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In Robert Weine's 1919 film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, the story is an interesting blend of metaphor and open to much interpretation. "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" is important to film history as it is considered to be the first film of the "horror thriller" genre and to personify German expressionism in production design and filming techniques.

The film begins with a framing scene in which our protagonist, Francis, is relating a story from his past to an unknown other man. In his story, a traveling fair comes to town, its main attraction being Dr. Caligari and his prophetic somnambulist Cesare. Soon after the fair arrives in town, the town clerk is murdered, the first in a string of odd homicides. Francis and Alan, two best friends competing for the heart of mutual friend Jane, go to the fair and see the sleepwalker who tells Alan he will die before dawn. That night, Alan and Francis have a frank discussion about Jane, in which Francis emphasizes that their friendship should endure no matter who wins Jane's love.
That night, Alan is murdered by an ambiguous figure, and Francis, remembering Cesare's prediction, relays it to the police the next morning. Francis and Jane's father Dr. Olsen decide to visit Dr. Caligari and Cesare while the police capture a copycat murderer. Jane goes to look for her father and beloved, only to find that they have departed, leaving her to have a strange encounter with the odd creature Cesare. At sundown the suspicious Francis waits outside Dr. Caligari's trailer, whilst the killer Cesare slips away to attack Jane. A rooftop pursuit ensues after Cesare kidnaps film's first "helpless woman" though she can't be a scream queen yet. Jane is recovered unscathed, but Cesare "dies" after narrowly escaping capture. The police search Dr. Caligari's trailer and find a decoy sleepwalker, and Caligari escapes whilst they are rumaging. Francis, seeking revenge and justice, goes to a nearby insane asylum in hopes of locating Caligari.

He discovers that Caligari is head of the institution, and Francis flees in panic. He returns that night with the hospital staff and police to examine Dr. Caligari's documents. They discover that Caligari used the somnambulist, a patient in his hospital, to test his theory on manipulating someone to kill, based on the legend of a traveling monk named Caligari who controlled a homicidal sleepwalker in 1803. The asylum authorities wrestle Dr. Caligari into a straight jacket

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