Metropolis (1927 film)

Metropolis is a very early science fiction film that was produced in Germany during the brief years of the Weimar Republic. It is set in a futuristic urban dystopia. Released in 1927, it is a black and white silent film created by the famed Austrian director Fritz Lang and was the most expensive silent film of that time, costing approximately 7 million Marks (equivalent to around $200 million today) http://web.archive.org/web/20031209230613/http://members.fortunecity.com/roogulator/sf/metropolis.htm.

Influence

This film has influenced many science fiction movies to the present day, including Blade Runner, Dark City, the Star Wars series, and The Matrix. The "Tower of Babel" structure is a key element in several films; in turn, Metropolis's tower appears to derive from Hans Poelzig's stocky, polygonal, modernistic water tower built in Posen in 1911. But the earliest films to be influenced were Just Imagine of 1930, which also featured a city with much air transport among and between skyscrapers connected by bridges, and Vultan's city in the first Flash Gordon serial of 1936, which had a sweatshop controlled by an operator who moved the needle of a huge dial while standing up.

Related Topics:
Science fiction - Blade Runner - Dark City - Star Wars - The Matrix - Hans Poelzig - Posen - Just Imagine - Flash Gordon

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Rotwang, the film's mad scientist, has lost his right hand and has replaced it with a black prosthesis. In the film ', directed by Stanley Kubrick and first released on January 29, 1964, the German mad scientist Dr. Strangelove wears a black glove on his right hand, a hand which he cannot consciously control. This is considered to be a tribute to the earlier film.

Related Topics:
Mad scientist - Hand - Prosthesis - Stanley Kubrick - January 29 - 1964 - German

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A similar theme shows up in George Lucas' famous Star Wars films, in which the heroes, Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke Skywalker, lose their right hands in combat and each has it replaced with a prosthesis, wearing a black glove over the robotic hand. Luke later discovers that his father also has a robotic right hand, and the lack of the right hand is an important symbolism in the films. This was influenced as well by Jungian mythological archetypes, via George Lucas' friend, the mythologist, Joseph Campbell. C-3PO's appearance is that of a male version of Rotwang's robot.

Related Topics:
Star Wars - Anakin Skywalker - Luke Skywalker - Mythologist - Joseph Campbell - C-3PO

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Yet another example of the missing right hand archetype is Philip K. Dick's masterpiece, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, considered by many to be his best book. An important element of the story is that Palmer Eldritch, the antagonist, possesses a robotic right arm, as well as artificial eyes, and a deformed jaw.

Related Topics:
Philip K. Dick - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

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A poster of the original movie shows up in the movie "Hackers"

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Many of the scenes involving Rotwang seem to echo (or prophesy; it is not entirely clear) the many film adaptations of Mary Shelley's science-ficton novel Frankenstein, particularly the part where the Machine-Man is created.

Related Topics:
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein

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The ending of the film likewise is a piece of much imitated classic cinema. The climactic struggle between Rotwang and Freder over the life of Maria is strikingly similar to the many early film adaptations of Victor Hugo's novel Hunchback of Notre Dame, as well as the climatic scene in Tim Burton's Batman.

Related Topics:
Victor Hugo - Hunchback of Notre Dame - Tim Burton - Batman

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A musical theater adaption was staged in London in 1989. See Metropolis (musical). Another musical adaptation was created in Italy in 2004 called "Metropolis Il Musical".

Related Topics:
Musical theater - London - Metropolis (musical) - Italy

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An anime adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's manga Metropolis was released in the U.S. in 2002. See Metropolis (2001 movie). The anime series Big O seems to draw inspiration from Metropolis as well.

Related Topics:
Anime - Osamu Tezuka - Manga - Metropolis (2001 movie) - Big O

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Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow contains several references to Fritz Lang's film, mostly voiced through the German rocket scientists and engineers who comprise a large part of its cast.

Related Topics:
Thomas Pynchon - Gravity's Rainbow

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The film has inspired or been included in several music videos, including Madonna's "Express Yourself" and Queen's "Radio Ga Ga".

Related Topics:
Madonna - Queen - Radio Ga Ga

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Jeff Mills released an album named Metropolis inspired by the film in 2001.

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In the early 1994 a full speech PC Game Beneath A Steel Sky is set in a similar dystopian Metropolis. The orchestra music is eerily similar to Metropolis.

Related Topics:
Beneath A Steel Sky - Orchestra

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