Movie - Metropolis (part 1)

Movie - Metropolis 
Score : 10/10

Year : 1927

Director : Fritz Lang 

Cinematography: Karl Freund , Günter Rittau & Walter Ruttmann

Country : Germany
Language : Silent. German (intertitles).

Duration : multiple. Original 2h30, now referred to as Director's cut, from which 5 minutes or so are missing due to damage. 

Writers: Thea Von Harbou (novel & screenplay) 

To part 2 - in the media

it's 2026, Metropolis is a city with 2 distinct parts, the underground where the working class lives, hidden away from the city above where the ruling class lives comfortably, ignoring completely the conditions in which the working class must survive.

The city planner's son falls in love with a woman visiting the upper class with children and as he follows her into the depths of the city, will find the truth about it...

Brilliantly directed by Fritz Lang, this is the first feature-length Sci-Fi movie in history. It dates 1927, and depicts a dystopian future and Fritz's fear of the nazis coming to power at the time. 

This movie like other Scifi movies, especially made in Europe during this period, carry sociopolitical messages.

Right from the beginning sequence with changing shifts in the working class, shown with great finesse, and throughout the movie, Fritz uses allegories and cinematic techniques which set the tone of the movie, and also standards for special effects and storytelling. This movie was the most expensive at that point, and you can see why in several scenes of massive proportions.

The acting is superb, especially from Brigitte Helm in her first… 5 different roles all in the same movie… 3 of which will mark you greatly...

At times, this acting is exaggerated, to compensate for the fact that there is no speech, and to convey emotions in such a way no one can mistake them. Considering the period, I'm not bothered at all from this but can understand if others like it less than I.  

I especially loved the score as well as the overall message of the movie, which I’m glad to have now seen as close as can be to its original director’s cut.

Indeed, throughout the years, 25% of the movie was thought lost, until the majority of the missing portions were found in 2008 in Buenos Aires and the movie was restored and reconstructed as much as the technical teams could achieve. 

There were quite a few versions of Metropolis, due to the lost portions. The order of sequences had been altered, so it was great to finally see it as intended.

As the original score had also been lost, the movie had gained numerous musical versions, with piano, or 1980's pop, so it was extra great to watch it with Gottfried Huppertz original, symphonic score that suits Metropolis' tone and is an integral part - with all the over-dramatic expressions of the story and effects. 

My general note is 10/10, this movie is a must see and own to watch again as it’s a classic for science-fiction, and produced at the end of the silent film area and is therefore a classic on that level too.

My only problem doesn’t come from the movie itself but from the French subtitles which were at moments a bit too fast, and a tad difficult to read because they were white, several times on-top of the original German intertitles, making it difficult to read. This was a bad choice of the French subtitling.

Part 2 is about the dvd and bluray editions of this movie