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Originally Posted by fantasyfan
That is a very interesting insight. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is certainly an astonishing Expressionist film that plays with themes such as madness, perception, illusion and reality. Here’s an interesting comment on its visual style.
“. . . painted back cloths, dominated by curves and cubes, deliberately distorted perspectives and furniture unnaturally elongated. The effect was to disorientate the viewer. . .”
Jeffrey Richards, “The Cabinet of Dr Caligari” in Movies of the Silent Years, edited by Ann Lloyd p.90, London, Orbis, 1985
It does sound rather Lovecraftian though I don’t know if Lovecraft himself ever saw the film. Considering his tastes for that sort of thing in his reading and his obsession with things alien, it wouldn’t surprise me if he did and was influenced by it.
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There's sufficient layers and allusions that an annotated version could be pulled off. Extrapolating from that is why this works as kidlit and as an adult read; there's enough going on to keep the grownups entertained. I'm also all over challenging kids; they may miss many if not most of the allusions, but they add substance and something may click. This is also why I could forgive "Jack Frost" and the Jacks of All Trades; no reason not to toss a softball to the least sophisticated or youngest readers. They can pride themselves on getting it and it serves as an indicator of the richness of the text.
OT: I have a niece whose initials are SAP. Sigh. Her parents battled over her name and that was the best they could do.