The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Berlin: Decla-Bioscop AG, 1921 [1920]. Vintage double weight matte finish reference photograph from the seminal 1920 silent film. Samuel Goldwyn discovered "Caligari" on a trip abroad, and released this film in the US in 1921, at which time 11 x 14 inch photos such as this one were printed on matte paper. Reference number "4" noted in manuscript pencil at the lower right corner of the recto and on the verso as well.

The photograph depicts Werner Krauss as Dr. Caligari walking through the streets of the obtuse-appearing city, a prime example of the most basic elements of what would become known as German Expressionism. Producer Erich Pommer put the set design of the film in the hands of designer Hermann Warm and painters Walter Reimann and Walter Rohrig, whom he had met as soldiers while painting sets for a German military theater. When Pommer began to have second thoughts about how the film should be designed, the designers convinced him that it made sense to paint lights and shadows directly on set walls, floors, background canvases and to place flat sets behind the actors—a cost saving measure that was the essence of a groundbreaking stylistic innovation.

11 x 14 inches. Very Good to Near Fine, with a small chip at the lower right corner, slightly trimmed for publication (though none of the image is affected, only the margins), and one small closed tear mended at the verso.

[Book #135637]