Of all the expressionist films, Torgus comes the closest to certain theatrical presentations of expressionism, as in Von Morgens bis Mitternacht. Yet, while the characters in Caligari act in front of the graphic designs of the sets without managing to become integrated with them, and while the actors in Von Morgens bis Mitternacht – whose prominence is diminished by wide strokes of paint on their costumes and faces – can enter into painted canvases, the actors in Torgus move in sets that play in an expressionist manner with relationships between volume and light. Kobe thus opened a road which Wiene, incapable of escaping the accepted formula, blocked without understanding its deepest essence. Torgus helps us to grasp better the evolution of expressionism, its influences, and it extensions.

Henri Langlois, Trois cents ans de cinéma, Paris, Cahiers du Cinéma / Cinémathèque Française, 1986