Caligari" received its first public showing
in Western City. The story had to do with a series of murders; we
saw them traced by a young man, and fastened bit by bit upon an old
magician and doctor. As the drama neared its climax, we discovered
this doctor to be the head of an asylum for the insane, and the
young man to be one of the inmates; so in the end the series of
adventures was revealed to us as the imaginings of a madman about
his physician and keepers. The settings and scenery were in the
style of "futurist" art--weird and highly effective. I saw it all in
the light of Dr. Henner's interpretation, the product of an old,
perhaps an overripe culture. Certainly no such picture could have
been produced in America! If I had to choose between this and the
luxurious sex-stuff of Mary Magna--well, I wondered. At least, I had
been interested in every moment of "Dr. Caligari," and I was only
interested in Mary off the screen. Several times every year I had to
choose between mortally hurting her feelings, and watching her
elaborate "vamping" through eight or ten costly reels.
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