Francis
The narrative of the film is presented in the form of a flashback told by a young man sitting on a bench telling a strange tale. The storyteller on the bench is Francis and the story revolves around his investigation into the strange Dr. Caligari. He tells the man that he was born in a small town where a series of strange events took place. In the central plot, Francis is the best friend of Alan and in love with Jane.
Alan
The best friend of Francis who accompanies him to a sideshow and asks a fateful question of a strange figure name Cesare. The answer to his query how long he will live is an unexpected “until dawn.” Sure enough, Francis is mysteriously murdered during the night.
Jane
The beautiful woman whom both Francis and Alan loves. One night Cesare, the somnambulist who told Alan he would not live to see the next day, slips into her room in the middle of the night with the intent to kill her. Instead, he decides to abduct her, but dies in the process.
Dr. Olsen
Jane’s father. Following the murder of Alan, he obtains permission from the authorities to investigate the sideshow for any possible involvement.
Cesare
The chalky-faced somnambulist with a talent for seeing in the future has an advantage: during the night when he is supposed to be deep in a trance inside his famous box, he is actually committing the crimes he portends.
Dr. Caligari
Francis relates the story of how Dr. Caligari appeared in town one day as sideshow entertainer whose act involves a somnambulist named Cesare that sleeps in a box. Caligari’s admittedly slim act involves awakening Cesare to get him to answer questions posed by members of the audience that appear to indicate the man in the trance has some sort power of precognition of future events. When Francis reveals to the police that Cesare is only a dummy in the box after suspicion is thrown on and then off the sleepwalker for a series of murders, Caligari flees for sanctuary into a mental asylum, followed closely by Francis and the law. They are stunned to find that Caligari is the director of the asylum, but eventually becomes a patient after Francis proves he’s actually quite mad. The other half of the tale is the movie’s famous twist end: Caligari actually is the director of a mental asylum in which Francis, Cesare, Jane and the other man on the bench are all, in fact, patients.
