THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920)

One of silent film era's most iconic masterpieces, to finally see The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in a restored version on Netflix (see the 71-minute version, if you can!) was a genuine treat.  The film opens with the handsome young Francis, sitting on a bench recounting to a friend the story behind the odd, near-ethereal behavior of his fiancee Jane; back to the annual fair in Holstenwall, when Francis and his friend Alan attended the sideshow-like attraction of Dr. Caligari and his somnambulist patient Cesare, who has been sleeping all his 20+ years in a cabinet, only awakening by Caligari long enough to predict the future.  That day, Cesare predicts Alan will die by morning - and when Alan is, in fact, murdered overnight, Francis is sure the madman Caligari and Cesare are behind it.  A dark, brooding "photo-play" filmed on exaggerated theatrical sets - giving it an extra sense of madness - make this German production an engrossing must-see, ... nearly a hundred years after it was made! (unrated)  A-