The 1920 German silent filmThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is considered a masterpiece of cinema and is one of the best examples of German Expressionism. It tells the story of a string of murders by the evil Dr. Caligari and his sleepwalking assistant.

The film has long been in the public domain. You can view it in its original version with a stock musical soundtrack at The Internet Archives. Being a silent film, the temptation to add an modern original score to this classic tale with its eerie story and odd sets has be almost irresistible. Eleven composers through the auspices of the (CT) Collective has succumb to the temptation and the result is Caligari:An Exquisite Corpse. It is a revised screening of the original print with color tinted scenes, re-designed title boards, and most importantly a soundtrack of original electronic music. I’m not sure it is an improvement over the original but it is certainly a different experience and the music is definitely more creative than what is used on earlier prints. The soundtrack is dark and minimalist intensifying the feeling of mystery in this surreal film. The upgrading of film quality is also quite good considering the original is from 1920.

You can download just the film soundtrack in 192kbps MP3 from the link below or you can view or download The entire film (329MB) with the new soundtracks from the Internet Archive.

Update: You can still get the video from the link above but the stand-alone audio soundtrack is No longer available.