The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) w/ Live Organ Accompaniment

“Caligari, the most complete essay in the décor of delirium, is one of the most famous films of all time, and it was considered a radical advance in film technique, yet it is rarely imitated — and you’ll know why.” – Pauline Kael

“This is more than just a textbook classic; the narrative frame creates ambiguities that hold certain elements of the story in disturbing suspension. A one-of-a-kind masterpiece.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum

SYNOPSIS

Widely regarded as the foundational work of German Expressionist cinema, Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari forever altered the visual language of horror by replacing physical reality with a world shaped by nightmare and madness. Werner Krauss stars as the mysterious Dr. Caligari, whose traveling carnival sideshow features the somnambulist Cesare (Conrad Veidt), a sleepwalker seemingly capable of predicting the future…and perhaps committing murder. Designed by artists Hermann Warm, Walter Reimann, and Walter Röhrig, the film’s jagged, painted sets externalize the fractured psychology of its characters, while Carl Mayer and Hans Janowitz’s ingenious screenplay blurs the boundary between sanity and delusion through one of cinema’s most influential narrative structures. Its radically stylized production and character design cast a shadow over generations of filmmakers, from Universal’s classic horror cycle to Tim Burton’s grotesque vision of the Penguin in Batman Returns. Experience the film that forever changed the visual language of horror, accompanied live by Brett Miller on the Wurlitzer organ for an unforgettable journey into the silent era.

ABOUT ORGANIST BRETT MILLER

As one of the youngest in a rare art form, Brett Miller is an active organist, conductor, and arranger specializing in the art of silent film accompaniment. A finalist in the American Theatre Organ Society’s Young Organist Competition, Brett has continued his academic involvement and advocacy for the education and preservation of silent films through performance “live to picture.” In the Spring of 2021, he was appointed Music Director of the Empire Film and Media Ensemble, a nonprofit based in Rochester, NY, that advocates for the education, performance, and production of film music. He was recently appointed Artistic Director of the organization. Brett shares a close relationship between the ensemble and the Beal Institute of Film Contemporary  Media at the Eastman School of Music.

His recent scores have been recorded with organizations such as the Eye Filmmuseum, the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation, and Kino Lober Classics. He has been featured in the past at various film festivals and has played events in conjunction with film preservationists from the Library of Congress and Geroge Eastman House. Brett has been a featured Artist at the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center’s annual Organ Day, an event he attended as a young Organist in its first year. He is a frequent recitalist at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, playing the world’s largest Pipe Organ.

Brett studied Organ with renowned organist Jelani Eddington and Piano with Beth Crompton.  He studied film accompaniment with Ben Model and Bernie Anderson. Brett is a native of Bedminster, Pennsylvania, and an alumnus of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Institute.  He is currently studying at the Eastman School of Music and studying Piano with Dr. Joseph Rackers.