Starting the New Year, Old Style
A Look at a Restored Classic

I have been eagerly waiting for Metropolis to make its way to Kansas City. The film was slated to debut in November, but for whatever reason it was pushed back a few times and opened on New Year's Day. I expected that I would be one of a very select few who would trudge down to the Tivoli Manor Square on this cold day to see it. To my surprise, the theater was packed! A full house had arrived for the first showing of this restored silent film classic!

Metropolis
The beautiful Maria (Brigitte Helm) is kidnapped and replaced by an android clone in the classic science fiction film Metropolis. (Kino International, 1927)
Directed by: Fritz Lang
Written by: Fritz Lang, based on the novel by Thea von Harbou
Starring: Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Brigitte Helm, and Rudolf Klein-Rogge

Rated Not Rated
Running time: 124 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 9 out of 10.

Those who have never sat through an entire silent film are missing something beautiful and historic. To see a piece of cinematic history come alive is amazing, but it is also awe-inspiring to watch a master like Fritz Lang direct a story without words. Although nearly one quarter of Lang's complete film is considered lost, the good people at Kino International have completed a new, restored version that reconstructs as much of the classic as possible -- including the original orchestral score.

The story (based on the novel by Thea von Harbou) is surprisingly complex for a silent film. If you think all silent films are silly comedies with Keystone Cops, you are in for a surprise. The story is set in a future where a great city of Metropolis has been built. The upper city, where the aristocracy live, is filled with gardens, stadiums, and the finest things. The lower city, where the laborers live, is depressing in its squalor. The laborers live to maintain the machines that run the city. Without the machines, the city would stop. Without the laborers, the machines would stop.

One day, Freder Fredersen (Gustav Fröhlich) sees a young woman with a bunch of poor children. Maria (Brigitte Helm) is trying to bring social reform by uniting the two classes, but she and the children are ushered out of the "Eternal Gardens" where sons like Freder enjoy the leisure their fathers' power gives them. Freder follows Maria and watches as a machine explodes killing several workers. He tells the tragic news to his father, Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel), who runs the city. But Joh does not care about the workers, only that one of his machines was destroyed.

The story then takes a twist as Freder trades places with one of the workers and discovers what a horrible life they have. After one ten-hour shift, Freder follows the other workers to a secret meeting where Maria preaches to them that a mediator will one day come to unite the hands that built the city and the mind that conceived it. Meanwhile, Joh also finds out about these clandestine meetings. With the help of a mad inventor named Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), Joh sets in motion a plan to discredit Maria by replacing her with a "machine-man".

The restored film looks great! Missing scenes (probably lost forever) are described by placeholders so the continuity of the original story is complete. Although so much has been lost, this version is much more complete than I have ever seen it. Seeing the majesty of Lang's vision is astounding. How someone in 1927 could have produced such a futuristic science fiction tale is unbelievable. His panorama of the city, complete with elevated roads, trains, and flying airplanes, is fine work. The transformation of the "machine-man" into Maria is a definitive moment in science fiction film. While some of the film does draw some unintended laughs (silent film acting is often overdone by today's standards), the story still rings true 75 years later.

One of the landmarks of filmmaking and science fiction was in danger of becoming lost. Now, thanks to Kino International, the film has been restored. If the theatrical re-release missed your hometown, or if you missed it, not to worry. The "Restored Authorized Edition" of Metropolis is now on DVD.