THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI w/ live score

It is difficult to imagine precisely what cinema would be without its most influential and memorable titles. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (Robert Wiene, 1920) in particular stands out as one such notable title in the international canon that in its time and forever thereafter has been heralded as a masterpiece of its craft, the singular model for expressionist, black-and-white filmmaking. A landmark of horror filmmaking, its visual style is often copied or paid homage and its remarkable twist ending has become all but a modern trope. Its long, haunting shadows and canted, dreamlike production design stay with viewers weeks, months, and years following an initial viewing.

We at the Alamo Drafthouse are proud to present THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI as a 35mm print, with a brand new live score by Austin's own Peter Stopschinski, longtime friend of the Drafthouse!

Local composer Peter Stopschinski has composed a brand new score bringing his unique brand of alt-classical sound to the film.  Stopschinski's extremely diverse palate of sounds have included Co-founding the Golden Hornet Project with fellow composer Graham Reynolds, string arrangements for many bands including DJ Spooky and Grupo Fantasma, the performance of his 6th Symphony Rough Night w/ Happy Ending won Austin Critic's Table Best Classical Performance, and he is the composer and co-creator with Kirk Lynn of the musical I've Never Been So Happy which was produced by the Rude Mechs and Centre Theater Group Los Angeles.  I've Never Been So Happy won a B. Iden Payne award for Best New Play and was performed in Austin, Washington D.C, and Los Angeles.  Stopschinski is currently composing and opera about Bum Phillips and the 1979 Houston Oilers to be premiered in New York in the fall of 2013 as well as an album showcasing his new style of Alt-classical music entitled Now Would Be A Good Time.  Now Would Be A Good Time was composed by first laying out a specific set of musical criteria which was determined as Alt-classical (such as the intervals minor 3rd and tritone or the rhythmic structures 3+3+2 and 2+2+3 or the instrumentation involving classical instruments like violas and cellos and contemporary instruments like electric guitars and laptops etc. etc.)  These criteria and many of the musical ideas from this upcoming album were used to create this new score for Dr. Caligari.  The score will be performed by Peter Stopschinski - Piano and electronics, Leah Nelson - Viola, Tom Echols - Guitar, Hen3ry Q Vines - Bass, and Chuck Fischer - Drums/Percussion. (Sam Prime)

The film is credited for introducing the "twist" ending and inspired Edward Scissorhands by Tim Burton, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus by Terry Gilliam and Shutter Island by Martin Scorsese which shares many striking similarities to Caligari.

"The first thing everyone notices and best remembers about "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920) is the film's bizarre look. The actors inhabit a jagged landscape of sharp angles and tilted walls and windows, staircases climbing crazy diagonals, trees with spiky leaves, grass that looks like knives. These radical distortions immediately set the film apart from all earlier ones." -Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times