snicewanger The were some very talented people involved with the making of this motion picture. However most of them, actors , production staff, and and the technicians,had a stronger background in television production than in the movies.Perhaps this why it has the look and feel of a padded TV movie. This was producer, director Roger Kay's only venture into a theater released production. All the rest of his work as a producer, director, and writer was in television.Credited screenplay writer Robert Bloch was so unhappy with many changes made in his script by Kay that he attempted to have his name removed from the screen credits. The writers guild did not permit it.Apparently the problem was that Bloch saw it as a true horror film and Kay directed it as a film about the nightmares of insanity. Glynis Johns handles the staring role as best she can and gives a well rounded performance as the confused and terrified Jane Lindstrom. Dan O'Herlihy really hams it up as the the ruthless and emotionally brutal Caligari but given the circumstances of the character,his over the top performance was called for. Constance Ford played the cool , aloft, and bitchy Christine with her usual aplomb. She could due this kind of role in her sleep. In a 1981 interview Glynis Johns talked about her cute and sweet persona in film ans television. She briefly mentioned Caligari, She said that she was 39 years old at the time the movie was made and didn't feel comfortable with the seduction scene so a body double was used for the leg and pantie shots Dick Davalos said the final script was much different than the one he originally read for, particularly the ending. But that is not unusual in movies.If the movie is a hit then no one gripes if not then everyone blames the screenplay. Cabinet of Caligari is an okay movie that could have been a great deal better. It's worth a look but it is not a memorable film.

mark.waltz This is the convoluted psychological thriller melodrama that has seemingly outgoing Glynis Johns hobbling happily down the street searching for help after her car breaks down. She knocks on the wrong door, and ends up being trapped in a beautiful bedroom by the strange title character who keeps a severe eye on her, and his beautiful assistant who also insists that she cannot leave the premises. Dan O'Herlihy is the titled character, a rather mysterious man who may or may not be a doctor, and what kind he may or may not be takes some patience to find out. The lovely assistant is soap opera favorite Constance Ford, denying that she is Caligari's mistress, but also maintaining innocence in Glynis's his accusations that they are leading a perverted lifestyle and keeping Johns locked up to keep it their secret. Others present include dizzy Estelle Winwood, her aging boyfriend J. Pat O'Malley and a handsome young man, Richard Davalos who expresses a romantic interest in Johns. she uses her wits to determine why she is being held against her will, and ends up in some precarious predicament that are dreamlike and quite intense. It becomes pretty obvious what actually is going on about halfway through the film, but I'll give that to you to discover. Obviously influenced by the similarly-named silent film, this is not as artistically brilliant but has some great moments.John gives an excellent performance and is matched by O'Herlihy and Ford. the issue with the film is that it seems to take itself way too seriously, and like other psychological melodramas of the time, is trying too hard to emulate classic mental illness films like the snake pit. However, it is certainly better than "The Caretakers" which dealt with life inside a mental institution and came out the following year. Disturbing and convoluted, this is a perfect example of the 60's artistic flop and a good example why the new eave style of films worked better with European filmmakers.

GL84 Suffering a car accident, a woman comes to the home of a strange doctor entertaining guests who are staying at the house, but realizing that she's a prisoner in the house she tries every possible way to get away from the asylum.This is a dismally dreadful film that has little to like about it. Most of the film's problems result from the fact that it never once feels like a true horror film, for while it has a potentially creepy premise this one stays so low-going and the same way throughout it plays out as a drama. Nothing happens in it, and the fact that it continually uses the cliché of having her try to get out and get caught only for no punishments to be dealt out gets too ridiculous at times and only hastens the plot's completely dull nature. The fact that it takes so long to even do anything is a huge problem, taking a near eternity to even get to the point of the film. It starts off creepy as the continual denials at finding out what's going on, but then after a while it soon becomes aggravating when it refuses to do anything, and it seems as though all it does is simply run through the same lame psychological torments time after time which results in nothing more than aggravation and irritation at keeping the cycle going hoping that the strange behavior of the other inmates is enough to work this out. There's also a big flaw in that she's captured at the beginning, but is given the reasoning behind her imprisonment at the end which in itself is such a lame motive more should've been done with it as this manages to make the others out there even more noticeable. However, there's some good stuff here at times as one of the main ones is that it goes to great lengths to set up a creepy atmosphere. There's a tremendous effort to keep her at the sanitarium, and after awhile these can be somewhat creepy. The fact that not a straight answer is given until late in the film, despite knowing what happens to them at the sanitarium, helps this have a real air of dread to the scenes. The only other factor that works is the twisted ending, which actually has several things going for it. It's the only thing that feels mildly threatening, with the sequence where it feels like a series of photographs on display being especially impressive. It has a great look to it that seems really freaky, and the twist involved with it is a pretty nice surprise. These, though, are all the film has going for it as all of that pales to its complete inability to feel like a horror film.Today's Rating-PG: Mild Violence.

F Gwynplaine MacIntyre The 1962 movie 'The Cabinet of Caligari' (notice that the title does NOT include the word 'Doctor') is often described in reference books and horror-movie magazines as a remake of the classic German silent film 'The Cabinet of DOCTOR Caligari'. It may have been screenwriter Robert Bloch's intention to script a remake of 'Dr Caligari', but the end result which we see here only crudely resembles that silent horror classic ... and the resemblance is mostly handled in dishonest ways. This 1962 'Caligari' has its merits as a creepy tale of psychological suspense, but it certainly isn't a horror film. This movie's dishonest title forces us to compare this film to 'Dr Caligari'. On its own merits (and this movie does have small but genuine merits), this is a minor film that should not be considered a horror movie at all.The IMDb synopsis for this movie describes the premise accurately. Glynis Johns was a poor choice for the crucial lead role in this film. She usually played airy simpletons (as in 'Mary Poppins'), and her whispery voice (which sounds a bad imitation of Joan Greenwood) fails to convey the intellectual weight necessary for this role. The protagonist of this film is an imprisoned woman named Jane Lindstrom; the plot line requires Jane to be sexually attractive but NOT sexually active nor even sexually curious. At one point, when the mysterious stranger Caligari shows Jane some pornographic photos, she is shocked and frightened. Glynis Johns simply wasn't a good enough actress to portray such a woman. And frankly, Glynis Johns (unlike Joan Greenwood, the genuine article) just isn't sexy enough for this role.At one point, the adult Jane witnesses a flashback of herself as a little girl. The child actress who plays Jane in this brief sequence is much prettier than Glynis Johns. Also, Glynis Johns has a prominent mole near her left eye, and the little girl doesn't have this: for these two reasons, the flashback is unconvincing.Richard Davalos is very good as a handsome young man who seems to be aroused by Jane. (To say more than this about his character would be a spoiler.) Davalos was an underrated actor who never got the acclaim he deserved: after his brilliant performance as James Dean's brother in 'East of Eden', Davalos's career went downhill steadily until he ended up playing a bearded lady(!) in 'Something Wicked This Way Comes': an excellent film overall, but a poor performance in a weak role.There's no cabinet of any significance in 'Cabinet of Caligari': they just wanted to crib the old title. This movie has a surprise ending which I shan't spoil for you, although you'll likely guess it a mile off. (I guessed it only half a mile off, but the lady who watched this movie with me guessed it before I did.)One of my favourite aspects of the original silent 'Cabinet of Doctor Caligari' was the weird nightmarish set design, which conveyed the deranged mental state of the film's madman narrator. The lobby cards and posters for the 1962 'Caligari' prominently featured weirdly distorted architecture, implying that this movie is indeed a remake of the silent classic. Unfortunately, you won't see any of that weird architecture in this movie except for a very brief montage just before the surprise ending is revealed. I consider this dishonest, as if the filmmakers decided "We have to bung in a few seconds of nightmare footage so that we can show distorted set designs in the publicity campaign. That way, we can fob off this movie as a remake of the real 'Caligari'." Really, this whole film conveys an air of someone consciously lying in a deliberate attempt to convince us we're watching a remake of that silent classic.The original silent 'Caligari' rates 10 out of 10. This 1962 movie barely rates a 4. But I do recommend this movie, providing you know in advance that it's NOT a remake.