October 29, 7 PM
The First Congregational Church of West Tisbury

Dir. Robert Wiene | Horror / Mystery | Germany | 1920 | 1 hr. 16 min. | Silent, with English intertitles

Accompanied by organ music performed live by Bill Peek, music director of the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury

Widely considered to be the first true horror film, this silent classic is over 100 years old but still inspires dread. At a carnival in a German town, a mysterious stranger exhibits a wooden cabinet. The somnambulist within, he claims, has the ability to predict the future. When two men in the crowd ask for a reading and are told that one of them will die by sunrise, and this comes to pass, the other tries to solve the mystery of his friend's death. Both cinematically and culturally revolutionary, this film’s Expressionist style not only mirrored the fear and paranoia of Germany between the first two World Wars but has influenced generations of filmmakers.