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.

Restorations & re-releases

On January 10, 1927 the film premiered in Berlin, with moderate success. In the United States, the movie was shown in a version edited by the American playwright Channing Pollock, who almost completely obscured the original plot, considered too controversial by the American distributors, and is considerably shortened. In Germany, a version similar to Pollock's was shown on August 5. Only copies of these versions—mostly considered as badly-edited—remain today.

Related Topics:
January 10 - 1927 - Berlin - United States - Channing Pollock - August 5

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Several restored versions (all of them missing footage) were released in the 1980s and 1990s, running for around 90 minutes.

Related Topics:
1980s - 1990s

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In 1984, a new restoration and edit of the film was compiled by Giorgio Moroder, a music producer who specialized in pop-rock soundtracks for motion pictures. Moroder?s version of the film introduced a new modern rock-and-roll soundtrack for the film, as well as playing at 24 frames per second and integrating the captions into the film itself as subtitles. His version of the film is only 80 minutes in length. The ?Moroder version? of Metropolis sparked heated debate among film buffs and fans, with outspoken critics and supporters of the film falling into equal camps.

Related Topics:
1984 - Giorgio Moroder - Soundtrack - Subtitle

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Enno Patalas made an exhaustive attempt to restore the movie in 1986. This restoration was by that time the most accurate, thanks to the script and the musical score that had been discovered. The basis of Patalas' work was a copy in the Museum of Modern Art's collection.

Related Topics:
Enno Patalas - 1986 - Museum of Modern Art

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The F.W. Murnau Foundation released a 123-minute, digitally restored version in 2002. It included title cards describing the action in the missing sequences and, again, the original music score. (It is believed that the original film was over 210 minutes.)

Related Topics:
F.W. Murnau - 2002

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Most silent films were shot at speeds of between 16 and 20 frames per second, but the digitally restored version with soundtrack plays at the standard sound speed of 24 frames per second (25 on PAL and SECAM videos and DVDs), which often makes the action look unnaturally fast. The reason for showing the film at this speed is unclear; a documentary on the Kino DVD edition states that it may have been filmed at 25 frames per second, but this is disputed. There have been reports stating that the world premiere of Metropolis was shown at 24 frame/s, but these, too, are unconfirmed. In the 1970s the BBC prepared a version with electronic sound that ran at 18 frames per second and consequently had much more realistic-looking movement. Since there is no concrete evidence of Fritz Lang's wishes on this subject, it continues to be hotly debated within the silent film community.

Related Topics:
PAL - SECAM - 1970s - BBC

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