directed by Fritz Lang (1927)
If you are who you are when no one is looking I might just be a pretentious tween. Left alone, sometimes I’ll watch a Disney made for pre teen television movie, and other times I tend to watch lots of silent movies. Let’s face it, neither is easy to talk another person into watching, and both are rather soothing. Unforgivable, then that I’d not seen the silent movie masterpiece, Metropolis until now.
In a way, it’s good I waited since only recently was a restored version released after long lost original footage was found in Argentina. The new release is a more complete, more comprehensible film and it looks fantastic. After all, it’s the visuals here that are so mind blowing, inspirational, and timeless. Even Fritz Lang admits the theme and plot were a bit simplistic and heavy handed.
Visually, though, what a treat – like nothing you’ve ever seen. Well, actually its influenced so much, you probably have seen something that resembles it. The costumes, the sets, the scenery paintings, the actors – including a gorgeous and expressive Brigette Helm, the fiery and bearded Heinrich George, and Rudolf Klein-Rogge as the wild eyed mad scientist are all incredible.
But what do you think?
2 Comments
One of my favorites! The animated Disney version of Robin Hood and Metropolis were my two favorite Beta tapes when I was a kid. I ground them both to dust watching them a bit autistically. The version of Metropolis we had was a crazy 1984 restoration that had been weirdly colorized with an original soundtrack by Giorgio Moroder. Copies of that version are hard to find because it is considered to be roundly awful, the score having been nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Original Score in 1985. I think it has some great moments myself. You can watch a clip here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs2xkK28YXo
Thanks for that link. I had no idea that existed. I can understand why people were upset – but it’s strangely awesome too.