Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS was very successful with both critics and audiences when it debuted in 1927 Berlin–but it was thereafter edited for distribution by Channing Pollock, who disliked it and removed gigantic chunks of the film and substantially altered the storyline. The resulting film was admired for its visual style, but it proved a necessary and box office disappointment. Neglected in the wake of sound, surviving prints of the film were left to corrode and decay–and when it began to near the home market via VHS and DVD the results were very hit or miss; Blackhawk released a fairly credible version of the truncated film to home video, but for the most section the quality of these releases varied from barely mediocre to downright unwatchable.
Until now.
A gargantuan chunk of METROPOLIS–perhaps as grand a quarter of more–has been forever lost, but this Kino Video DVD release offers the single best version of the film available. The previously lop footage that mild exists has been restored; gaps in the film have been bridged by the occasional spend of stills and explanatory title cards; the film itself has been painstakingly and digitally restored; and the soundtrack is the Gottfried Huppertz unique created for the film’s 1927 Berlin debut. In seeing this version of METROPOLIS, I was struck by how very differently it reads from the previously available truncated version. The visual style and the sage itself are distinguished more involving and cohesive, and in the wake of this restoration it becomes impossible to announce the film state as landmark of international cinema.
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Freder Fredersen (Gustav Frohlich) is the son of Joh Fredersen (Alfred Able), who reigns over the tremendous city of Metropolis. Freder is surprised to examine his lifestyle has been built on the unseen but backbreaking labor of an entire class of unseen workers who tend the machines that create the city run–and he descends to the subterranean levels of Metropolis in an anguish to understand their lives… and, not incidentally, to earn the mysterious but stunning woman Maria (Brigitta Helm) who has inspired his interest in the workers’ problem. But his father is concerned by both Freder’s interest and Maria’s activities among the workers, and he turns to scientist C.A. Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) for assist. Rotwang has created a robot, and he agrees to give it the likeness of Maria in order to undermine both Freder’s treasure for the girl and her believe activities. But Rotwang has a hidden agenda of his own: once the robot has been unleashed, he will utilize her to waste Metropolis and thereby sincere revenge on Joh Fredersen for past transgressions against him.
In many respects the memoir is simplistic, but the film’s visual style and connotations are anything but. Deeply influenced by such art movements as Expressionism, Objectivism, Art Deco, and Bauhaus, the film is visually fascinating–not only in its scenic designs, but in director Lang’s notorious skill at creating the grand crowd scenes that dominate the film and building the roam and tension of the film as it moves toward an intense climax. But while one can–and many do–admire the film purely at this level, there is quite a lot going on in terms of philosophical reveal as well: while it offers few viable solutions, the film raises such issues as the relationship between capital and labor, the situation of religion in current society, human reaction to overwhelming technology, and (perhaps most interestingly) the drift of government into a class-conscious corporate entity. And religious motifs abound in the film: a largely deserted cathedral; Moloch; the Tower of Babel; and crosses–intriguingly juxtaposed with a repeating motif of the pentagram-like designs associated with the robot. It is absorbing stuff.
There has been complaint that this restoration runs at wrong rush and the performances are therefore unnecessarily jerky. I did not pick up this to be the case. In obvious instances the movement is deliberately jerky and mechanical–the workers are a case in point–but beyond this there is nothing for which the incompatibility between restful acting and fresh acting techniques cannot yarn. There has also been some complaint that the title cards should have been left in their unique German and translated via subtitle. There is a sure validity to this, but it seems a minor quibble; title cards were typically translated in the tranquil era itself. The DVD includes a number of extras, including level-headed photographs, biographies of the major figures keen in the film, and two sharp documentaries-one on the restoration process and one on the creation of the film itself. Both are interesting; the audio commentary track by film historian Enno Patalas, however, is mildly disappointing. But when all is said and done, it is the film that counts. And this restoration is a great achievement, to say the least, a project which brings a vast landmark of world cinema aid from the edge of the abyss. Indispensible; a must-own.
Buy,Download, Or Stream Metropolis! Click Here
–GFT (Amazon Reviewer) –
This is the 139 slight, tinted version, with the disjointed music, distributed by “JEF films” and labeled “Aikman Archive” in yellow on the box. The sound is terrible and the video quality is bad. For obedient video quality, accumulate the version produced by Kino Video instead. although the Kino version has a terrible sound track, at least the video quality is very salubrious. For profitable sound, collect the Moroder version of Metropolis.
This review assumes that you have already seen Metropolis. For those peculiar with Metropolis, it is considered “the” first SciFi movie — the robot, the frosty visual effects of future cities, and a few aroused scientist lab scenes. But it is only a mammoth movie IF you peer the upright version. Sadly, there are more then 6 versions of the film floating around —
Black/white, terrible music, boring playback
B/W, awful music, fleet playback
tinted, awful music, dead playback
tinted, gracious music, quickly playback
plus a few versions with bad video quality (the DVD version is such a case) and other versions with missing scenes, a non-logical scuttle to the record line due to poor editing, etc.
Unfortunately, the station with prints of Metropolis is a bit of a mess. Those looking for the tinted Girogio Moroder sound track should NOT catch this tape.
Although the hurry time of this version of the movie is 139 minutes, it is actually missing scenes that are in the 90 itsy-bitsy Kino Video and Moroder versions of the tape. The reason is that this 139 puny tape is bustle at a SLOWER run than the Kino tape is. Also, the music is totally out of sync and unrelated to the action.
Unfortunately, Moroder’s copy is not available from anywhere. At $24.95, I’d hoped that the folks at Amazon.com had found a copy but this is not the case. Someone should acquire a sterling copy of the Moroder tape, sell that, and burn all of the other versions. Although some people object to Moroder’s rock soundtrack, at least it follows the yarn line and is an profitable sound track on its possess.
I was fortunate enough to have seen Moroder’s copy the first time I saw Metropolis and I am very satisfied that I did.
To add further insult to injury, the CD of Moroder’s soundtrack is not the same as the music that appearred in the movie. The CD has some additional songs and is missing some others. So you can’t redub a video from the CD. So don’t glean the “Moroder CD” and demand to remix your believe copy of the video.
OK, having provided all of the background info, there is the review:
139-minute B&W version published by JEF films. The cloak says it is a “newly restored version”, but image quality is so terrible that I would rather call it “newly destroyed version”. It has actually more missing scenes than both Kino’s and Moroder’s versions, but runs longer because of slower frame urge.
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