| The Cabinet of Caligari | |
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| Directed by | Roger Kay |
| Produced by | Roger Kay |
| Written by | Robert Bloch |
| Starring | Glynis Johns Dan O'Herlihy Richard Davalos Lawrence Dobkin Estelle Winwood Constance Ford |
| Music by | Gerald Fried |
| Cinematography | John L. Russell |
| Editing by | Archie Marshek |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | 25 May 1962 |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Country | U.S. UK |
| Language | English |
The Cabinet of Caligari (1962) is a film by Roger Kay, starring Glynis Johns, Dan O'Herlihy, and Richard Davalos, and released by 20th Century Fox.
Although the film has a title that is very similar to that of the acclaimed silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), it shares very few similarities. The film is notable for a script penned by author Robert Bloch, author of the novel Psycho. The cinematographer for The Cabinet of Caligari was John L. Russell, who also worked on Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho (1960) based on Bloch's novel.
Motorist Jane Lindstrom has a blow out and seeks assistance at an estate that she learns is owned by a very polite man with a German accent named Caligari. After spending the night she finds that Caligari will not let her leave and proceeds to ask some personal questions and shows her disgusting pictures.
Unable to leave due to guards and unable to call out due to locked down phones Jane tries to find allies among the other guests but only finds three possible candidates: the older Paul, the younger Mark (who she has romantic desires regarding), and a lively elderly woman named Ruth. After seeing Ruth tortured Jane goes to Paul who convinces her to confront Caligari. Jane does so and try to seduce him as she has suspected he has been spying on her in the bath. After that fails Caligari reveals that he and Paul and are one and the same person and Jane runs down a corridor of wildly shifting imagery that acts as a transition.
Finally it is revealed that Jane is a mental patient and everything the audience has seen up to this point has been her distortion of the institute she was in (the personal questions was psychoanalysis, the disgusting pictures were Rorschach cards, Ruth's torture was shock treatment, to the point that even Caligari's family crest was a distorted version of the Caduceus symbol used by doctors.) Cured Jane is taken from the asylum by Mark who we find out is her son and then we see Jane's face. She now has many wrinkles implying that she is far older than the smooth skinned woman we have seen through most of the film.
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