Customer Reviews

The Complete Metropolis

5 star:		(97)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(73)

 

 

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.

The Complete Metropolis is astounding on blu-ray. The film's well-remembered portions are visually gorgeous, and while the more recently added 'found' scenes are noticeably lower in quality (due to long-term deterioration), it's all still very watchable. Also, the original score has been re-recorded in its entirety, completing this masterpiece to the best possible authentic restoration. Bonus features on the blu-ray include a documentary on the history of finding the lost footage, as well as an interview on the process, and trailer. Highly recommended for film historians and enthusiasts.

I know the purists out there will prefer the original 1930s version, with subtitles. But this too now has a cult following, and most of the songs are listenable and a few are noteworthy. This came out after Moroder co-produced the Cat People soundtrack with David Bowie. Some of these iconic stars were Freddie Mercury-Pat Benatar-Adam Ant-Bonnie Tyler-Loverboy-Jon Anderson-Billy Squire. So pretty serious talent pool. Enjoy this trip, took me back to my youth...those were the days.

I try to view all of Fritz Lang's films. I've seen it a couple of times. This movie is a great existential. Moralizing; and compelling story telling. I really admire Fritz Lang's artistry and vision. The remastered picture quality was also very good.

This is the review that [...] gave to The Complete Metropolis:

"This updated DVD edition of Metropolis features the 2010 restoration version licensed by Transit Films of Germany, comprised of all of the known surviving footage from this crippled masterpiece. With the addition of 25 minutes of footage found in a worn 16mm reduction negative by the curator of the Buenos Aires Museo del Cine in Brazil in 2008, this home video edition now contains the most complete version of the film since its Berlin premiere in January 1927.

The film is presented with the original Gottfried Huppertz music score, performed by the Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, Berlin, as conducted by Frank Strobel.

Among the supplementary material is “Voyage to Metropolis,” a 50-minute documentary on the production of the film and its modern restoration, and an interview with Museo del Cine curator Paula Felix-Didier.

For those who have not made the jump to Blu-ray Disc, this will be the finest edition of Metropolis available on home video for many years to come. We highly recommend this revised Kino International DVD edition for your collection."

Metropolis is a silent film classic with an interesting history. It was edited down from its original full length version and, somehow, all known prints of the original full length version were lost or destroyed.

In the 1990s a copy of the original full length version was found in South America. This copy was on 16mm film and was not in pristine condition. But it was the only known copy of the full length original so a project was undertaken to restore a complete version of the full length original version using material from the 16mm South American copy.

This is the restored version of the full length original film.

The restoration is very well done. It's obvious where material from the 16mm South American copy has been edited in but the restoration looks very good.

This movie is an essential film for movie history fans. This restored full length version is the one to buy.

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.