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DVD: Metropolis
Starring Bridgette Von Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Froelich,
Rudolph Klein-Rogge; Directed by Fritz Lang (Kino International)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes
Take it from a true Metropolis fanatic; you have never seen Metropolis until you have seen this DVD.
I'll not gush about again about Metropolis's place in cinema history, you can go read the review I wrote last fall for the film version for that; suffice it to say that Metropolis is one of my all-time favorite movies and Enno Patalas has done a great service to cinema history by restoring a nearly complete 1927 negative of the film and its score.
The good news is that the DVD release is actually in better shape than the film that was shown in art houses. Gone are the film change marks that were occasionally seen and what few scratches were in evidence have nearly all been scrubbed away. Nothing at all has been lost by going to DVD. In a way the film is made for TV; its aspect ratio is not that of a modern widescreen movie, so it fits the standard TV viewing area just fine. Better yet, unlike most film and video tape versions of Metropolis I've seen, there are no heads chopped off, lost scenery or hazy indistinctness due to four or fifth generation copying. For example I saw two faint skulls behind a close up of the evil inventor's face in the catacomb scene for the first time. Bottom line, the film is now startlingly clear and complete in almost every frame.
EXTRAS:
If you already love Metropolis, you won't want to miss all the extras on this disk. There are several new stills of the missing sections presented, complete with descriptions of the plot points, so you get far more of the story than ever before (and you'll see how butchered all the American copies were too!).
More amazing still are several short presentations on the making of the movie. There are detailed explanations of the processes used to make the original special effects, complete with still pictures of some of the sets that show how the shot was made. Revelations are everywhere, such as the fact that Bridget Helm actually had a triple role - she's the one inside the robot suit in addition to playing the good and bad Marias. Covered in other sections are the art design and architecture, bios on the actors and Lang himself, plus there are original Metropolis posters here too. Perhaps the most interesting extra is a twenty minute film on the restoration of the negative, which shows several shots before and after processing.
Again, you may have thought you've seen Metropolis before, but you haven't seen it like this. This DVD is as close to the original premiere version as we are ever likely to get; truly it's Metropolis at its finest. If you have any love for science fiction, special effects, silent film or just appreciate great movies, you simply must see this version of Fritz Lang's monumental film.
_________________________________________________________ Additional information: Effects by Eugen Schufftan; Music by Gottfried Huppertz; Book Written by Thea Von Harbeau; Restoration by Enno Patalas and the Munich Film Archive.
© 2003 - Rusty Pipes