Kenneth Turan’s DVD pick: Silents are golden

Silent films are always a pleasure to experience, and two new DVD releases -- one of an acknowledged classic, the other of a film that is not as well known as it should be -- are especially worth savoring.

The classic, now in an authoritative restoration released by Kino Lorber, is 1920’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” directed by Robert Wiene, a disconcerting look into a nightmare world that retains its power to disturb.

Less celebrated but equally memorable is “In the Land of the Head Hunters,” directed in 1914 by the great photographer Edward S. Curtis, released by Milestone Films and looking with great beauty at the personal and cultural affairs of the Kwakiutl tribe of the northern Pacific coast.