The German Expressionist Cinema movement made films that were highly stylised and symbolic, there was nothing else around at the time quite the same. These films would go onto influence other filmmakers and gave rise to the future style of Hollywood horror, sci-fi and film noir, their impact can be seen the Universal horror films of the 30's and 40's especially.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was released 100 years ago, how many films released this year will still be talked about in 2120 (or will 2020 just be remembered as "That year"?),it is a film about a mad hypnotist who uses a somnambulist to commit murder, we all know the story, boy meets hypnotist, falls asleep, goes for a wander, kills people!
Another movie that came out of the same movement and the same year was The Golem: How He came into the World, this was the 3rd film starring Paul Wegener as the title, he also co-directed, and was a prequel to the 1915 The Golem, and the one in the middle was a comedy short called The Golem and the Dancing Girl made in 1917.
In 1922 a little movie directed by F.W. Murnau called Nosferatu was released, it's subtitle was A Symphony of Horror, and it certainly was, it is a fantastically atmospheric, creepy feast for the senses. It is an unofficial unauthorised adaptation of Dracula, details were changed in the movie but the Stoker family still sued over copyright infringement, they won and the court ruled that all copies of the movie be destroyed, luckily for us some copies survived and Nosferatu is widely regarded as a masterpiece.
One of my favourite films of all time was also part of this movement, Metropolis, released in 1927 and directed by Fritz Lang, took 17 months to film and cost a whopping five million Reichsmarks, it was by far the most expensive movie of it's time! There are multiple cuts out there but it is believe that the full and final cut has been lost, that was 3 1/2 hours long, in 2002 The Murnau Foundation released a 75th Anniversary cut of 123 mins, this is supposedly the most complete cut available at the time but footage is still being found so expect further versions. In 1984 Giorgio Moroder (link below) released an 87 min cut with a contemporary rock score and a colour tint, I have both these versions, they are both well worth watching.
Fritz Lang released M in 1931, a dark and chilling thriller, Peter Lorre stars as a serial killer of children that is hunted by both the police and the criminal underworld. Lang builds the tension so well that it starts to feel very oppressive, he considered this film his Magnum opus.
The rise of National Socialism in 1933 spelt the end of the Expressionist movement in Germany and the rise of the like of Leni Rieffenstahl who made beautiful films about very ugly things.
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