The silent film is, for all intents and purposes, a dead art form. Its only evolutionary descendants being music videos and silent shorts. The ability to add dialogue and sound to the moving picture negated the need for a film to be so visual with only a musical score to accompany it. Of all the silent films made, there are not many that have survived into the modern day; but the ones that have were well enough made to stand the test of time. Robert Wiene's Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is no exception. It would be untrue to say that there are not parts of it that aren't dated, however it is still very much watchable.
Conrad Veidt stars in this film, what would be the parent of all horror films to follow. Theatrical acting aside, the talent perform well and the set design seems to come from a place I would never have expected from this film's time period. It is one of the most blatant examples of German Expressionism and it is easy to see where Tim Burton and the like got their inspiration from. Everything was shot on a soundstage, yet if you allow yourself the amount of imagination, you can lose yourself in the nightmarish world being thrown in front of you.
Storywise, this film has one of the most original horror plots I've seen. Yes there are the standard staples of the genre, but one must remember it was films like this that *set* those standards. I thought the concept of "the somnambulist" was quite intriguing, but wasn't used to its full potential. I think more time should have been spent on Cesare than the plot revolving the young couple. I'm also not sure how I feel about the twist ending. I was told it may not be the originally intended ending, so it is difficult to see what the director's original intentions were. Part of me enjoys the absurdist ending, but I think leaving it out would have been just as effective.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is one of the greatest examples not only of German Expressionsim but of early horror films. The fact that it is still watched today is a testament to it's longevity. It's definitely up there with Nosferatu and Metropolis. I don't know if it can be compared on the same level to modern film; it can, however, be referenced as a benchmark in the timeline of horror cinema and visual art in general.