The Archtypal Scifi film... RESTORED!

The first real, modern, scifi film, perhaps THE most influential silent film ever made, with a legacy from TOS The Cloud Minders to Blade Runner, and way way more. Most of us have heard of it, but how many have seen it? And, if we have, what lousy condition was it in, and how chopped up? Well, Fritz Lang's masterpiece from 1927, Metropolis, has been restored to the best and most complete condition since its Berlin premiere, digitally remastered from the best surviving film elements, and with a modern recording of its original score. I saw some of it, and it looks amazingly good, better by far than I've ever seen it. And, if you get Turner Classic Movies, you can see it for free! So, program the VCRs and TIVOs, this one is a keeper! It is 124 min. long, so beware of the normal 122 min tapes. It will be on on TCM at midnight on Sunday, EST. It will be followed by the Karloff originals of The Mummy, and The Raven, both good too. Metropolis is in a style called German Expressionism. This was one of the influences on American Film Noir style of the 40's and 50's, which in turn begat French New Wave films of the 60's. French New Wave is responsible for much in our contemporary film styles. Lang left Germany for the US to escape the Nazis, and directed many fine films here, many in the film noir genre he helped create.

The new restoration of Metropolis is available on DVD as well. Here is a link to Kino Video, with more info on the restoration, and the DVD. Scroll down the page and click on Metropolis.
http://www.kino.com/video/index.html

Metropolis is on TCM tonight, Sunday, at 12 midnight. Just a reminder to check it out!

I taped it the last time it was on TNT. I have not watched it yet, since it was on when things were busy with school.

I may watch it again tonight at 9pm (Pacific time, there). I may be getting ready for sleep. But I really do want to see the restored scenes. I don't think my VHS tape is the restored version.

It truly is a monumental movie. To watch it, and know it was made before sound was put to film, is just amazing. A strong female character. Themes that are still in many ways exaggerated but socially relevant in our time. It's a bit melodramatic, yes. But it is well done, it has an intersting story, and interesting characters.

I think it uses movement and staging and (I don't know what) like no one else does today, though. It is a special movie.

Thanks for the reminder, JJ.

I'm not sure what version was on TNT, but I am sure it wasn't the new restoration, which includes a modern recording of the original score, which hasn't been with the movie in many decades. TCM is having the TV premier of the restored version this month, it played a couple of weeks ago, and once tonight. Here is a link to TCM's description of the film and its restoration. The time, listed as 88 minutes, is not the length of the restoration, which is 124 minutes.

http://turnerclassicmovies.com/ThisMonth/Article/0,,25817,00.html

I may be wrong about this, but I thought I once read years ago that Metropolis was originally several hours long (I want to say like 4 or 5) but was shortened down for the US. Am I just completely frelled up and off the mark on this?

Click on the TCM link, and it will give you some of the story, as will the KINO video link. I believe that the original release running time was 147 minutes, and about one half hour was cut for its original US release, but it lost footage until it was down to about 90 minutes, until the recent restoration, which was done digitally, and looks and sounds magnificent. I am at work, but I am taping it in SVHS as I type this, and looking forward to watching the whole thing soon. Over the years there have been a lot of films cut by an hour, or hours, from the silent film Greed, to more recent films like Das Boot and Heaven's Gate, but Metropolis wasn't ever 4 or 5 hours. The 1924 Greed by Erich Von Stroheim was originally 9.5 hours long, but the studio cut it back to 2.5 hours, very long for its day. In 1999 it was restored to 4 hours 10 minutes, a pretty darned long film. I haven't seen the restored version of that one yet, but I think it has been on cable.

I just did some more checking, and even though IMDb lists running times as long as 210 minutes, I think the definitive answer is 153 minutes for its January, 1927 Berlin premier, at 24 frames per second. One recent version, listed as 139 minutes, is run very slowly. Here is the best link I have found yet, with lots of historical info, info about the restoration, a very fancy site, nice to look at. The Kino Video restored version, restoration done by the Murnau Foundation, shown on TCM, seems to be far and away the definitive version.

http://www.kino.com/metropolis/

, if we have, what lousy condition was it in, and how chopped up?

Click to expand...

Yeah, it was pretty bad. My eyes hurt after watching it. Too bad I don't have TCM anymore.

So, rent or buy the DVD, and you can see the 43min doc on the restoration too! Check out that last link I posted to see clips of the film, the restoration IS amazing!

Yeah, add one more DVD to the gazillions I want to buy or rent.

Aargh!

Sorry about that, I meant TCM, not TNT.

I still have to watch it, but I do look forward to seeing it in its restored form.

Definitely an excellent film. The only other Fritz Lang I've seen is M, which was also terrific, though very different.

The version of Metropolis that I have on DVD is 115 min. and includes some of the most horrid music ever put to film.

If your version isn't on a KINO Video DVD, it doesn't have the original orchestral score performed by the 65 piece Berlin Orchestra, a modern recording. You probably have the East German restoration, which the KINO version started with and improved on, with the digital cleaning and remastering, and about nine more minutes of film.

Hypatia, if your TCM version was taped this May 5th, a Monday, it is the new restoration, because the showing I listed in this thread was actually its second showing. If it was taped earlier than that, it is not the new restoration. I'm sure it will eventually show up on TCM again, but apparently not in June or July, according to a search of their schedule.

It's definitely not the original score! I have a feeling the music w/this particular version was chosen for its superb quality of actually detracting from one's enjoyment of the movie. Well, I'm glad I've got it, but a copy of the restored version is something to look forward to getting.

It was advertised as the "newly restored Metropolis" so I'm pretty sure it's the right one. Yea, it probably was may 5th, when I was too busy grading finals to watch it.

I look forward to seeing it, but doubt I'll know which scenes are the added ones. It has been a very long time since I saw this movie.

It is excellent, however, and I'd encourage anyone to watch it. Well, except people who simply cannot stand silent films, I guess.