CINEMA CYCLE
(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)
DATE VIEWED: 09/01/2015
FORMAT: LaserDisc
TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 13 minutes
DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 18.1 miles
TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 2511.1 miles
SYNOPSIS: Mysterious murders in a rural German town occur during the annual fair. Townsfolk suspect one of the exhibitors at the fair that is displaying a “somnambulist”.
CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Possibly the very first use of surrealism in cinema. Pushing the cinematic envelope before they even knew there was an envelope.
PROS AND CONS: As historical cinema it is pretty ground breaking and takes the concept of set design and storyline much farther that anything that had come before.
That said, not the easiest film to follow. It centers around the murders committed by a zombie like person played by Cesare the Somnambulist, who in turn is controlled by Dr Caligari, who is actually the figment of a mental patient at the local asylum.
But the plot is somewhat overshadowed by the bizarre scenery and make up of the cast What becomes evident once the viewer has the plot figured out is that the bizarre askew scenery represents the warped view of the world that the narrator has, who is in fact insane.
This is one silent film that really benefits from the soundtrack inserted during the restoration process and the commentary by a film historian.
This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film.
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
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