Metropolis (Restored Authorized Edition)
by Fritz Lang
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm, Fritz Rasp, Gustav Fr?hlich, Rudolf Klein-RoggeDirector: Fritz Lang
Cinematographer: G?nther Rittau
Cinematographer: Karl Freund
Cinematographer: Walter Ruttmann
Writer: Fritz Lang
Producer: Erich Pommer
Producer: Giorgio Moroder
Writer: Thea von Harbou
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 117 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-02-18
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Movie Reviews of Metropolis (Restored Authorized Edition)
Movie Review: Lang's Sci-Fi Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
As one of the earliest examples of cinematic science fiction fantasy, director Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" ranks as an unparalleled achievement in its size, scope, and vision. Forty years would elapse before Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) would rival Lang's epic spectacle about a troubled, dystopian society fractured along the fault lines of the economic inequality isolating the haves and the have-nots. Nevertheless, nothing could ever be said to surpass "Metropolis" as a film of beauty, majestic, and surrealism. The preamble encapsulates the film's timeless, universal message: "It has a moral that grows on the pillar of understanding. The mediator between the brain and muscle must be the heart."
"Metropolis" inspired generations of filmmakers with its use of state-of-the-art visual effects that transformed the science fiction film. Thea Von Harbou's saga about an evil robot designed by a vengeful inventor to impersonate a flesh & blood female Christ figure and incite anarchy can clearly be traced as a source of inspiration to many contemporary sci-fi films and television shows, such as the "Terminator" franchise, "Robocop" franchise, "Blade Runner," "Logan's Run," "The Fifth Element," and Battlestar Galactica." The "Metropolis" robot was not the first robot, but it was unmistakably the seminal one that sired a long line of cinematic robots. The famous transformation scene where the robot turns into a human foreshadows the "Frankenstein" franchise.
Many detractors of Lang's visionary work--primarily noted sci-fi author H.G. Wells--derided it as shallow and his criticisms are not without substance. Indeed, the characters lack depth because they represent archetypes instead of individuals in a larger-than-life story. The spectacle, this Marxist chronicle of humanity at odds with itself over machinery, and the anarchy that emerges from this division makes "Metropolis" a memorable meditation about our flawed society, part sci-fi, part horror and a statement about the incompatibility polarity that comes about between those who control and those who are controlled. Again, von Harbou's theme re-echoes with greater intensity. The virtuous Maria would say that the head and the hands would need a mediator and the mediator would be the heart. You cannot understand and appreciate science fiction as a cinematic genre until you see that every sci-fi film owes a debt of gratitude to Lang's masterly work of genius. Actually, while Lang would make many greatmovies in a long career, the legendary Austrian director never made another sci-fi film that surpassed this milestone.
A malevolent robot, messianic crusaders, a patriarchal titan of industry, a mad scientist with vengeance in his heart, and masses of mindless men and women enslaved by the patriarch constitute the array of characters in this famous work of German Expressionist cinema, and embraces Art-Deco in its architectural designs. Scenarist Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang assembled these protagonists and antagonists for the clash of the century with visuals that were designed to overwhelm 1920's audiences by their sheer beauty and grandeur. In the annals of science fiction film, these special effects, involving the use of mirrors to supplement shots of live action, matte paintings for sprawling cityscapes, and miniatures of the city, were singular. All the planes, trains, and automobiles in the long shots were done either with wires pulling them along or stop-action photography. Reportedly, Lang got the idea for his cityscape from a trip to Manhattan, but there are too many undocumented stories about Lang and his inspiration; so you'd have to read the biographies available about his life to sort out the fiction from the fact. One thing is certain Lang was more a film dictator than a director and he toiled endlessly and made his cast and collaborators toil to forge his vision. Lang drove his actors, actresses, and technical crew like a slave driver and often exhibited a sense of perfectionism that defied civility and common sense. He amounted to a cinematic Herod.
While "Metropolis" qualifies as sci-fi, the film also dabbles in the disaster film. The villainous father of the hero, Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel), enlists the evil inventor, C.A. Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), to create a robot look-alike of the virginal heroine, Marie, who preaches a gospel of sorts to unit the workers. Rotwang dresses in dark colors, has wind-blown hair, and wears a black glove on his right hand. Fredersen wants Rotwang to forge a robot that can assume the identity of Marie (Brigitte Helm), mislead the masses, and get them to destroy themselves. Joh has obtained secret plans for meetings among the workers and wants to thwart them. Rotwang escorts Joh down into the 2000 year old catacombs to witness Marie preaching her gospel of unification and that is where Joh sees his son Freder (Gustav Fr?hlich) appear and embrace Marie.
Previously, Freder was smitten with Marie when he saw her first early in the film. She entered the Club of Sons where Freder cavorted with various women. Freder was so stricken by Marie that he descended to the depths where the workers operated the machines and witnessed a meltdown. Joh is worried about his son's dalliance with the workers because it threatens to destroy everything that he has worked for for so many years. In fact, Joh fires his secretary Josaphat (Theodor Loos) because Josaphat didn't inform him about the incident with the machines. Joh replaces Josaphat with the Thin Man (Franz Rasp) and orders him to keep him constantly abreast of his son's whereabouts. Eventually, the false Marie does mislead the workers into destroying the Heart Machine and the loss of power leads to a flood that wipes out their homes. Grot, the foreman in charge of the machines, warns Joh, but he orders Grot to open the gates so that the workers can destroy the Heart Machine. The evil Marie leads the men and women workers alike to the machine hall, but she slips out a back exit while they destroy the machines. What the workers fail to realize is that the destruction of the Heart machine will destroy their own homes.
Meanwhile, Freder and the real Marie rescue the children below as the flood waters rise from an underground river that Joh had constructed. They use the air shafts to escape from the depth and take the children to the Club of the Sons above the earth. At the same time, Grot alerts the workers about the dangers of what they have done and how it will jeopardize their children. The furious workers now want to kill Marie. The evil Marie has gone to a nightclub where she is celebrating her masquerade over the workers. The nightclub revelers leave the club with Marie on their shoulders and go out into the night air. The virtuous Marie has gotten separated from Freder and the children and is now being pursued by the mob of angry workers. She runs into the revelers and wicked Marie and the mob grabs the evil Marie. They tie her to a stake and set fire to her. Rotwang captures the real Marie and takes her to the top of the cathedral. Freder spots Rotwang with Marie over his shoulder and sets off in rapid pursuit. They fight on the roof-top and Rotwang plunges to his death below. In the last scene, the virtuous Marie calls on Freder to serve as the mediator between his father and Grot, the worker's representative, to work together.
"Metropolis" dealth with one of Lang's recurrent themes--mob violence. Later, he explored this theme in "M" (1931) with Peter Lorre and "Fury" (1936) with Spencer Tracy. Although "Metropolis" has been available as a cheap, inexpensive public domain film for over 40 years, Kino Video has released a splendid restored version that true movie lovers will genuinely appreciate for its clarity of picture. Meanwhile, this is one hell of a silent German movie!
Summary of Metropolis (Restored Authorized Edition)
It is the future & humans are divided into two groups: the thinkers who make plans (but dont know how anything works) & the workers who achieve goals (but dont have the vision). One man from the thinkers dares visit the underground where the workers toil & is astonished by what he sees.. Studio: Kino International Release Date: 11/09/2004 Run time: 124 minutesFritz Lang's Metropolis belongs to legend as much as to cinema. It's a milestone of sci-fi and German expressionism. Yet the story makes minimal sense, and the "theme" belongs in a fortune cookie; to experience the film's pagan power, you have to see the movie. But for decades we couldn't, not really--not with so many versions, all incomplete, often in public-domain prints like smudged photocopies. This Murnau Foundation restoration changes all that. Some shots, scenes, and subplots may be lost forever, but intertitles indicate how they fit into the original continuity and the characters' individual trajectories. Most crucially, the images are crisp, vibrant, and three-dimensional instead of murky and flattened. The composite sequences (the Tower of Babel, a sea of lusting eyes) have been restored to their hallucinatory ferocity. And there's one moment when you can see a bead of sweat roll down a man's cheek--in medium long-shot. --Richard T. Jameson
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