# "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" nitpick: Since when is "somnambulist" an act? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805 "2011-11-13T17:31:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/1 "2011-11-13T17:31:29Z")
In [_The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Dr._Caligari) the doctor comes to town and applies for a license to put on a show, “a somnambulist.” The town-clerk asks for no further details. Like, “somnambulist” was an established and well-known form of circus/sideshow/vaudeville act in Europe in 1920. Was it? 😕 Furthermore, Dr. Calibari’s “somnambulist,” Cesare, has an act that does **not** consist of walking around while apparently asleep, it consists of fortunetelling. Double 😕😕. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/2 "2011-11-13T17:36:11Z")
Granted, all of the above takes place only in a lunatic’s fantasy. But, it doesn’t sound like the kind of detail dreamed up by the lunatic in-story. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/3 "2011-11-13T18:36:00Z")
**BrainGlutton** That framing device was added only after authorities complained that the original film (which ends with Dr Caligari locked in a cell in his own asylum) was disrespectful to authority. The original film was meant as a story of fantastic events and was NOT the delirium of a patient in the asylum. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/4 "2011-11-13T18:41:07Z")
A somnambulist license is what you got if you failed the written exam for hunger artist. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/5 "2011-11-13T18:48:49Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > A somnambulist license is what you got if you failed the written exam for hunger artist. I love this board! A Kafka joke in a thread on a silent German Expressionist film! Back To The OP I can think of multiple explanations- 1 Being a German Expressionist film, presenting feelings and making the audience share in them is far more important than making sense 2 The clerk giving permits for the show doesn’t give a damn what the act is, so long as the proper paperwork is filled out and the proper fees paid. 3 Maybe somnabulist fortune tellers were a known thing in Germany but never made it to America. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/6 "2011-11-13T19:27:25Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > In [_The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Dr._Caligari) the doctor comes to town and applies for a license to put on a show, “a somnambulist.” The town-clerk asks for no further details. Like, “somnambulist” was an established and well-known form of circus/sideshow/vaudeville act in Europe in 1920. Was it? 😕 **Dr. Caligari** is a work of _fiction_. This mean it was made up. It does not reflect reality. The events did not happen, nor was there any real expectation on an audience that they reflected actual events. Let me ask, why do you wonder about this? It’s completely trivial and unimportant. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/7 "2011-11-13T19:28:59Z")
Did you even look at your own link? “The narrator, Francis (Friedrich Fehér), and his friend Alan (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) visit a carnival in the village where they see Dr. Caligari and the somnambulist Cesare, whom the doctor is displaying as an attraction.” “At night, [writers] Janowitz and Mayer would often go to a nearby fair. One evening, they saw a sideshow “Man and Machine”, in which a man did feats of strength and predicted the future while supposedly in a hypnotic trance.” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/8 "2011-11-13T19:35:05Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Dr. Caligari** is a work of _fiction_. This mean it was made up. It does not reflect reality. The events did not happen, nor was there any real expectation on an audience that they reflected actual events. > > Let me ask, why do you wonder about this? It’s completely trivial and unimportant. This is not a helpful response, **Chuck**. If you think a question is stupid, ignore it, don’t come into the thread for the sole purpose of telling the OP that you think the question is stupid. That is what is known technically as threadshitting. No warning issued. **twickster** , Cafe Society moderator ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/9 "2011-11-13T19:36:55Z")
The Wikipedia article agrees with me. If you read the “Production” section, it says that it was the producers who insisted on a new ending. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/10 "2011-11-13T19:46:54Z")
Huh, Wikipedia makes no mention of the film Dr Caligari in the article, nor does it seem to have its own page. Dr Caligari is a talkie and in color. It is made in the German Expressionist style. The grand daughter of the original Caligari is running an asylum. Her methods are rather unconventional. It’s one of my favorite films. I believe it can best be described as “psychotronic”. > **[Dr. Caligari (1989) ⭐ 6.2 | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097228/)** > > 1h 20m | R ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/11 "2011-11-13T20:17:15Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Huh, Wikipedia makes no mention of the film Dr Caligari in the article, nor does it seem to have its own page. [It does.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Caligari_(film)) Which, indeed, isn’t linked to in the article for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, just the disambig page. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/12 "2011-11-13T22:19:34Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > 3 Maybe somnabulist fortune tellers were a known thing in Germany but never made it to America. That was what I was asking about. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/13 "2011-11-13T22:21:01Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Huh, Wikipedia makes no mention of the film Dr Caligari in the article, nor does it seem to have its own page. > > Dr Caligari is a talkie and in color. It is made in the German Expressionist style. The grand daughter of the original Caligari is running an asylum. Her methods are rather unconventional. > > It’s one of my favorite films. I believe it can best be described as “psychotronic”. > > [Dr. Caligari (1989) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097228/) Ah, yes, I saw it when it came out. Nowadays, it is one of my touchstones for 1980s esthetics. Especially the bit about shaving sheep trotters before eating. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/14 "2011-11-13T22:22:20Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > **BrainGlutton** > > That framing device was added only after authorities complained that the original film (which ends with Dr Caligari locked in a cell in his own asylum) was disrespectful to authority. The original film was meant as a story of fantastic events and was NOT the delirium of a patient in the asylum. I know, I know. But that still leaves the question I asked in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/15 "2011-11-13T23:13:43Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Dr. Caligari** is a work of _fiction_. This mean it was made up. It does not reflect reality. The events did not happen, nor was there any real expectation on an audience that they reflected actual events. > > Let me ask, why do you wonder about this? It’s completely trivial and unimportant. I’m actually quite taken aback that someone who’s been a member of this board for _twelve years_ would post something like this. I know you’ve already been warned so I’m not trying to play Junior Mod, but man, don’t you know that any kind of question is okay to ask here? And the OP’s question was totally valid. I wondered the _exact_ same thing when I first saw that movie. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/16 "2011-11-13T23:23:45Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I’m actually quite taken aback that someone who’s been a member of this board for _twelve years_ would post something like this. I know you’ve already been warned so I’m not trying to play Junior Mod, but man, don’t you know that any kind of question is okay to ask here? And the OP’s question was totally valid. I wondered the _exact_ same thing when I first saw that movie. > > 😕 Some people on this board have the bizarre idea that simply because something is fictional, it means you can’t ask questions about why something happened in the plot. Because the story is made up, they think it doesn’t matter if something doesn’t make sense or is unbelievable within the context of the film/book. For some reason, they think “It’s fiction” actually answers something. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/17 "2011-11-13T23:29:06Z")
_Somnambulist_, in this context, does not mean a sleepwalker,it means someone who is hypnotized. This may be a result of poor translation from the German, but it is not entirely inappropriate: a hypnotized person is ambulant, capable of moving around and acting, whilst in a mental state somewhat resembling sleep, and certainly short of full, normal waking consciousness. The notion, or superstition, that people who are hypnotized might have special powers, including being able to divine the future, is not uncommon. It is quite traditional for seers and prophets to go into some sort of trance state before issuing their prophecies. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/18 "2011-11-13T23:34:01Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Some people on this board have the bizarre idea that simply because something is fictional, it means you can’t ask questions about why something happened in the plot. Because the story is made up, they think it doesn’t matter if something doesn’t make sense or is unbelievable within the context of the film/book. For some reason, they think “It’s fiction” actually answers something. You’re absolutely right about that. I’ve never seen the attitude put forth so dismissively and rudely, until now, but yes, what you’re talking about is true. Q: “Did duels like the one at the end of _Barry Lyndon_ actually happen?” A: “Dude, you’re aware that _Barry Lyndon_ is _fiction_, right?” It happens with regard to historical accuracy: “The armor and weapons in _Robin Hood_ were totally out of period…as someone who is interested in history, I thought this was really stupid.” “Dude, it’s a FICTIONAL MOVIE!” (As if historical films shouldn’t even strive for accuracy at all…shit, why not give Robin Hood a 19th century cavalry sabre? I mean, a sword is a sword, right?) It happens with regard to realism: “It’s so silly how the computers in this movie all have made-up graphical interfaces and make beeping noises and clicking noises all the time.” “It’s just a _movie!_” ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/19 "2011-11-13T23:36:37Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > _Somnambulist_, in this context, does not mean a sleepwalker,it means someone who is hypnotized. This may be a result of poor translation from the German, I disagree. Caligari is shown spending years searching for a somnabulist. It seems to be a pre-existing state, rather than something Caligari induces. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805/20 "2011-11-14T02:42:43Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Dr Caligari is a talkie and in color. It is made in the German Expressionist style. The grand daughter of the original Caligari is running an asylum. Her methods are rather unconventional. > > It’s one of my favorite films. I believe it can best be described as “psychotronic”. > > [Dr. Caligari (1989) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097228/) Which in turn should not be confused with [The Cabinet of Caligari](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055819/), a 1962 movie which has little to do with the original movie besides the title. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-nitpick-since-when-is-somnambulist-an-act/602805.md?page=2)