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This must be one of the greatest movies of all time. I found myself almostin a state of shock during the whole movie. Everything was perfect. Thestory was great, the filming was pure genius and the effects directly fromanother dimension.
I don't think any movie after this one have gotten so much out of theavailable effects of the time as this one. Nowadays they have supercomputers generating special effects. Sure they look good, but it's no bigdeal making them. Back in 1926 computers weren't even invented yet, alleffects had to be done by hand or in simple editing. And when you take alook at all the thins that have been done in this movie, it's impossiblenotto get impressed. Huge buildings, explosions, flooding, picture phones(however did he come up with the very idea?), transformation sequences,robots and so on. No movie has ever pulled the limits of special effectsasmuch as this one. Star Wars and Jurassic Park are also known as limitpullers in special effects, but they don't even come close.
Then you have the filming. Everything is perfect. The use of body languageis tremendous, the light setting perfect, everything well timed andperfectly captured by the camera. I've never been witness to such a treatinfilming other places.
And the story!!! Perfect in every detail. Intriguing, exciting andthrillingwith lots of religious undertones and tyranic leaders. No wonder Hitlerliked this movie...
I don't know how the original music of the film was, but the new music forthe restored 139 minute version I saw was really good andmoodseting.
All in all. This is one of the most perfect movies of all time, and itdeserves anything it can get. Never has a 10/10 been as secure as for thismovie...
Fritz Lang's Metropolis is the first true masterpiece of sciencefiction in film. You can see it's influence in films such as Star Wars,The Matrix, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Lovethe Bomb, Blade Runner, and countless others. Despite the fact thatparts of the film are no longer available, the efforts to reconstructthe original film from its remains are valiant enough to provide enoughto make the story clear. The special effects were far ahead of theirtime and the set designs were, in some cases, phenomenal. I can seewhere some people may not enjoy this movie. It is hard for some toreally appreciate a movie that is 77 years old, because a lot hashappened in film since then. Yet, if you look at the basic elements ofthis movie - its story, characters, artwork, cinematography, etc., Ibelieve this movie has just as much to offer now as it must have in thelate 1920's. Also, take into consideration the asthetics of Germanexpressionist film when viewing this. The performances and set designsare going to be over the top. That was part of the style. Metropolismay not be for everyone, but, for those willing to read between thelines, this film still has a lot to offer!
I was shocked to find myself riveted to this movie. This is without a doubtthe best sci-fi movie I've ever seen! Let me explain my position. We have allseen modern sci-fi movies, and argued over which is the best ever made, butthose film makers have high speed film and computers. Imagine trying to make amovie today with only the tools available to Fritz Lang in 1925, and even ifyou used a modern camcorder it would be nigh impossible! This is a must seefor all persons interested in the history of film, as well as just good funfor everyone. The social metaphores as well as the religious andphilosophical double meanings are a sight to behold.
I doubt that I'd ever seen anything resembling a "complete" version ofMETROPOLIS before, though certain of its scenes were familiar to me, if onlyas used and abused in such films as Diane Keaton's HEAVEN (1987). In anycase, whatever I had seen before had nothing like the clarity and beauty ofthe Kino restoration. I expected to be distracted by the restoration'stechnique of concise written descriptions of missing sequences, but thenarrative coherence that these provided was definitely worth it. As"exaggerated" as the style of acting seems by contemporary standards, someperformances, such as the Master of the city, are amazingly nuanced andlayered, and Brigitte Helm is stunning as both Maria and her evil clone. The meticulous design of the film, the unerring camera placement and Lang'smuscular choreography of the crowd scenes are breathtaking. I'd thought ofMETROPOLIS as a curiosity ("important" = "dull") but now I've come toappreciate it as the seminal work it has always been.
Who ever heard of an epic science fiction film? Especially in the 1920s?Sure, some science fiction movies are huge today, such as George Lucas'latest goofy Star Wars movie, but in 1926, Fritz Lang came out with abrilliant film about what the future would be like if people went on livingthe way they were living back then. And sure enough, we went right aheadliving the way we were living, the population got bigger and more crowded,and now modern society is not a whole lot different from what was presentedin Metropolis.
The story is about a young rich kid without a care in the world who becomesconcerned about the way that society (Metropolis) was run by his father,John Frederson, the master of Metropolis. He lives in a ‘Pleasure Garden'high above the level of the workers', and he worries about what would happenif the huge number of workers were to turn against his father, given theterrible conditions under which they live and work. Some of the best scenesin the film take place in the underground mines, showing the workersportrayed as little more than components on a gigantic, sinister lookingmachine. The scene where the machine overheated even contained someimpressive stunts, as well as interesting cinematography as the machinetransforms into a giant devil-looking monster. After countless workers areconsumed by it (no wonder this was Hitler's favorite film), they areimmediately replaced by other workers, who go right to the same spots thatthe previous men left and resume their robotic movements. If some of thesescenes, men can be seen being carried away on stretchers after having beeninjured, and the rest of the workers keep right on working, hardly evennoticing.
The way that the workers are portrayed as lifeless machines is one of themore potent elements of this film, as well as the most revealing about thedirectors intentions. When his son complains about the tragic things that goon in the mines, Frederson replies that such accidents are unavoidable, buthis son still insists that they deserve credit for building the city. Thisis the kind of content that foreshadows some serious mutiny, and at the sametime it shows what may very well happen when large groups of people feelmistreated. `Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups'is a saying that doesn't necessarily only apply to stupid people, asMetropolis suggests. Fritz Lang brilliantly portrays this very complex storywith extremely limited dialogue, and the result is still compelling today.The special effects in this film are decades ahead of its time – it evenresembles The Fifth Element in many ways (except that the two films canhardly be compared) – and the acting and especially the elaborately createdsets are stunning to say the least. An excellent film, Metropolis is one ofthe few that should never be forgotten.
Technically speaking, I have seen this Fritz Lang silent sci-fi before,but this was the first time I saw it in any shape by which I couldfairly evaluate it. I had previously watched Metropolis on a publicdomain VHS from the 80s. The print was terribly scratched and whilethere were a few memorable images, the story was so incoherent thattheir context was usually unclear. Though this was clearly not the bestway to see Metropolis, I was still left with an impression of thissupposed classic as a dusty museum piece that was praised by criticsbecause they were expected to like it. So finally seeing a restored andexpanded copy was as much as a revelation as seeing Once Upon a Time inthe West letter boxed in how it led me to reevaluate my opinion of themovie. The movie is a strange mixture of political speculationpolitical parable, apocalyptic fantasy, and religious allegory. Itdepicts a futuristic city that is divided between the wretched workers,who toil in the depths tending the machines, and the upper classes, whodwell in luxury up in the skyscrapers. The hero, the idle, pampered sonof the city's supervisor Joh Fredersen, changes his ways and becomesconcerned with the plight of the lower classes after catching a glimpseof Maria, the Madonna of the workers. His father, meanwhile, isplotting to thwart Maria with the help of the mad scientist Rotwang,who has discovered how to create robot replicas of human beings. One ofthe most surprising things about watching this version is just how muchI didn't see. In addition to restoring scenes to the film, the DVD alsoincludes inter titles to explain pieces of the plot that cannot befound in any version. With these changes, the story becomes muchclearer, particularly the machinations of Rotwang and the master ofMetropolis. Perhaps most importantly, a whole new subplot is addedinvolving the hero's dead mother Hel, who was loved by both his fatherand Rotwang. With this clarification of the back-story, the close butadversarial relationship between Rotwang and Fredersen becomes muchclearer. In some ways it recalls the family back-story of the Star Warsmovies. Of course, the real strength of Metropolis isn't the story,which is pretty silly and probably wouldn't have worked in anything buta silent film, but its amazing visuals, which in their scale andambitiousness look forward to 2001 and Blade Runner. Actually, thoughin most respects silent films now look primitive, one area in whichthey have the edge over modern film-making is in their frequentlygrandiose production design. Metropolis employs huge sets to show thehellish factories of the subterranean world. The models of the city'stowering skyscrapers are also surprisingly convincing for a 1920s film.Even beyond the expansive production design and (for the time) specialeffects, Lang's visuals are all consistently inventive. The robot Mariaprovides some of the movie's most iconic images, including hertransformation into a human being. In a later scene, she performs forupper-class men in a nightclub, and as she performs a striptease thatin 1920s Germany was apparently seen as very decadent, the screen isfilled with wet staring eyeballs. A sign of Lang's visual lavishness,and the studio's, that he doesn't hesitate to throw in lavish dream andhallucination sequences to drive home a point or illustrate acharacter's state of mind. For instance, when the hero first enters thesubterranean city and sees rows upon rows of workers toiling on hugemachines, he imagines the furnace transforming into a monstrous idol'shead into which the workers are being sacrificed. At another point,while he's sick in bed he imagines statues of the Seven Deadly Sinscoming to life and advancing out from a wall in a cathedral. When Mariapreaches her message of peace and understanding to the workers, shetells them the story of the Tower of Babel of a management vs. laborparable, and Lang gives us spectacular images of the tower'sconstruction and fall. In a sound film many of these scenes would haveseemed redundant and over-literal, but they're what silent cinema doesbest -tell a story without the advantage- or obstacle- of dialogue. Thestory is a little slow to start, but once it picks up Metropolisbecomes one of the most directly involving silent films that I've seen.In addition to being a pioneering example of the cinematicpossibilities of science fiction, Metropolis also has to be one of theearliest disaster films, as the workers riot and sabotage the machines,endangering the entire city. Lang creates a sense of rising fury andnihilism in the last hour that in a strange way reminded me of what wasgoing to happen to Germany in less than 20 years.
In the future, the society of Metropolis is divided in two socialclasses: the workers, who live in the underground below the machineslevel, and the dominant classes that lives in the surface. The workersare controlled by their leader Maria (Brigitte Helm), who wants to finda mediator between the upper class lords and the workers, since shebelieves that a heart would be necessary between brains and muscles.Maria meets Freder Fredersen (Gustav Fröhlich), the son of the Lord ofMetropolis Johhan Fredersen (Alfred Abel), in a meeting of the workers,and they fall in love for each other. Meanwhile, Johhan decides thatthe workers are no longer necessary for Metropolis, and uses a robotpretending to be Maria to promote a revolution of the working class andeliminate them.
"Metropolis" is a fantastic futuristic view of the fight of classes.When "Metropolis" was shot, it was a romantic revolutionary period ofmankind history, with socialist movements around the world. Fritz Langdirected and wrote the screenplay of this masterpiece certainlyinspired in this historical moment and defending a position ofagreement and understanding between both sides, showing that they needeach other. I wonder how this great director was able to produce suchspecial effects in 1927, with very primitive cameras and equipment. Thecity of Metropolis is visibly inspired in New York. The performance ofBrigitte Helm is stunning in her double role, and this movie ismandatory for any person that says that like cinema as an art. My voteis ten.
Title (Brazil): "Metropolis"
Metropolis is surely one of the greatest films ever made. Its scope, itsreach, its magnitude and its message are truly incredible even by today'sstandards of film-making. Seen in context of its premier in 1927,Metropolis is a giant of filmdom and film history. Lots of people alwaysask what makes a movie great, and in particular, Metropolis. A great filmis one that stirs the imagination, leaves the viewer with images that willlast perhaps forever, forces contemplation of issues dealing with the veryessence of life, and achieves a kind of immortality. Metropolis is a filmthat succeeds with each of these criteria. Metropolis is a film that hailedin a new era of making films with it futuristic settings, halluciatoryscenes, and its breadth of spirit and sheer scope, most clearly exhibited byits cast of epic proportions. There are images that blind the viewer withgenius such as the beginning scene of the changing of the workers or thecreation of the robot Maria. Metropolis challenges its viewers to thinkabout their relationship with society both as a whole and with eachindividual, as well as contemplate the rationale of divisions amongstpeoples and groups. Lastly, Metropolis has stood the test of time. It is alandmark film and an ignitor for the evolution of the sciencefiction/fantasy film genre. The story itself is simple,a Biblical allegory,about how people with a vision should share that vision in order to make ithappen. The film is anything but simple. It is immense, and a rich legacythat director Fritz Lang has left us.
Silent movies are not for everyone. Neither are subtitles. Those brave enoughto view a movie with no sound and words that are far and few between shoulddefinitely enjoy this silent masterpiece. One of the biggest productions ofits time, Metropolis still holds its own when set design and specialeffects are compared. But what Metropolis really has is orginality. ThisGerman-Expressionist film had such originality in everything from itscostumes to its views of a future (modern) city that its ideas can still beseen everywhere in modern sci-fi. Star Wars's C-3PO was based on BridgetteHelm's robot. Dark City and Brazil both have Metropolis look-a-like cities.This is a very good movie. It's too bad most movies don't have itsoriginality.
Fritz Lang's groundbreaking landmark remains one of the biggestmysteries in the world of cinema. How can a movie that'll soon turn 80years old still look so disturbingly futuristic?? The screenplay byThea Von Harbou is still very haunting and courageously assails socialissues that are of all ages. The world has been divided into two maincategories: thinkers & workers! If you belong to the first category,you can lead a life of luxury above ground but if you're a worker, yourlife isn't worth a penny, and you're doomed to perilous laborunderground. The further expansions and intrigues in the screenplay aretoo astonishing to spoil, so I strongly advise that you check out thefilm yourself. It's essential viewing, anyway! "Metropolis" is a verydemanding film-experience and definitely not always entertaining. But,as it is often the case with silent-cinema classics, the respect andadmiration you'll develop during watching it will widely excel theenjoyment-aspect. Fritz' brutal visual style still looks innovative andfew directors since were able to re-create a similarly nightmarishcomposition of horizontal and vertical lines. Many supposedly'restored' versions have been released over the years (in 1984 and2002, for example) but the 1926-version is still the finest in myopinion, even though that one already isn't as detailed and punctual asLang intended it. "Metropolis" perhaps is THE most important andinfluential movie ever made. "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Star Wars" and"Blade Runner" owe their existence (or at least their power) to it.
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