The title showman (played by Werner Krauss) and his act Cesare the Somnambulist (Conrad Veidt, yes that Conrad Veidt) come to town, with the latter apparently having been asleep for years. He can also predict the future, predicting that an enquiring fair patron only has until dawn to live. And that night, the man dies! The dead man’s friend (Frederich Feher) attempts to get to the bottom of things.
Although a fine and interesting film, this Robert Wiene (“Crime and Punishment”, “The Hands of Orlac”) silent film made in Germany in 1919, is a bit underwhelming seen in 2014. I saw the film in the less-preferred B&W version, but that’s not the issue. In fact, nothing is cut from either version, it’s just a difference in colour tinting/B&W, and the speed of the film, the latter of which doesn’t make a whole helluva lot of difference in a silent film anyway. No, this one’s story simply doesn’t captivate as much today, I’m afraid and doesn’t hold up as well as say “Nosferatu” or “Metropolis”.
An unsubtle, Lon Chaney-esque Werner Krauss is excellent in the title role, but it does make the character a tad obvious, I suppose. I mean, he’s almost such a perfect, classic silent movie villain (minus the twirly moustache) that it leads to thinking that the other characters are morons. I particularly liked the clever attempt at creating a fairground vibe with minimal sets and actors, and if you look closely, minimal space too. For 1919, that’s cleverly done. It’s still an interesting and never for a moment boring film. The design of the film is far too fascinating to provide tedium, that’s for sure. The jagged, off-kilter set design (the sets are made out of paper!) is wonderfully weird in that German Expressionist kinda way that I dig. I bet Tim Burton was heavily influenced by this film, which was one of the pioneering German Expressionism films.
The music is also very interesting. At times it seems awfully inappropriate for supposedly menacing scenes, and yet that very discordance creates an eeriness, intentional or not. I kinda liked it.
But the central concept is a strange one that hasn’t aged well. Written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer (the latter of whom scripted “The Last Laugh” and “Sunrise”), it’s awfully simplistic and a bit twee, to be honest. I mean, there’s just not much to it, especially from a horror perspective. Regarded by some as the first true horror film, the film itself is more in line with Hitchcock’s “The Lodger” than a horror film at the end of the day. People in a trance murdering people? Bit of a yawner, really, and more indicative of a thriller, with a slight supernatural bent. So the film is no masterpiece in my view. The film’s twist ending didn’t quite work for me I must say. I like the idea of it to an extent, it’s just not perfectly executed, and feels tacked-on (which according to some, it was).
OVERALL SUMMARY
It’s a film every buff needs to see at least once in their life, and it’s very watchable, if dated. The visuals are truly outstanding, and where else are you going to find murders being euphemistically referred to as ‘adventurist plans’? The story doesn’t hold up so well, though.
