Metropolis

Louise and I had the opportunity to see the latest restoration of Metropolis on a big screen at Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, CA, last night. Nothing earth-shattering was added, but now several other scenes make sense.

First, though, the obligatory digression to the lost scenes. We saw Metropolis on a large screen a few years ago with the 2001 restoration. In 2008, a more or less full-length copy of "Metropolis" was found in Buenos Aires on 16MM film. Unfortunately, the 16MM copy is atrocious, with horrible scratches and dirt on the film, and the aspect ratio is different from 35MM.

What the restorers have done, as I understand it, is use a fully restored 35MM version and placed the 'lost' scenes in their correct place from the 16MM copy. These scenes are obvious from their dirtiness, but not so bad that they are unwatchable - solely because they add to the completion of "Metropolis."

At first, the added scenes are reaction shots, so I was wondering if all the fuss was worth it. However, we get essentially two additional characters added to the movie. Georgy, 11811, the man Freder relieves at his job becomes a fully-fleshed out person. The Thin Man becomes a major player in the film, and Josophat has additional scenes which add to our understanding of his character.

Of more importance to me, though, were the addition of scenes which explained the Machine-Man's transformation into the wicked Maria, giving reasons for her appearance at the club and her dance. These scenes include Rotwang addressing his statue of his beloved Hel; Rotwang telling Maria what his plans are; scenes of the Thin Man as the monk spelling out the doom of man while Freder hallucinates and the wicked Maria dances.

My review of the 2001 version follows:

Metropolis

"Metropolis" set the standard for the visualization of the future no matter how far into the future we may get in real life. It is a visually excellent silent movie which contributed to "Blade Runner," "The Fifth Element," "Immortel (ad vitam)," and many other Sci-Fi movies. It was directed by Fritz Lang in 1927, with the screenplay by Thea von Harbou, based on von Harbou's novel. The theme of the movie is the division between manual laborers and intellectual workers, and the solution to the division is that the heart (feeling, compassion) must act as the mediator between hand and brain. The story itself is not all that engrossing, and the climax is sappy by today's standards. However, Lang brought an incredible vision to bear and realized it brilliantly with the very limited resources of the Twenties.

As with many silent films, the photography is excellent. The mood is established very well by the camera: we just look into a set with or without people, and we understand the mood Lang establishes for us. People may come into view, but they add to the mood. There is no mugging and slapstick in this film. The sets and special effects are stunning, and the machine the laborers tend is a huge metaphor in iron and steam for the consumption of the human fodder that the laborers represent.

Meanwhile, the intelligentsia live high above the workers on steel and concrete towers of (presumably) offices, with rooftop gardens, fountains, and scantily clad women chasing around the carefully-tended bushes, served by formally-dressed butlers.

The laborers are restive, but a woman named Maria preaches to them in the catacombs that they should be patient, that a mediator will come and solve the conflict - the conflict is between hand and brain, and the mediator must be the heart. Naturally things go bad, the intellectuals foment a violent rebellion to excuse violence in putting down the labor leaders, but then things go right, the boy gets the girl, the laborers shake hands with the intellectuals, and there's a happy ending.

Forget all that; the plot is just an excuse to hang the visuals from. I suggest seeing the movie in a theater if possible because you get more details from the bigger screen, but watch it on your television, too. The visuals and the special effects are outstanding. In addition to all the sci-fi movies copying "Metropolis," you'll soon realize all the horror movies did,too: the mad scientist here is Rotwang, with a rubber glove over his missing right hand (which he rebuilt mechanically), wild hair, and laboratory with tesla coils, more boiling beakers than you could possible stir, and dials and knobs and strange controls that he uses to transfer our human heroine to his mechanical monster (you may recognize C3PO). All those 30s and 40s horror flicks stole gloriously from Lang's work. Lang's concepts and his execution of his concepts are fascinating and still work.

Someone has found the complete film hidden away in South America, and I understand it's been released in all its restored glory. I haven't seen it yet, but I will when it gets to my area. Maybe the plot gets more meaningful with the restored sections - who can tell?

The plot did get more meaningful, but the sappy ending remains. The 2010 version we saw was about 150 minutes long, and I recommend it over earlier restorations because the added scenes make the movie more intelligible and and the characters more meaningful.

"Metropolis" is available here on Cinevault, but it's not the most recent restoration.