1927 Directed by Fritz Lang
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
Gustav Fröhlich Brigitte Helm Rudolf Klein-Rogge Alfred Abel Heinrich George Theodor Loos Olaf Storm Fritz Rasp Erwin Biswanger Helene Weigel Margarete Lanner Hanns Leo Reich Fritz Alberti Heinrich Gotho Grete Berger Curt Siodmak Rolf von Goth Helen von Münchofen Georg John Arthur Reinhardt Henrietta Siodmak
Reportedly one of Adolf Hitler's favourite films.
A part of me thinks he didn't quite get it...
Decades Project: 1/2 of the 20's
"But the hands that built the Tower of Babel knew nothing of the dream of the head that conceived it. The hymns of praise of one man became the curses of others."
Fun fact: Metropolis is actually just Star Wars in disguise. A rebellious young man joins a group of underdogs and learns the ways of a strange religion while on a quest to overthrow his tyrannical father's evil empire by destroying its greatest creation. That's right, Fritz Lang was secretly a no-talent hack using a time machine to steal ideas from the future.
So if that doesn't make it obvious enough, I'll just come right out and say it: I have a new…
90/100
MKE Film Fest #4
('The Complete Metropolis' with live performance by the Alloy Orchestra)
"For her - all seven deadly sins!"
Truly a dream alive on the screen. Continues to be immensely influential - so much so that naming all the examples could result in its very own click-bait list (I'm sure there's already one out in the wild) - and each frame is lush, crisp, and inventive in a way that is astonishing - even more so today. The final 20 minutes, combined with the tremendous Alloy Orchestra score reverberating within the theater, are as climatic as cinema gets, rising towards the heavens, a hero fully reborn.
a total raygun gothic dream where the scope is as deep and piercing as any epic being released today, the likes of which i've only been exposed to in films like Blade Runner, for which this film understandably influenced that one a shit ton. it may be silent, but you can feel the weight of every steam alarm, every light flickering, every drop of water. its physicality and mania are totally exhausting, but in the best way possible in what i imagine was fritz langs' intention. i can only imagine what this was like a theater.
Film School Drop Outs Challenge 2017 Week 3 - Movement - German Expressionism (1920-1927)
Ach Mein Gott...!
Metropolis has a whole heck of a lot going on. Class conflict, generational squabbles, unchecked scientific progress, spirituality and romantic notions, demagoguery and popular revolt. All of it melds together into an action packed dystopian melodrama on an epic scale. It apparently took Fritz Lang a whole year to make Metropolis, thousands of people were engaged as extras and it was the most expensive film he ever made.
Hitler must have made good use of this film. It was apparently amongst his favourites and would have been easy to co-opt for his political agenda. Much like Soviet dialectical montage films from this period,…
The Road to My Top 100
Film #3
*Watched The Complete Metropolis version*
It never ceases to blow my mind that this got made in 1927. It is without a doubt one of the greatest films ever made. I only have 2 problems with this, and I don't think they really matter: the first one is that I think this is just a little too long and the other one is that I think the romance is very rushed and underdeveloped. But again, who cares about such complaints when you're dealing with such a genius, progressive, epic, meaningful, influential, excellently-made, thought-provoking and awe-inspiring piece of art? This is the definition of a film being ahead of its time. Fritz Lang…
A film you can compare to Kanye West: many years ahead of it’s- and his time. This film is so avant garde in every aspect. The ambigious storytelling that is even by today’s standards a well told film that portrays middle- and low class. It is very rare for a silent film to be thought-provoking and learning, but Metropolis is. The cinematography does much more than to tell the story, it makes the audinece live the story, editing, jumpcuts and mashups are on point and again, every aspect of this film is so perfect as something can be. One of the greatest achievements in cinema, and the greatest sci-fi achievement.
4.5/5... yeah, tough one. Objectively, 5/5. Subjectively, 4.5/5. One of those films where you don’t have a nitpick, but it still doesnt get the full score, haha. I will think about my rating the next couple of days and maybe revalue it.
What a film! This visuals in this film are still just as mesmerizing as they most likely were for viewers when it was released. While the story is wildly entertaining, the visuals are what make this film what it is. The amazing production design is stunning throughout, making the film more rewatchable. In addition to the astetics of the film, the story is fascinating from start to finish and the performances are amazing!!
1984 "Giorgio Moroder Presents..." version
At 82 minutes the plot of this has been cut to the essentials, and even then there are a few moments where lost footage has had to have been reconstituted with still images. Surprisingly, the music isn't as pop-centric as I'd been led to believe. When an actual song with lyrics does come on its usually fairly effective, but the instrumental choices here are what really work.
The film was rescued and restored, but is missing some chunks which are filled in by onscreen narrative. If this is the best it could be restored to, it's a miracle it was saved at all - it's fuzzy around the edges and skippy where frames are missing. But the story is very cool and the sets are stunning for that day and age. It's definitely a learning experience and I'm glad I can say I've seen it. A lot of the elements you'll recognize from today's movies.
this can be watched today and the message still carries the same weight that it did 91 years ago and that’s simultaneously really rad and also the worst!
HMMMM. A few things on Metropolis (1927) (and my experience with it):
- A lot of firsts here. My first Lang, first introduction to German Expressionism, and my first time viewing a silent film in the theatre.
- I used to think it was better to sit in the middle area when watching a film, but because I was slightly late and couldn't see what seats were avaliable, I sat close to the front and I gotta say it was still pretty great.
- TIFF, you liar. On the website, you put the run time as 153 minutes, but it was the 148 minute version all along! Plus, you said it was in colour (It wasn't)!
- Of course, the…
“The mediator between the hands and the head must be the heart”.
I finally saw this monstrosity of a film in its entirety on the big screen. Paying homage that is long overdue. Hard to believe it was made in 1927. At the time it took 17 months and cost over 5 million Reichsmarks to make. It’s definitely one of the most defining and pioneering works of cinematic fiction ever made. Filmmakers continue to borrow from the screenplay, visuals and tone even to this day. As I sat through the film I called out many films I recognized parts of in this very ambitious sci-if dystopian tale of the struggle between humanity and capitalism. Star Wars, Blade Runner, Mad Max, The Fifth Element, Snowpiercer and 2001: A Space Odyssey are just a few that I would argue have pilfered a few ideas from this masterwork.
I highly recommend taking the time to watch this one carefully.
Peter Stanley 1,199 films
All the films from all the editions, including those subsequently removed, presently totalling 1199. An easy way of seeing how…
Simon Ramshaw 255 films
Recently, I've become aware that certain films are able to transcend the medium by being completely self-assured in their atmospheres…
Dave Vis 250 films
The Letterboxd Top 250 movies, based on the average weighted rating of all Letterboxd users. I chose to remove all…
