I start my series of posts about the films of 1920 with a real blockbuster…
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, directed by Robert Wiene is one of the most highly regarded artistic works of 1920. Stills from this film are probably familiar to you, most of them featuring spidery Conrad Veidt carrying a limp Lil Dagover around crazily painted sets. Today the film is most famous for the Expressionist art direction. (And for how cool Veidt looks.)
When designer Hermann Warm gave his proposed set sketches to director Wiene and producer Rudolf Meinert, Wiene gave his approval, but Meinert took an extra day to think it over before giving the order: “Do these sets as eccentrically as you can!” *
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