Portage + Caligari + Organ + Theremin = One Good Tuesday Night

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 18, 2010 4:20PM

In his "Great Movies" essay on The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Roger Ebert writes of the sets used by Director Robert Wiene:

"The stylized sets, obviously two-dimensional, must have been a lot less expensive than realistic sets and locations, but I doubt that's why (Wiene) wanted them. He is making a film of delusions and deceptive appearances, about madmen and murder, and his characters exist at right angles to reality. None of them can quite be believed, nor can they believe one another."

Ninety years after its release, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is regarded as one of the first horror films to reach a wide audience, one of the most well-known silent movies of all time, and a benchmark of early German expressionism. Tomorrow night's screening of the film isn't the first time the Silent Film Society of Chicago has featured it in a program. What makes this screening stand out is the score being performed by Jay Warren (the photoplay nom de guerre of SFSC President Dennis Wolkowicz) and theremin accompaniment from Professor J. Pierce.

Warren and Pierce have previously teamed up on scores for 1924's Aelita: Queen of Mars and the Fritz Lang epic Metropolis. The organ Warren will be playing for this screening is a vintage 1927 pipe organ with 1,241 pipes that made its Portage Theater debut at last year's Silent Summer Film Fesitval. The restoration, however, is not complete; sound effects traps and other pipework are being reinstalled as funds allow.

The Silent Film Sciety of Chicago presents The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari at 7:45 p.m. tomorrow night at the Portage Theater (4050 N. Milwaukee Ave.). Admission is $7 in advance, $8 at the door. Purchase tickets online at the SFSC website.