Wiene started in the industry as an actor in the spring of 1908, playing roles in small Viennese productions. His first serious contribution to film was the script and much of the directing for a film called The Weapons of Youth (1912). He began working for Berliner Messter-Film in 1914 as a director and screenwriter, producing about 30 films in total under that label. Yet, his relationship with that company wasn’t exclusive and he produced other films as well, building relationships with some of the biggest names in the German silent film industry, like Henny Porten and Rudolf Biebrach.

Among his many notable contributions to the German film industry and the archives of German silent film, Wiene’s most outstanding accomplishment in film was Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920).  Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, starring Conrad Veidt, has retained its notoriety over the years as one of the first classic horror movies and one of the first German Expressionist films. Artists across genres even celebrate the film’s influence on their work today. In its own time, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari succeeded both artistically and commercially in Germany and abroad.

The following year, Wiene worked with many of the same people from Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari to try to repeat the same effects and success of that film in a new film call Genuine (1920). Genuine did not do well at the box office and was not comparable to Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari in artistic caliber.

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