Metropolis (1927) - New Version

[skizzerflake]

I just saw the new version of Lang's immortal sci-fi film Metropolis tonight. It has about 20 minutes of new content, discovered a couple years ago somewhere in Argentina on 16 mm film. This is such a great movie, surprisingly accessible in spite of being 75 years old and silent. The additions have not yet been digitally restored and are conspicuous by being grainy and streaky, but they add some plot twists to the movie that actually change it. Apparently, only about 5 minutes are still missing. The original musical score was added as sonic background.

I'm amazed at how easy it is to slip into the silent movie mode. Actors with heavy eye makeup miming out their roles works well once you get used to it and the intertitles are almost redundant. I saw it on the big screen; if you get a chance, don't miss it.

 

[MatthewB.]

I saw this for the first time in a college class (German Film History) and loved Metropolis, they actually made an updated version with rock music (like Queen) in the 80's. But i'd avoid it and stick to the original. The other film that really impressed the hell out of me in that class was Fritz Lang's "M" with Peter Lorre about a child killer with an eerie whistle, just a great film about what happens when street justice takes over and the criminals take the law into their own hands. Great film.

 

[skizzerflake]

I saw this for the first time in a college class (German Film History) and loved Metropolis, they actually made an updated version with rock music (like Queen) in the 80's. But i'd avoid it and stick to the original. The other film that really impressed the hell out of me in that class was Fritz Lang's "M" with Peter Lorre about a child killer with an eerie whistle, just a great film about what happens when street justice takes over and the criminals take the law into their own hands. Great film.

I saw the digitally restored version a couple years ago with live music by a group that specializes in silent movie music (I can't recall their name) and really liked the movie and the live experience but that version was still apparently missing about a half hour of film. I wouldn't want to do a spoiler on a 75 year old movie, but the 20 minutes they discovered contains a plot twist that was not in any of the versions that have been around before. Fortunately, I missed the remake, which I heard bad things about. M is also a great movie from that era. That guy was so creepy.