Cabinet Maker

THE CABINET OF DR CALIGARI gets a new UK release, theatrically in selected venues, and on Blu-ray/DVD from Masters of Cinema. The latter features a video essay by me, edited by Timo Langer. I pitched hard to get the gig, because it seemed like a terrific film to tackle in that way — the story is so packed with ambiguity, reordering it and re-emphasizing it is a joy. I am proud to say I’ve introduced a new hare-brained theory to the reading of that film, which ninety-very-odd years on still retained unplumbed depths of peculiarity. It feels like you could spin a new interpretation out of any random minute in its modest runtime.

I can also report that the film looks nearly new, and the experience of seeing it is totally new — a different film, now we can see the actors’ expressions in long-shot. Werner Krauss’ essentially comic performance is sharper, and Conrad Veidt’s tragic one is even more poignant now that he seems to be in the room with you…

“If ou have the means, I highly recommend checking one out.”

It streets on August 29th — not yet up on Amazon for pre-order — I’ll keep you posted.