4. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a mesmerizing silent German film from 1920 about a doctor who travels the country like a circus performer with a man named Cesare. Cesare is a somnambulist under Dr. Caligari's spell. As the story unfolds, a number of strange deaths occur in the town and suspicion of Dr. Caligari's mind control begins to surface. This only slightly veiled commentary of the controlling German government at the time did not go unnoticed. Cesare, the mindless puppet who blindly served his ruling master's bidding, was an obvious stand-in for the German populace of the early 20th century. Because of this, the film was forced to tack on a bookend which clearly showed that the notion of a mind-controlling overlord is obviously absurd, as the movie ends with the story simply being the machinations of a resident in an insane asylum. Dr. Caligari, in addition to being one of the most revolutionary silent films in history for its artful scenery, is the first major film to use the cop out "this was all just imaginary", which gives us something to blame for Dallas and St. Elsewhere. Granted, at least Dr. Caligari has threats from totalitarian regimes as an excuse. Those crappy 80's TV shows just have only cocaine and awful writing staffs to blame.