FILM REVIEW: (the “complete”) Metropolis
Friday, June 18th, 2010© A.J. Malouin 2010
(Rating: 2 by A.J. Malouin.)
(See our side-bar page “How We Rate Movies”)
(1927/Germnany. Directed by Fritz Lang, who also worked on the script.)
If you had to pick only one film to carry around with you forever, it would (or “should,” at least) be this version of “Metropolis.”
First screened in 1927, “Metropolis” instantly became a “classic,” and has influenced, inspired, (and provided material for!) countless films since then.
The film first screened in Berlin, in 1927, at a running time of 153 minutes. It was so popular, however, that distributors Immediately started hacking into it, cutting it down in order to have show screenings daily in their theatres. At one point, an 87-minute version was being showed.
This was a shame and a crime, as “Metropolis,” as originally envisioned, is one of the most inventive projects ever filmed.
“Metropolis” features a brilliant modern city above ground; a workers’ dungeon of a factory underground; a Garden of Eden that will make you both blush and smile, a cast comprised of thousands and thousands of extras; scenes that are considered sexually charged even by today’s standards; special effects that are mind-popping (and done without computers!); a morality play of Right & Wrong; a science-fiction theme that outshines “Frankenstein;” set designs that are unbelievable in their scope and complexity, and an end-of-the-world flood that inspires True Terror in the audience while destroying an entire city on the screen.
…And all of this is done on a sound stage, and all at an expense previously unimaginable in the history of film-production budgets. (more…)