The Cabinet of Dr Caligari was directed by Robert Wiene, who began work as an actor before writing movie scripts in his thirties.  His career was virtually brought to a halt when the Nazis came to power and he fled to France, where he died in 1938 during production of his last film, Ultimatum, completed by Robert Siodmak.  Few of Wiene’s films survive but apparently none of them touched the power of Caligari.

The film was written in six weeks by Austrian Carl Mayer and Czech Hans Janowitz – who got the idea for the story after he had seen a girl at a carnival who was later found murdered.  Their intention was to write an allegorical piece about Germany in the First World War, with the mad doctor representing the state, sending the helpless youth (Cesare) out to kill.  The two writers were greatly displeased by Wiene’s idea for the bookending story, as it negated their metaphorical intentions.