Customer Reviews

Metropolis

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(74)

 

 

All comments and reviews on this film are about other versions of the movie. this includes the write-ups for the previous Kino Video release of this film, which is also for other crappy versions of this film. Epic fail, Amazon! The Kino versions are the only ones worth owning. As proof that the reviews on this particular item are crap, it has not even been released yet, as of this writing. This version include approx 20 minutes of recently recovered footage that was found in Argentina. Combined with the original orchestration of the movie, it is the must have version for TRUE fans of cinematic masterpieces, silent or otherwise. Check out company website for correct info. [...].

As other reviewers have noted, this KINO release is the most complete and restored version of the movie that exists. The storylines make a lot more sense, and the video quality is excellent. I have to confess that I miss the wailing rock soundtrack from the earlier, less complete version of the film. Overall though, the musical score fit the film quite well, and like everything else in this film, it was reconstructed to be as close as possible to the original.

If you're reading this, you doubtlessly know already that Metropolis is a magnificent classic of the silent era. No definitive version is available yet, they're all incomplete, but this DVD is especially atrocious. The picture quality is an insult to DVD technology. I just saw the theatrical release of Kino International's new restoration, and it's a beautiful, pristine print. The film has been restored to be as close to the original theatrical release as possible, with title cards inserted to describe the missing scenes. This version will be out on DVD in early 2003, and it should be worth the wait.

Of all silent films, maybe the only one still watched by a wide public today is Metropolis. Everyone who knows about science fiction knows about Metropolis.
Unfortunately the film was birth-strangled - like Once Upon a Time in America and The Magnificent Ambersons - and it falls into the strange pantheon of movies that are as fragmentary as any ancient scroll.
This only added to the appeal, of course. Like the wine buff who sighs to drink one of THE French vintages from before 1860, cineastes have spculated and respeculated about this fragmentary masterpiece. Why doesn't the story make sense? What was the movie originally like - and can it be fixed?

It is a pity that this film will almost certainly NEVER be completely restored. Like The Magnificent Ambersons, this is a masterpiece that seems permanently damaged. But in 2002, the next best thing was done; and the most complete possible restoration was carried out.

The results are truly remarkable. You can see that silent films were NOT originally shown in a spotty, scratchy condition with hyperactive actors. When they first came out, silent movies looked just as good as any modern movie (well, maybe less screen-resolution). The original soundtrack was discovered and recorded - and it, too, is a revelation. Silent movies were NOT actually silent - they had live soundtracks (though only rich premieres had full orchestras). The soundtrack is as well-composed as any modern soundtrack. I initially thought I would not be able to get used to another soundtrack after hearing the Moroder version - but now I think I can't see the film any other way.

Most importantly, the film now actually makes sense! Every scrap of film possible was extracted from archives all over the world, to make the film as complete as is humanly possible. The scenes still missing (alas, comprising a quarter of the film even now) are signified by intertitles telling the audience what they ought to be seeing. This is not a perfect compromise, but it's probably the best solution.

Silent movies often look strangely modern, since they concentrate almost entirely on visuals at the expense of the actors (a feature that, incidentally, made movies easier to show overseas than any modern movie). Compare that to our movies, which are very heavy on visuals and contain the simplest and least amount of dialogue possible in order to cater to foreign markets. Also, the complete manipulation of the image, so favoured in Metropolis, is very much like modern computer graphics.

In today's cinematic world, silent movies are often a difficult category to approach. Silent movies are usually referred to almost like a separate genre, as if black and white movies were a single genre. Even silent flick enthusiasts sometimes don't have the right attitude, because the modern appreciation of pre-talkie movies is sometims nothing more shallow than appreciation of a movie because it is a silent movie. This attitude streams from the modern audience that views the silent era as embryonic of the talkies, as technologically handicapped, when in fact, the contemporary audiences of the 20's did not view their motion pictures the same way.

Metropolis is a great move that overcomes most of the barriers between moderns audiences and silent movies. The genre is unmistakably sci-fi--the forerunner to nearly all modern sci-fi movies. It was a fantastic movie that just happens to be a silent movie, and anybody who sees it will understand that silence is not a handicap.

The biggest barrier for silent movies is that there are usually variant DVD editions in circulation, and unlike pictures made in the last few decades, it really does matter which edition you see. Kino's restored edition is (and shall be for a while if not forever) the definitive edition of Metropolis. I had been viewing an incomplete, incoherent version of the film for years before i treated myself to Kino's delightfully exhaustive work, and it was then that i realized what i had been missing. Watching this version was like watching a different movie. In fact, the restoration is so immaculate, it was like watching a movie that was just filmed yesterday, or rather, like i was watching it in 1926.

Kino should be praised for the edition (which they have been), that vindicates fans of Metropolis, sci-fi, and silent movies. Even the flaws are reasonable: some scenes are missing, but they are filled in with explanations and still photos, when available; there could have been enough extras to fill 2 more discs, although the extras included are sufficient and repeatable, as compared to the loads of extras fans normally demand but rarely ever watch.

All in all, this is an excellent restoration of an epic movie that deserves this treatment and attention. Include the Kino version in your collection over all of the inferior versions circulating.

Fritz Lang's 1927 cinematic masterpiece METROPOLIS is arguably one of the best and most influential films EVER made...or at least the best and most influential SILENT film ever made. As a work of cinematic art or literature, it actually functions on two levels. First, it is an expressionistic cautionary comment on the dehumanizing effects of a mechanized high-tech society, as well as a not-so-subtle jab at the imbalanced social stratification that results from unfettered capitalism. And secondly, it is one of the first speculative science-fiction movies, offering interesting--and in some cases, prophetic--glimpses into a potential future that offers technological advances such as common commercial flight, video-telephones, mechanical prosthetics, electronic computers, robotics, and much more.

The groundbreaking special FX and film techniques created for and used in METROPOLIS have left an indelible imprint on the SF and horror genres, influencing filmmakers from James Whale to George Lucas and beyond. Indeed, the special FX seen in the robot-creation scene in METROPOLIS are obviously updated and reinterpreted in the creation scene in Whale's 1931 classic FRANKENSTEIN, and George Lucas has publicly admitted that he was inspired to create his STAR WARS character C3P0 after being awed by the robot character in Lang's film.

As for the plot of METROPOLIS, it is set in the year 2026 and revolves around a slice from the life of young and handsome Freder Fredersen. Freder is the only offspring of the wealthy politician and businessman who governs the city-state of Metropolis, and as such, he lives a fairly privileged and carefree existence. But after a happenstance encounter with the beautiful peasant Maria--she a messiah of sorts who preaches a message of peace and hope to the lower classes--Freder follows her into the bowels of Metropolis and quickly learns firsthand the true plight of his city's enslaved working class. With this newfound social awareness, he is ashamed of the selfish excesses his class obtains on the backs of others, and he resolves to help Maria free her people from a life of perpetual toil and make Metropolis a place where all can share in both the labor AND the fruits therefrom.

Some contemporary audiences eschew METROPOLIS with claims that it is dated and too naive in its worldview. While the decades since the film's creation have certainly revealed its simple socialist philosophy be both naive AND impractical, it actually isn't all that different from the feel-good subtext of many of today's films. And there is no cogent grounds for regarding METROPOLIS to be dated or passé, as the narrative is strong, the acting is good (relative to the silent cinema), and most--if not all--of the special FX remain aesthetically powerful and stand strong against even some of Hollywood's modern and lavish CGI FX.

The definitive version of METROPOLIS--at least for the English-speaking audience--is the Restored Authorized Edition from Kino International. Not only is the image clear, sharp, and relatively clean, but at the points in the film where long-lost segments belong, intertitles are inserted that summarize those missing pieces. So even though the full visual beauty of the work isn't restored, the logicality of the narrative is. This is as close to the original as audiences are likely to get, and it is breathtakingly wonderful. There are some bonus extras on the disc, too, but just having the "complete" masterpiece is worth the cost.

A must-see, nay, a MUST-OWN for both science-fiction fans and serious students of the cinema.

Metropolis was directed by Fritz Lang and, as a black and white silent film from 1927, had HUGE impacts on filmmakers for decades to come. The tale was of a large city with two classes. There was the elite class that lived above ground, enjoying the fresh air and gardens. Then there was the working class that lived in tightly-packed apartment buildings below ground. You can find this same theme in hundreds of movies afterwards that were influenced by Metropolis.

What's amazing is that the movie was lost for pretty much the entire time between its release and 2003. Viewers in those years had to make do with bits and pieces of the movie, often with giant gaps in the storyline. This re-release is the result of years of work, where film historians painstakingly went through all sources they could find and cobbled together a version complete with storyboards where gaps were large. For the first time in almost 80 years, viewers can get a sense of what the original story was all about.

The musical score is great, and the storyline is classic. The young man of the elite class falls in love with the young worker woman. There is great strife as the boy's family tries to keep them apart and keep the workers down. The workers believe in prophecies that say they will find a way out of their desolation. The elite believe that their 'golden rule' will last forever. In the middle, a mad scientist believes he has created a robotic woman to keep him happy without any need of human interaction.

There are some minor gripes even with this restored version - the motion is often speeded up, when all notes of the original story indicate that the director deliberately made scenes go slowly to give them importance. This is a German movie, but everything has been done in English so you can't really appreciate its true roots. But even so, this is a stellar achievement and one that can be built on going forward. Kudos so the restoration team!

Like most people, I've seen poorly edited versions of this film with poor visibility. This one, while not complete, gives you a better understanding of the story than most versions. However, indications from this film are that the original version contained too many confusing subplots and bogged down the tale. In either case, this is clearly the best version of Metropolis I've seen. Both firstime viewers and fans of the film are in for a revelation.

Have you ever just wanted to quit your job, due to it's monotony, misery, or drudgery? Well, come to METROPOLIS and see what it's all about! See the fun-loving upper class, frolicking their days away, running through eternal gardens, complete with peacocks and babes in funny clothes! Then, travel deep below ground to where the workers toil their days away, slaving over titanic machines that suck the life right out of their bodies and putrify their souls! Sound like your job? Thankfully, Maria is there to comfort the workers and give them hope of future deliverance at the hands of a great "mediator". Freder, the son of METROPOLIS' top dog and despotic ruler, is mesmerized by Maria and falls in love with her. This leads to problems since she's such a trouble-maker! Frader's dad goes to his mad scientist, Rotwang to check on his latest creation, a robot with very feminine curves. The two evil minds decide to turn the robot into a Maria-double, a wicked doppelgangar, which will destroy her image in the minds of the workers. Unfortunately for dad, Rotwang has ideas of his own and sends his mecha-Maria on a mission to incite the working class to bring down the machines upon which their very lives depend. This will bring METROPOLIS to the ground and ruin Freder sr. (dad) in the process. METROPOLIS is amazing for 1927. The robot scenes are almost supernatural in their effect. The portrayal of the workers as plodding, hopeless drones is unforgettable. Brigitte Helm pulls off her dual role as good Maria / evil Maria with ease and believability. She is modest and virginal one minute, then wanton and sly the next! The city scape and lower levels of the workers' world are surreal. Fritz Lang made a true masterpiece. This is one of a handful of movies that everyone should see at least once before they die...

I was lucky enough to see this film in its 2003 restoration - with the full original soundtrack - in a boutique cinema. The only other version I have seen is the Moroder version.
Watching this film as it was originally shown is silent movie bliss. The soundtrack, which I expected to be rather weak and "old fashioned", turned out to be every bit as exciting and dramatically orchestrated as any modern film - and of course it is newly recorded in Dolby Surround!
Of course, this is the film that was butchered by studios just like Abel Gance's "Napoleon". Unlike Abel Gance's "Napoleon" we will probably never, ever see this film completely restored. The company that restored this film in 2003 must have been through a great deal, finding as many of the remaining fragments as possible, to reconstruct this film to the best level of completeness possible.
Alas, many scenes were still missing. Alas, they will probably remain missing. This version provides text summaries for the (now much fewer) remaining gaps in the story. It is much more comprehensible than any previous version; the storyline may still suck, but at least it's much more coherent!
The restorers also redid many of the special effects using original elements - my favourite is the infinite streams of slaves making the Tower of Babel! - and also restored the image so that it literally looks like a new film.

Overall, this film was quite an experience in the theatre. If only more silent classics were shown in such painstaking restorations!