In this remarkable age of high definition video and multi channel audio it
may appear strange that so many people are anxiously awaiting the re-release of
a silent film that is well over eighty years old. In the case of Fritz Lang’s
‘Metropolis’ the anticipation is not only understandable it is well deserved.
This film is far more than a movie; it was a major turning point in the
cinematic arts and remains one of the treasures of human accomplishment. That
may seem like a lot of praise to confer on a film but in this case it is an
underestimation of its impact and lasting influence. Shortly after its initial
screening the film was extensively cut from the 210 minute length to about two
hours which is the version most modern fans are familiar with. In 2001 lost
footage was discovered permitting the release of a 145 minute version. This
version has not yet been released on DVD but while we wait for that wonderful
event Music Video Distribution is re-releasing the familiar 118 minute cut with
a commemorative tee-shirt displaying the ironic movie poster art. This release
is not intended to replace the pending restored version but it will give you
something to wet your lips on till then and a cool shirt to wear to the next
Sci-Fi convention. The gimmick of the shirt aside this is one of the most
powerfully influential films ever created. Younger members if the audience may
think that a silent film that was already old when their parents were born would
lack relevance today but I assure you that watching this movie will be an
education on the foundations required to make the films you currently love so
much. Not only do modern films owe much of their cinematic technique to this
work but the themes that are so important to this modern world of ours were
explored here on a philosophical level that holds up today and can truly be
considered timeless.
Fritz Lang was an Austrian-American auteur who quite literally changed the
direction, purpose and artistic basis of cinema, in its day ‘Metropolis’ was the
most expensive film ever made. While the estimated 1.3 million Reich marks
budgeted for this film would hardly cover the cost of set catering on a modern
big budget futuristic movie funding went further back then and even today a film
maker with vision and talent can do the remarkable. In the case here Lang was a
genius far ahead of his time in every possible way. This film was one of the
first epic Science fiction stories to depict a dark, dystopia view of modern
society. This had a direct influence on literary works including ‘Brave New
World’ and ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ as well as more films than possible to
enumerate. Lang would use his keen eye for detail and infatuation in the darker
aspects of the human psyche to expand the frontiers of the German expressionist
movement and pioneering the genre that would become film noir. Some of the
special effects used in this film still baffle the experts who cannot say for
sure how they were obtained with the resources and technology available in 1927.
Such Sci-Fi staples as ‘fembots’,’ Cyber-men’, ‘Cylons’ and ‘Mr. Data’ owe much
of their conceptualization to the work done for this film.
The story of this film is one that would reverberate through the modern era.
Industrialization has been viewed as one of the most potent vehicles of change
in all of human history. The introduction of technology is a two edged sword
that brought comfort and leisure to many but for the everyday work it also
initiated a new form of the caste system. In this film the future is a place
where the middle class has all but disappeared leaving a ruling aristocratic
class of managers leaving extremely well on the arduous labor of the down
trodden working class. The managers reside in stately skyscrapers towering into
the air while the working class drug through life living and working beneath the
ground. Class membership is a factor of heredity with the mega city’s designers
becoming the leading families. One such person is Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel) is
the autocratic leader of civilization and owner of the New Tower of Babel. One
day Fredersen’s son, Freder (Gustav Fröhlich) spots a pretty young woman, a
worker, and follows her back to the underground. An accident with a large
machine kills her and Freder becomes sympathetic to the plight of the workers.
His father, upset at hearing of the loss of the machine from his son instead of
the foreman, Josaphat (Theodor Loos). The father fires Josphat who becomes
despondent and tries to commit suicide with is prevented by Freder who then
joins Josaphat in his quest for worker reform.
The film contains some of the most iconic images ever created by the art of
cinema. One of the best known is a robotic woman sitting on a chair as she is
brought to life. there is also a shot of a worker crucified on the hands of a
clock creating a moving visual message of the worker being sacrificed to the god
of the clock ticking off his shift at work and life. Many have pointed to this
film as one of the most poignant pro-communism messages known. These communist
undercurrents put this film in disfavor for many years but due to the many
cinematic principles and techniques it pioneered the film survived. It fit in
with the growing German expressionism movement tied to the existential school of
philosophy and forefather to the film noir, literally dark film genre still
popular today.
Posted 06/23/2010