If you think today's profiteers are diabolical, blink again. It is the summer of 1914. As the world teeters on the brink of the Great War, a callow American painter, Francis Wyndham, arrives at a renowned European insane asylum, where he begins offering art therapy under the auspices of Alessandro Caligari-sinister psychiatrist, maniacal artist, alleged sorcerer. And determined to turn the impending cataclysm to his financial advantage, Dr. Caligari will-for a price-allow governments to parade their troops past his masterpiece: a painting so mesmerizing it can incite entire regiments to rush headlong into battle. The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is a timely tale that is by turns funny and erotic, tender and bayonet-sharp-but ultimately emerges as a love letter to that mysterious, indispensable thing called art.