It happened again. I thought I’d check out Metropolis for an hour last night before crashing and finish the movie later today, but I became so mesmerized with Fritz Lang’s visual artistry that I couldn’t go to sleep until it was finished. If much of Metropolis seems familiar, that is no surprise. Created in 1926, Metropolis is the world’s first truly great science fiction film, and it has indelibly fixed nightmarish images of a futuristic city focussed more on scientific progress than it is on mankind’s betterment.
Every science fiction film noir owes a debt to Lang’s masterpiece. Blade Runner comes to mind most readily with its dark metropolitan setting; it even borrows the idea of creating replicants from Metropolis, as key scenes involve a robot that supplants a human. Metropolis’ mad scientist Rotwang with his artificial right hand has many film descendents, including James Bond villains and Dr. Strangeglove. Even comedies like Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times and the Coen brothers The Hudsucker Proxy have thematic elements that we can trace back to Metropolis, as we find the underclass workers toiling below while the administrators rule the upper layers.
As in any silent film, the visuals have to carry the story, and Lang pulls a true visual tour de force with Metropolis. Between the huge sets and the creative camera work, Lang treats us to a fantastic Metropolis of skyscrapers and aerial freeways while another subterranean world of complex machinery keeps the Metropolis going. That underworld is quickly pictured as bleak and hopeless with its extended workday clock and the military style worker lineups to the elevators for a shift change.
We must also keep in mind that CGI didn’t exist back in 1926, so the crowd scenes are accomplished with thousands of real people on Lang’s extensive set. When we witness the mob scenes and see the riots in the flooded subterranean caverns, we have to marvel at Fritz Lang’s direction. It’s enough to exhaust Cecil B. DeMille.
The story itself is relatively simple. The people on the surface live luxurious lives while the slave workers toil below. John Fredersen (Alfred Abel) is the malevolent ruler, who has the villainous stare perfected, but he has an innocent son named Fredor, who has a heart of gold. One day as Fredor plays in the Pleasure Gardens, he is struck by the purity and beauty of Maria (Brigitte Helm), who has brought a group of worker children up from the subterranean regions, introducing them as Fredor’s “brothers and sisters.”
Fredor is dumbfounded about this secret world, and finds out more information from the mad scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge). Fredor descends to the underground and attempts to help the workers, highlighted by his turn at performing the tedious clock hand maneuvers.
It turns out that Maria is really a revolutionary, but in the spirit of Martin Luther King consistently promotes peace. When Fredor excitedly tells his father of his underground discovery, the elder Fredersen is not amused. Using Rotwang’s scientific talents, Maria’s face is transferred to a robot in the most famous scene of the film, and the robot gets the workers to rebel violently to play into Fredersen’s plans. Since this has a film noir feel to it, and is German, I’ll not reveal whether the resolution will be a happy one for the handful of people who haven’t seen this classic yet.
I do hope that a more definitive DVD version becomes available soon. The Madacy Entertainment version is cheap literally and figuratively, as the credits are too large to fit the screen and the visuals are all fuzzy. Essentially what you get here is a video version on DVD format, so at least the tape won’t go bad on you.
Still there are some stunning visuals preserved here make it hard to believe that this is a 1926 movie. Just check some of the opening visuals of the city and its machinery with the reflected abstract images. Most of these were done through the pioneering special effects work of Eugene Schuefftan, who worked on The Hustler near the end of his career.
Besides the general artistry of the film, I also really enjoy Bridgitte Helm’s strong acting. She completely transforms her attitude from the demure Maria to the provocative Futura robot with outstanding pantomime work. The outer body language differentiates the two characters plainly, but even better are the facial expressions she uses for the two characters.
Metropolis is a landmark film that everyone should see. Viewers who are prejudiced against black and white films, or against foreign films with subtitles will be amazed at how well this silent film holds up. That should be no real surprise when you realize how much of this innovative film has inspired other film makers and sets the standard science fiction theme that pits the heroic individual against the system. Thus, Metropolis stands up very well, even with an inferior tape or DVD version.
The biggest-budgeted movie ever produced at Germany's UFA, Fritz Lang's gargantuan Metropolis consumed resources that would have yielded upwards of 20...More at Barnes and Noble
DVDS. The biggest-budgeted movie ever produced at Germany's {@UFA}, {$Fritz Lang}'s gargantuan {#Metropolis} consumed resources that would have yielde...More at DeepDiscount.com
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