Metropolis....
in the medias ...
I now copy part of the original review I did in July 2015 and expand to the dvd
and bluray editions that I have seen.
As I said
in part 1 ''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.'' After watching the French 2 dvd edition of
Metropolis, I can specify the following :
- The subtitles are
still white and sometimes overlay the German intertitles. Good thing I had
managed to read most of it on the big screen and know enough of the story
to just enjoy the movie's imagery and music, and not have to read that
much.
- At moments, people’s
heads were cut off, due to the format of the original films. I checked why
this was so present and found out that the BD player was set for 117cm tv,
but ours is only 81. Once I changed this and restarted the movie, it seems
that most images are less drastically cut, but still are. I hope the
bluray edition has permanently solved that but somehow I doubt it. I think we’ll have to live with the result.
- For some reason, the
total duration of the French edition is 5 minutes shorter than the
director's cut. The sleeve announces 2 & half hours, yet it's only
2h24. Odd they wouldn't write the proper duration.
I saw this movie has been uploaded to youtube in yet other duration: 2h27 ;
2h30 ; and off course all kinds of other shorter editions which existed prior
to 2008…
Off course, in 2013, when we saw Metropolis during an exceptional viewing in
town, the movie was on big screen, and I could follow the story much better, in
spite of the subtitles, which I didn't need to read as often, since I had
already seen the dvd.
Updated
9th of May 2016 : I just finished watching Metropolis again, with a friend
who'd never seen it before and I can tell you that most of the subtitles in the
British ultimate collector's edition bluray are much easier to read than
the aforementioned french 2 dvd edition. At times, they are also a bit
fast because of the long original German dialogues, but remain easier to read
then the french edition. (I'll have to compare with the french bluray at some
point).
This
edition (EAN 5060000701661) comes with 2 discs, on the first :
The movie
(duration 2h30 including a text explaining about the restoration), both in 2.0
and 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound, with original German intertitles and optional English
subtitles to chose from at the main menu which is itself silent and presents an
image of Metropolis.
There is
an audio commentary by Kalat/Rosenbaum, in English which I haven't listened to,
yet.
This menu also gives you direct access to the 23 chapters comprised in the 3
acts of this movie, the 2010 theatrical trailer (for the newly restored film.
It lasts 2 minutes), and Die Reise nach Metropolis (a 55 minutes documentary
called in English Journey to Metropolis. It's subtitled in English)
Disc 2 has Giorgio Moroder's 1984 version of Metropolis, many years before the
restored version ever saw the light. It lasts 1h23, presented in 5.1 DTS HD-MA
or 2.0 LPCM, with Mororder's choise of music (not orchestral at all), and this
shortened version has only 15 chapters and the sequences are in different order
making it, on retrospect, a different story.
Metropolis refound (a 48 minutes Spanish documentary about finding the original
movie material in Buenos Aires back in 2008 and the restoration work which
followed. It is subtitled in English as well)
and The fading image (18 minutes documentary about Moroder's version)
A small 55 pages, illustrated booklet accompanies this
edition.
Comparing the French BD and UK Ultimate editions:
The
French bluray edition has only 1 disc, with Metropolis in director's cut, this
time it does last 2h30 like the UK counterpart, NOT like the 2 DVD edition
which had also boasted a director's cut but wasn't fully (for some odd reason).
The sound is 5.1 and 2.0, both in DTS-HD MA, just like the UK edition, which is
great.
The image
quality is known to be a bit lesser, however, than said UK edition (no idea
why!).
The French subtitles are optional, and seem better displayed than the 2 DVD
edition.
Bonuses :
Voyage à
Metropolis, seems to be the same exact things as Die Reise nach Metropolis
but lasts 52 minutes (not 55 like in UK, it's difficult to tell where the
differences are).
The next seem to be a 3 parts documentary, all in French=
Metropolis
1927 about
the origins of the movie (lasts 8 minutes)
Metropolis
aujourd'hui (=Metropolis today), about the impact of the
movie (just under 9 minutes)
Le choix
de Fritz Lang, interview the director, about his German
Period, as he has moved out of Germany due to the Nazis in power. he actually
speaks French in this interview (10 minutes)
The booklet here is only 13 pages.
The first pressing offers the bluray case in a collector's silhouette of
the robot from the movie.
In October 2017, yet another UK ultra-limited BD+DVD edition was released, in 2000 copies. Its EAN is 50600000702736 and reprises mostly the content from 5060000701661.
This newest edition, available at the moment around 25£ and which is bound to sell out just like its predecessor, is in hard bound slipcase, containing an amaray, with a 100 page book, illustrated with newly commissioned artwork specifically for this release.
This book features extensive writings on the film, interviews with Fritz Lang and a stunning array of rare archival imagery.
The movie (2h30 including 25 minutes previously thought lost to the world), a text explaining about the restoration), both in 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound, with original German intertitles and optional English subtitles to chose from at the main menu which is itself silent and presents an image of Metropolis.
There is an audio commentary by Kalat/Rosenbaum, in English which I haven't listened to, yet.
This menu also gives you direct access to the 23 chapters comprised in the 3 acts of this movie, the 2010 theatrical trailer (for the newly restored film. It lasts 2 minutes), and Die Reise nach Metropolis (a 55 minutes documentary called in English Journey to Metropolis. It's subtitled in English)
BBD 2 has Giorgio Moroder's 1984 version of Metropolis, many years before the restored version ever saw the light. It lasts 1h23, presented in 5.1 DTS HD-MA or 2.0 LPCM, with Mororder's choise of music (not orchestral at all), and this shortened version has only 15 chapters and the sequences are in different order making it, on retrospect, a different story.
Metropolis refound (a 48 minutes Spanish documentary about finding the original movie material in Buenos Aires back in 2008 and the restoration work which followed. It is subtitled in English as well)
and The fading image (18 minutes documentary about Moroder's version)
Disc 3 is a dvd with the 2001 restoration, considered at the time the definition version. It presents Berndt Heller's arrangement of Huppertz score, and a full length audio commentary, written by film historian Enno Patalas. This commentary is either in original German, with English subtitled, spoken by Patalas, or in English dubbed by an actor.
Now, if you don't care about the 100 pages book, but still want the 2001 restoration with Patalas commentary, you have the zone 2 UK masters of cinema 2X dvd edition, EAN 5060000400946, released 25/01/2005
Its musical score is Huppertz original symphonic one, just shortened to the film duration in this version, 1:58:32
It's presented in 5.1 surround (448 kpbs) or 2.0 monor (224 kpbs) with no pal speed up as it's an original 25fps movie.
Intertitles : German (which is important, as some editions changed them all!), with optional subtitles in German, English, French, Spanish, Italian.
1.33:1 original aspect ratio, with an average bitrate of 6.75 mb/s in Pal 720X576 at 25Fps ; the movie is divided into 33 chapters on this version
Apart for the aforementioned Patalas commentary, other bonus material (on disc 2) are:
- Metropolis case : a making off documentary (44')
- Restoration documentary (9')
- Productive stills
- Posters
- Costume Desgins
- Stills of missing scenes
- Architectural sketches
and a 28-page booklet with extensive restoration notes
You can also get the zone 2 UK special edition 2X dvd edition, EAN 5060000401608 presenting more or less the same material, but its backcover doesn't announce as much as the above edition, so I'd assume it is slightly less complete.
It also announces the story is set around the year 2000 but it's actually farther into the future, and shares the short 1 hour 58 duration as it's still the 2001 restauration.
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