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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 tall chunks of the film and substantially altered the storyline. The resulting film was admired for its visual style, but it proved a considerable 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 approach 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 fraction the quality of these releases varied from barely mediocre to downright unwatchable.
Until now.
A spacious chunk of METROPOLIS–perhaps as remarkable 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 utilize of stills and explanatory title cards; the film itself has been painstakingly and digitally restored; and the soundtrack is the Gottfried Huppertz recent 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 yarn itself are considerable more enchanting and cohesive, and in the wake of this restoration it becomes impossible to boom the film station 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 gigantic city of Metropolis. Freder is surprised to recognize his lifestyle has been built on the unseen but backbreaking labor of an entire class of unseen workers who tend the machines that compose the city run–and he descends to the subterranean levels of Metropolis in an trouble to understand their lives… and, not incidentally, to win the mysterious but handsome woman Maria (Brigitta Helm) who has inspired his interest in the workers’ scrape. 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 serve. Rotwang has created a robot, and he agrees to give it the likeness of Maria in order to undermine both Freder’s cherish for the girl and her fill activities. But Rotwang has a hidden agenda of his own: once the robot has been unleashed, he will spend her to end Metropolis and thereby proper revenge on Joh Fredersen for past transgressions against him.
In many respects the legend 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 famed skill at creating the great crowd scenes that dominate the film and building the bolt 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 screech 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 original 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 animated stuff.
There has been complaint that this restoration runs at improper race and the performances are therefore unnecessarily jerky. I did not pick up this to be the case. In clear 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 calm acting and current acting techniques cannot myth. There has also been some complaint that the title cards should have been left in their novel German and translated via subtitle. There is a clear validity to this, but it seems a minor quibble; title cards were typically translated in the quiet era itself. The DVD includes a number of extras, including collected photographs, biographies of the major figures fervent in the film, and two engrossing 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 mighty achievement, to say the least, a project which brings a huge landmark of world cinema aid from the edge of the abyss. Indispensible; a must-own.
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–GFT (Amazon Reviewer) –
This is the 139 exiguous, tinted version, with the disjointed music, distributed by “JEF films” and labeled “Aikman Archive” in yellow on the box. The sound is unpleasant and the video quality is abominable. For satisfactory video quality, procure the version produced by Kino Video instead. although the Kino version has a poor sound track, at least the video quality is very sterling. For good sound, procure the Moroder version of Metropolis.
This review assumes that you have already seen Metropolis. For those curious with Metropolis, it is considered “the” first SciFi movie — the robot, the frosty visual effects of future cities, and a few enraged scientist lab scenes. But it is only a titanic movie IF you glance the suitable version. Sadly, there are more then 6 versions of the film floating around —
Black/white, dreadful music, monotonous playback
B/W, poor music, quick playback
tinted, dreadful music, lifeless playback
tinted, generous music, swiftly playback
plus a few versions with unpleasant video quality (the DVD version is such a case) and other versions with missing scenes, a non-logical trot to the sage 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 derive this tape.
Although the rush time of this version of the movie is 139 minutes, it is actually missing scenes that are in the 90 microscopic Kino Video and Moroder versions of the tape. The reason is that this 139 microscopic tape is urge 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 win a superior 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 chronicle line and is an advantageous sound track on its maintain.
I was fortunate enough to have seen Moroder’s copy the first time I saw Metropolis and I am very gay 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 rep the “Moroder CD” and examine to remix your absorb 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 shroud says it is a “newly restored version”, but image quality is so awful 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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