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Theme: German Expressionism

German Expressionism is a term given to the unique body of a series of films made in Germany during the era of Silent Films. The fad was created by The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919), a work that takes place in a maze of distorted and angular sets filled with black-and-white lighting schemes and exaggerated shadows. The end reveals that the film takes place inside the mind of a madman and the sets thus represent a disturbed state of mind.

There were not many films that directly borrowed Caligari’s sense of a distorted inner world but many films since have borrowed from its design schemes – it even quoted in modern music videos.

More to the point, many of the films that followed took from Caligari the idea of creating an external world that an exaggerated echo of an inner state of mind. The films of in particular Fritz Lang created massive works of architectural fantasy.

These films also seemed caught between a world that was Gothic – all fearful and surrounded by shadows – and struggling towards modernism – sometimes both as in the classic Metropolis (1927). Other works of the era draw from Teutonic and European myth and legend.


Alraune (1928)

2 February 201310 January 2022

Rating: ★★

Evil Artificially-Birthed Woman

Director: Henrik Galeen
Actors: Brigitte Helm, Paul Wegener, John Loder, Ivan Petrovich
Category: Science Fiction

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919)

5 February 20014 December 2022

Rating: ★★★★

Sinister Hypnotist/German Expressionism

Director: Robert Wiene
Actors: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, …
Category: Horror

Careful (1992)

14 February 200123 March 2020

Rating: ★★★★

Kitsch Surrealism

Director: Guy Maddin
Actors: Kyle McCulloch, Brent Neale, Victor Cowie, Katya Gardner
Category: Fantasy

Dr Mabuse, The Gambler (1922)

9 May 20184 September 2022

Rating: ★★★★

Mind-Controlling Criminal Mastermind

Director: Fritz Lang
Actors: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Bernhard Goetzke, Alfred Abel, Paul Richter
Category: Fantasy

Dr Petiot (1990)

30 June 200115 December 2022

Rating: ★★

True Life French Serial Killer

Director: Christian de Chalonge
Actors: Michel Serrault
Category: Horror

Faust (1926)

4 July 200028 May 2020

Rating: ★★★★★

Pact with the Devil

Director: F.W. Murnau
Actors: Emil Jannings
Category: Fantasy

Genuine (1920)

12 April 20162 April 2021

Rating: ★★

German Expressionism/Femme Fatale

Director: Robert Wiene
Actors: Fern Andra, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, John Gottowt
Category: Horror

The Golem (1920)

12 November 200229 June 2021

Rating: ★★★½

Artificial Creature of Clay

Director: Carl Boese, Paul Wegener
Actors: Paul Wegener, Lyda Salmanova
Category: Horror

The Hands of Orlac (1924)

26 August 201116 September 2022

Rating: ★★★★

Possessed Hands/Silent German Classic

Director: Robert Wiene
Actors: Conrad Veidt
Category: Horror

Kafka (1991)

7 June 20028 December 2020

Rating: ★★½

Fictionalised Author Biopic/Mad Scientists

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Actors: Jeremy Irons, Ian Holm, Theresa Russell, Alec Guinness, …
Category: Science Fiction

Metropolis (1927)

3 December 201115 April 2021

Rating: ★★★★

Dystopia/Social Revolution/Mad Scientist/Android Temptress

Director: Fritz Lang
Actors: Brigitte Helm, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Alfred Abel, Fritz Rasp, …
Category: Science Fiction

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)

1 February 20018 March 2019

Rating: ★★★½

Mad Scientist

Director: Robert Florey
Actors: Bela Lugosi, Leon Waycoff, Sidney Fox, Bert Roach, …
Category: Horror

Nosferatu (1922)

2 September 199930 September 2022

Rating: ★★★★★

Silent Dracula Adaptation

Director: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
Actors: Max Schreck, Gustav von Waggenheim
Category: Horror

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

19 January 20015 October 2021

Rating: ★★★★

Making Nosferatu with a Real Vampire

Director: E. Elias Merhige
Actors: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes, Udo Kier, …
Category: Horror

Shadows and Fog (1991)

8 June 200123 April 2020

Rating: ★★

Kafka and German Expressionism Homage

Director: Woody Allen
Actors: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, John Malkovich, John Cusack, …
Category: Fantasy

Siegfried (1924)

19 April 200917 July 2021

Rating: ★★★½

Epic Heroic Legend

Director: Fritz Lang
Actors: Paul Richter, Theodor Loos, Margerete Schön, Bernard Goetzke, …
Category: Fantasy

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

12 February 20051 May 2020

Rating: ★★★★

Retro SF Adventure/Flying Ace Hero

Director: Kerry Conran
Actors: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, …
Category: Science Fiction

Son of Frankenstein (1939)

19 October 200314 November 2022

Rating: ★★★½

Universal Frankenstein Sequel

Director: Rowland V. Lee
Actors: Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, …
Category: Horror

Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

7 June 201530 August 2018

Rating: ★★★½

Film Noir Psycho-Thriller

Director: Boris Ingster
Actors: Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet, Elisha Cook Jr, …
Category: Horror

The Student of Prague (1926)

5 November 20185 October 2021

Rating: ★★★½

Pact with the Devil/Malevolent Doppelganger

Director: Henrik Galeen
Actors: Conrad Veidt, Werner Krauss
Category: Fantasy, Horror

Waxworks (1924)

6 July 20005 October 2021

Rating: ★★★★

Historical Anthology/German Expressionism

Director: Paul Leni
Actors: Conrad Veidt, Emil Jannings, Werner Krauss, John Gottowt
Category: Horror

Woman in the Moon (1929)

20 December 200027 June 2022

Rating: ★★★★

Expedition to the Moon

Director: Fritz Lang
Actors: Willy Fritsch, Gerda Marcus, Gustav von Waggenheim, Fritz Rasp
Category: Science Fiction

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Theme Essays

  • Films About Atlantis
  • Werewolf Films
  • Virtual Reality
  • Imprisonment Thrillers
  • Films Depicting NASA and the Space Program
  • Human Bloodsports and Death Games
  • Animals Attack Films
  • Films About Plague and Pandemic
  • Disaster Movies
  • Steampunk Films
  • Documentaries
  • Films About Halloween
  • Films About Prophecy
  • Magicians and Sorcerers
  • Secret Societies
  • Real-Life People in Fiction
  • Techno-Thrillers
  • Twins in Fantastic Cinema
  • Asylums
  • Possession Films
  • Films About Imaginary and Magical Lands
  • Religion in Fantastic Cinema
  • Romantic Comedies
  • Film Noir
  • Spy Films
  • Jekyll and Hyde Films
  • Films That Make Dubious Claims to Being Based on True Stories
  • Coming of Age Stories in Fantastic Cinema
  • Films About Cryogenics and Suspended Animation
  • Alternate History Films
  • Disturbed Psychology as Portrayed on Film
  • Law Enforcement in Fantastic Cinema
  • Weird Westerns

© Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2023

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