This rather simple little yarn is probably among the most important and striking films ever made. In a small village, a magician named Caligari (Werner Krauss) exhibits a somnambulist named Cesare (Conrad Veidt), who sleeps in the aforementioned cabinet. At night, Caligari sends the sleepwalker through the town to murder people. When Francis' friend is one of the victims, Francis (Fredrich Feher) investigates, prompting Caligari to send Cesare to kill his fiancee, Jane (Lil Dagover). Instead of killing her, Cesare falls in love with her and flees over the rooftops carrying her, until he collapses and dies of exhaustion. Caligari turns out to be a doctor at a local asylum who goes mad when confronted with Cesare's body. A framing story reveals that it is Francis who is actually insane, and Caligari is the doctor in charge of curing him.

The framing story is controversial, because it was added to the original script which had been an analogy for World War I, saying that the "doctors" or leaders were insane murderers. Now, the film says the opposite, that caring authoritarian figures are needed to protect people from themselves. This frightening addition is seen as part of a trend in German films of the Weimar period to subconsciously convince Germans of the need for dictatorship, thus pointing to the rise of Adolph Hitler.

That aside, the film remains important for its utterly unique use of Expressionist sets. Staggering light patterns and deep shadows are used to portray the way the insane look at the world. The stylized set design is among the most impressive I have ever seen. This, along with Fritz Lang's Metropolis, cast a long shadow, even though the outward elements of Expressionism didn't take hold. For example, the stunning futuristic sets for Blade Runner could not have existed without this film, nor could many of the classic horror films that borrowed elements, such as the 1930s Dracula and Frankenstein. If you haven't seen this film, I urge you to see it, even if you don't ordinarily like silent films. You have never seen anything like it.