Comments on Screen Savour: Metropolis (1927)

The duplication was not intentional, jittery figur...

2009-07-26T10:56:26.107-04:00

The duplication was not intentional, jittery figures on my part. Glad you deleted it.

@John - Wow, that's great. I didn't realiz...

2009-07-26T09:15:18.830-04:00

@John - Wow, that's great. I didn't realize it was making the rounds on 8mm and 16mm film, but that makes a lot of sense. That's part of the luck that the film has had in becoming so famous (along with style, theme, and general greatness), I think, which is a shame for Lang because copyright would have paid a royalty nicely. But maybe better than any amount of money in the world is the knowledge of knowing you made what is perhaps the most famous silent film of all time.

(P.S.: Your comment was duplicated somehow, and I compared the two and they seemed exactly the same, so I deleted one. Hopefully that's fine.)

What a fantastic detailed review. This was the fir...

2009-07-24T16:43:42.770-04:00

What a fantastic detailed review. This was the first Fritz Lang film I had ever seen. I actually had a copy on 8MM film back in the 1970’s; obviously pre-home video. The film had no soundtrack, so it was truely silent and still an amazing work. This film is so strong visually, the lack of a soundtrack no way impeded its greatness. As you mention, the film fell out of copyright protection early on, so many companies, even back then, were releasing this film in both 8mm and 16mm formats..

I was just reading that there is still one scene a...

2009-07-23T10:27:06.074-04:00

I was just reading that there is still one scene at the end of the film that may be too damaged to repair. That's unfortunate. I have seen bits and pieces of it through movie channels but have never sat down to watch the entire film.

I did find the restored version yesterday on my almost daily movie shopping spree and intend to finally see it. If they ever have an almost complete version from the footage found in Argentina I'll be sure to watch that one as well.

Will - It's a must see, and that Kino addition...

2009-07-22T21:03:00.350-04:00

Will - It's a must see, and that Kino addition is really the best one on the market right now, at least the closest version to Lang's original vision. However, I just saw today that the missing footage that was found in Argentina has now arrived at the lab where it will be repaired and put back into the film. So, if you haven't seen it now, maybe you'll be one of the lucky filmgoers who will first see Metropolis the way it was meant to be seen.

I've never managed to watch this one and have ...

2009-07-22T20:20:33.732-04:00

I've never managed to watch this one and have always wanted to. At least after reading this review of it I know what version I should be looking for. Hopefully I'll be putting this one in my collection very soon.

@Film Dr - Ha, I know what you mean about civiliza...

2009-07-18T10:37:23.723-04:00

@Film Dr - Ha, I know what you mean about civilization grinding to a halt. Sometimes I think a simple glitch in the Internet would completely cripple our infrastructure. It's both surprising and unsurprising just how many films Metropolis has seemed to touch over the years, including, as you say, even music videos. And I still find the face of the robot to be shiver-inducing. There's something so humanoid about it, but also so mechanical. In that way, I suppose, it's an interesting embodiment of Lang's own feelings of fate and cinema.

@Farzan - I'm looking forward to that release as well, and may have to come back and touch up this review depending on how much new footage is available. The current Kino release does a rather splendid job of filling in the gaps with the narrative cards, but obviously it's a dream of all film-lovers to see as complete a version of Metropolis as possible!

Great review, easily a classic and a great film fo...

2009-07-17T22:21:45.008-04:00

Great review, easily a classic and a great film for its time. I haven't seen it in several years though. Ill pick up the Blu Ray version which is suppose to come out later this year and also suppose to include a special cut of the film that has never been seen.

Excellent work. I like the visionary metaphorical...

2009-07-17T18:13:31.348-04:00

Excellent work. I like the visionary metaphorical implications of Metropolis, not to mention its influence in films like The Fifth Element. The robotic version of Maria is delightful, a clear forerunner of the younger Madonna, and Madonna acknowledges that in her Metropolis-influenced video for "Express Yourself." The scene in which civilization grinds to a halt due to lack of energy could still happen one day. Also, the workers with their ten hour work clocks neatly emblematize the modern day 9-5 grind. It's too bad Lang had never heard of a Blackberry.