition is that it came out of Kubrick's imagination; that he understood the familiar bedroom would be the most alien, inexplicable, disturbing scene he could possibly end the film with. He was right. The bedroom is more otherworldly and eerie than any number of exploding stars,” (Ebert, 1968) which could mean that Kubrick wasn’t trying to convey realism but metaphoric expression of otherworldly phenomena.

The monoliths seem to spark a connective link to the prehistoric and the future as well as thoughts on infinity and could symbolise as the desire to evolve, as well as knowledge, power and discovery, as the many creatures and Humans that come into contact with it are drawn into discovery. As in the novel based around and written for the film by Arthur C. Clark, who worked with Kubrick on the film, the monoliths are described as ancient alien technology which monitors the progression and helps develop the evolution of apes into man. In an article for the Hollywood Reporter, a review of the film talks about the meaning behind the final scene: “The entire sequence can be accepted as an allegory of the act of conception. At one point during the liquid churnings of a tailed white spermatozoic blob thrashes toward a distant ova shape. Dullea, now aged, lands his space pod in a bedroom whose illuminated floor and walls reveal Louis Seize decor, Empire furnishings, romantic paintings, a womb expressing timeless comfort and personal taste. He sees the alien as himself, and an older, dying figure in his likeness on a deathbed, one arm lifted in supplication or farewell toward the towering monolith. The figure is replaced by a perfectly formed starchild, an aureoled fetus looking beyond this solar system, forming an infinite trinity in the heavens with the arc of the moon and Jupiter, reborn, innocent and aware. Appropriately, all the evidence of transitory technology is absent, leaving only man's vision, perpetuated in eternity.” (The Hollywood Reporter, 2014)

Bibliography

Sources:

Bradshaw, P.

2014

2001: A Space Odyssey review – still after all these years

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/nov/27/2001-a-space-odyssey-review-rerelease

Ebert, R.

1968

"2001" – the monolith and the message

http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/2001-the-monolith-and-the-message

The Hollywood Reporter,

2014

2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 review

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/2001-a-space-odyssey-read-747494

Images:

Film Poster

2001: A Space Odyssey

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/

Film Still, figure 1

2001: A Space Odyssey

http://2001.wikia.com/wiki/Discovery_1

Film Still, figure 2

2001: A Space Odyssey

http://whatculture.com/film/what-does-the-ending-of-2001-a-space-odyssey-really-mean.php

Film Still, figure 3

2001: A Space Odyssey

http://blog.dotandbo.com/2015/06/10-movie-interiors-that-will-transport-you-to-an-alternate-universe/

Film Still, figure 4

2001: A Space Odyssey

https://citygirlgwen.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/2001-a-space-odyssey/

Space Oddities: King Kong (1933) Film Review

King Kong, Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack, (1933)

Fig 1, (1933), King Kong, Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, [Movie Poster], U.S.A, RKO Studios, https://vintages-antiques-collectibles.knoji.com/ten-valuable-1933-king-kong-movie-collectibles/

This review will be covering topics of the original Blockbuster giant, King Kong. Research on this topic is about the use of various techniques film makers used for early 20^th century films for visual effects and set design, to convince audiences of the authenticity, though such feats or visuals would not be found in reality. Willis O’Brien, as head of the visual and special effects was one of the men in charge of bringing the particular vision of Kong and the scenery to the screen. According to an article posted on The Film Spectrum by Jason Fraley (2012), O’Brien had been “tinkering with a new technique called stop-motion photography” when he was asked to be part of the production of the film, allowing Kong to be one of the most iconic in its effects with a large portion of the picture with stop-motion Plasticine and plastic, which was revolutionary. The shots of the vast jungle were captured using more camera trickery techniques like layered glass matte paintings in a multiplane style for depth whilst placing foliage in the foreground.

Fig 2, (1933), King Kong, Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, [Movie Still], U.S.A, RKO Studios, http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2015/04/king-kong-screens-schlafly-bottleworks-may-7th/

Kong is often described as being the godfather of summer blockbusters, which saw its success in its ground-breaking accomplishments as well as catering to social norm, which date it to being a product of the time. Referring to the film’s racist undertones, The Gothic Other: Racial and Social Constructions in the Literary Imagination- edited by Ruth Bienstock Anolik and Douglas L. Howard (2004), compiles the thoughts of these issues by other critics and reviewers. The reference comes from Elizabeth Young and Harvey Roy Greenberg, two journalists who have commented on Kong, who Young feels epitomises “the white man’s daydream of the black brute, the heartless, mindless foreigner, feasting on violence and rapine” as the metaphor of Kong as a character. In Greenberg’s view, he believes “we discern in Kong’s persona the raw sexuality which the racist bumpkin Driscoll has repressed, and which Ann has aroused”.

Fig 3, (1933), King Kong, Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, [Movie Still], U.S.A, RKO Studios, http://pyxurz.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/king-kong-page-2-of-5.html

The film in this viewpoint could be called a racist artefact, one that inspires a generation but still came from a period of history where stereotyping and generalisation were more prevalent and excepted in mass western culture. Deeper roots in social commentary may suggest that Kong is a sexual rape fantasy, which throw symbolism of the chains he wears in New York as the chain of a slave, oppressed in this new environment and pinned down by his captor: Carl Dernham’s arrogance claiming that Kong was once a king, but he will be taught fear as a captive, which is a point summarized by the critic Josh Larson in 2011, featured on the Rotten Tomatoes film critiquing website. “Kong is a stand-in for victims of modern colonialism, an era that would soon come to an end; the way the movie depicts brute nature succumbing to human hubris,” which reflect upon the way Kong may be perceived as frightening and the story’s villain as well as tragic and sympathetic.

Fig 4, (1933), King Kong, Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, [Movie Still], U.S.A, RKO Studios, http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/models/buildings/empire-state.html

It was seen as a taboo in that era for an inter-racial pairing, so this can be seen as a self-aware commentary on primal urges. This is brought about in the film by the clash of testosterone brought about by the character of Ann, raising jealousy and primal rage in Kong against Jack Driscoll, the rough sailor who expresses notions that can be seen as sexist, but it is protective of Ann. As a classic characterisation, Ann could be viewed by contemporary audiences as simply the device of sexual desires, whose only role is to be saved by an Alpha male. However, what gives her role purpose is addressed in the closing lines of the film. After being confirmed of the Ape’s demise, Dernham remarks that “it was Beauty who killed the Beast,” meaning that in the nature of sexual desire, the lure of a woman, in this case Ann, piloted the romance to its’ destruction.

Fig 5, (1933), King Kong, Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, [Movie Still], U.S.A, RKO Studios, http://bobbyriverstv.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/race-and-king-kong-1933.html

Despite being dated in the films’ Depression time period, King Kong is still regaled as a classic and has inspired films and filmmakers after it, for remakes to visual style epics, including Ray Harryhausen, who became a stop motion expert after watching the film at age 13 in 1933 and contacting O’Brien, and has since after worked with him on Mighty Joe Young (1949), becoming a visual effects visionary in his own right, becoming famous for his work on Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and Clash of the Titans (1981) Source 1.  Peter Jackson, director of the 2005 remake of King Kong, had the opportunity while in production to make contemporary changes in regards to technology and scripting, changing the roles of all main leads to better fit a modern audience’s viewpoint. Ann is a more active, empathetic character to Kong; Kong is portrayed with more intelligence and dignity than just brutish desire and the Natives encountered in both stories are changed to be harder to place in reality than the originals depiction of strange savage people as dark-skinned and very Zulu-like, in encompassing fear of unknown strangers, meaning the objections to the original being a product of the Racist and men dominating times, is now less of an issue in the remake.

Bibliography

Source 1: Website

Author: Fraley. J

Year of Publication: 2012

Title of Article: The Film Spectrum/ King Kong (1933)

URL: http://thefilmspectrum.com/?p=5407

Accessed on: 10/10/15

Source 2: E-book accessed by Google

Author(s): Bienstock Anolik, Howard

Title: The Gothic Other: Racial and Social Constructions in the Literary Imagination

Year of Publication: (2004)

Page numbers: 75-76

Source 3: Website

Author: Larson. J

Year of Publication: 2011

Title of Article: Larson on Film/ King Kong (1933)

URL:  http://www.larsenonfilm.com/king-kong-3

Accessed on: 08/10/2015

Source 4: Website

Title: Rotten Tomatoes/ King Kong (1933)

URL: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1011615-king_kong/

Accessed on: 08/10/2015

Metropolis Film Review

Metropolis- Dir: Fritz Lang, 1927

In the early age of film, some of the most well-renowned of that time were German Expressionist films, which were prominent in the 1920s, after the First World War. The twisted imagery and shadows has lent itself to the imagination of audiences of the black and white era. Like Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (Dir: Robert Weine, 1920), the sets played a big part on the visual representation and how it impacted the viewers; however, Metropolis had subtler connotations to expressionist design, as the frenetic insanity of Expressionism was built more around the metropolis of the films sheer size and intimidating and overwhelming scale of tower blocks and buildings.  Towards the end of this period was the release of the ground-breaking epic Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang. The film was a risk, being the most expensive of its time, at 5 million Reichmarks for the budget, and a massive size of extras for crowd shots and the miniature sets. The look of the film was ahead of its time, having a set design that was based on modern and futuristic symbolism, though also taking biblical motifs to create a unique style of its own.

The city of Metropolis one of the first elaborate futuristic cities on screen, meaning it had to capture the technology and progression of man in an accurate way. In an article from The Centre of Creative Media, a website for posting ideas and articles about Film and Television media, the writer Tim Martin expresses the notion of comparison to modern filmmakers being influenced by the design and working it into their own sets. ‘In his 1982 neo-noir science fiction classic, Blade Runner, Ridley Scott takes key elements from German Expressionist cinema and uses them with such accuracy that his film becomes, at a base level, a colorized expressionist film,’ Martin writes, referencing Metropolis’s influence on popular culture. Where modern films have access to CGI and better ways of editing and film making, Metropolis’s use of model work, and using pyrotechnics and lighting in those shots is dying out in contemporary film, but still lending itself to a unique vision of the future, whereas now, films have the option to adapt and use new techniques, which is at the heart of the design of Metropolis. While modern films have used German Expressionism as an influence and though the many adaptions, growing further apart from its source, some of Lang’s shots and set design of buildings by Erich Kettlehut, the films concept artist look to be inspired by Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari.

Instead of just being solely a film about the design of a completely fictional fantasy future city, the design references some real world places, imagery and ideas. Most notably, it has both design elements and plot points based around Biblical ideology and themes. The conflicts of the film, from good versus evil to rich versus working class, to other conflicts, come from the earliest of literature. A source from a website called Strange Horizons in an article about the film’s themes, talks about the religious imagery from the idea of the saviour of both classes of the city to certain motifs of character. One part of the film is referenced by the writer of the article about the ancient civilisations mentioned several times through the film, “Below this paradisal upper city, hordes of workers toil and die so that the machinery of the great city may roll on uninterrupted. Freder calls the mechanical Juggernaut that powers the upper city "MOLOCH," a Canaanite word meaning "king." Moloch was a god of the Ammonites, and not a kind god. Moloch's worshippers engaged in the ritual sacrifice of children, specifically sacrifice by fire. The vast machine churns in the depths of the city, belching clouds of steam onto the masses of workers who know neither hope nor rest. It takes little imagination to visualize these enormous factories as the biblical underworld wrought not in fire and brimstone, but in molten steel and smoke-blackened iron. Indeed, Freder imagines just such a sight after he witnesses an accident that kills several workers; his mind conjures up visions of helmeted demons feeding legions of helpless worker-slaves into the ravenous maw of the demonic machine. More sacrifices tossed into the ever-hungry belly of Moloch, to be consumed in fire and smoke and ash.” This is also true of the other vision we see of civilisations built by oppressed workers seen as slaves, for the Tower of Babel, built as a feat of Man’s great intelligence and strength and also as a challenge to the Gods, to be able to get on the same level as them. Maria’s whole character is connected to this, being seen as a Saint, like the Virgin Mary, caring for children and bringing prophesies of better times, then the Fake Maria being compared to the Whore of Babylon, manipulating men to kill and die for her, imagery of her wearing red and purple silks riding a great beast bringing about the collapse of the empire. The film is really an allegory to the future, where history seems to repeat the patterns that doomed men to failure. Only a mediator of such visions of grandeur can create a perfect world.

Despite having what many audiences claim to be spectacular sets and visual effects, Metropolis was critiqued for its long running time and puzzling subplots, which caused Lang’s epic to be shortened dramatically. Scenes were taken out and replaced with blocks of text which served to depict what the characters were saying and what was part of the action. This breaks up the pacing and dates the film more than it would be just as a film 88 years old. Despite its critical representation, Metropolis is said to have defined the Science Fiction genre due to its revolutionary set design. Lang hired effects expert Eugen Schüfftan who had pioneered techniques that can be seen in later films. Philip French, writer of an article on the Guardian’s website noted that “we find it easier than earlier audiences and critics to accept the mixture of expressionism, melodrama and German romanticism, to go along with the abrupt switches in style and to accept the apparent conflict of ideological positions.” Now that audiences can look back on periods and of the art of that time, new opinions can be recognised from what was before dismissed.

Bibliography

The Centre of Creative Media, author Tim Martin, 2015

 http://centerforcreativemedia.com/index.php/german-expressionism/

Strange Horizons, author David Michael Wharton, 2003

www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030106/metropolis.shtml

The Guardian, Metropolis review, author Philip French, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/15/metropolis-fritz-lang-philip-french-classic-dvd

Images from

www.scifiwright.com

www.prettyresults.tumblr.com

www.metropolis1927.com

www.filmeducation.org

www.en.wikipedia.org

www.celtoslavica.de

www.wordsinspace.net

www.davidbordwell.net

www.metropolisbabylon.blogspot.com

www.youtube.com

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari film review

Das Cabinet des Caligari (1920), directed by Robert Weine, can be called a piece of from the expressionist movement in Germany, which had a rise in style around the time of the First World War. With Expressionism, the focus of the film is to evoke a mood, through disturbed imagery rather than to give a realistic account of a plot and the theme is set around the distorted reality conveyed by the set design and cinematography of shadows. It is meant to raise doubts and create a mood for the audience that unsettles them. It is believed to be the first horror film, and is responsible for making many tropes that are still present in modern film.

'The actors inhabit a jagged landscape of sharp angles and tinted walls and windows, staircases climbing, crazy diagonals, trees with spiky, grass that looks like knives.'-Roger Ebert (2009)

As Roger Ebert, film critic of Siskel & Ebert fame observes of the film uses this unique imagery to exploit perspectives, shadows and a minimalistic art style, which plays a part through the main portion of the film. The film has a differing point of realism, as the setting of the beginning is very naturalistic but with a withering landscape. The town is in decay and all characters seem distant. 

'The fantastic nature of Francis' story is shown in the transition between the hospital and his vision of the small town Holstenwall.'- Rachel Freeman (2006) What this shows, as Rachel Freeman points out in her fantasy and dream writings of the film, that when he starts to tell his story it begins to fade to the main setting of film which based around painted sets that strikes the mood of being enclosed, narrow and imposing with twisted perspectives positioned to stretch on until the distance and angles, juxtaposing to the sets being based outside. This whole section is presented in flashback through the main characters point of view. The whole film makes a point of delving in each time a discovery is made, to think again and carries on when it might be over until there is sense of distrusting the point of view of the characters. It drives at the audience psychologically, thus making Francis, the seeming protagonist, an unreliable narrator.

When watching the film, the audience is introduced to Francis who tells the story. Told from his point view, the character of Dr. Caligari has a sinister screen presence, being the focus of many close-ups, giving foreboding gestures and expressions, as well as Cesare, capturing narrow shots and the shadows of his face for startling contrast. Though spending the film trying to hunt down Dr. Caligari, it is revealed Francis is subdued and considered as a mental patient by characters he interacted with earlier. Roger Ebert makes a point in his review saying ‘Wiene is fond of the iris shot, which opens or closes upon a scene like an eye. This makes the point that we are looking and are privileged to witness events closed to other people. He also sparingly uses a device of superimposing words on the image to show Alan feeling surrounded by voices. Wiene's closeups lean heavily on Caligari's fierce and sinister scowl, the dewy innocence of Jane, and the wide-eyed determination of Alan. The Somnambulist is not very expressive -- he certainly lacks the charisma of Frankenstein's monster, who in a way he inspired -- and is most often seen in long shot, as if the camera considers him an object, not a person.’ After the film returns to the present and presumably reality, the changes in character portrayal is noticeable. Caligari has changed, looking closer to a professional than his other warped self. Cesar is part of the asylum, alive and awake, walking back and forth in a daze, holding onto a flower, symbolizing his captivation for Jane. In presenting this twist, the audience is unable to tell for certain if it is a deception or truly the reality of this world.

Das Cabinet des Caligari has shaped modern film in terms of being one of the first of this style, creating iconic images and stylistic choices that can be seen in every shot. In the scene of Cesar enters to murder Jane, shadows looked as though reaching down like knives or like fingers which could represent Dr Calgari’s control over Cesare and Cesare’s wanting of Jane. It has a dream-like quality, which is represented from Francis’s neurotic from of mind, as explained in source 3, ‘The heavy visual imagery latent in dreams provide clues into the minds unconscious. Francis’s portrayal of his delusion is very akin to a dream in that the visual imagery is rich and fanciful, like a dream, with distorted shapes and shadows.’

Bibliography

Source 1, Roger Ebert, 2009 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari film review http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920

Source 2, Rachel Freeman, 2006 Fantasy and Dream work in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari study http://courses.washington.edu/freudlit/Freeman.Caligari.html

Source 3, The Historical Evolution of Fear and Scare Tactics study of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari http://fearincinema.umwblogs.org/silent-films/abnormal-psychology/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari/