Metropolis (film)

• Release Date: 1927
• Director(s): Fritz Lang
• Writer(s): Thea Von Harbou
• Principal Actors and Roles: Gustav Frohlich (Freder); Brigitte Helm (Maria / The Machine Man); Alfred Abel (Joh Frederson); Erwin Biswanger (Georgy (11811)); Heinrich George (Grot); Rudolf Klein-Rogge (Rotwang)
• Book / Story Film Based On: Metropolis by Thea von Harbou

Metropolis is a classic German silent film filmed in black and white. It was originally released with title cards in German, which were later translated into other languages for international release. Metropolis is considered to be the first epic science fiction film and it influenced many of the films that came after it.

Director Fritz Lang said he was inspired to create the future city of Metropolis because of his first sight of New York’s towering skylines and bright lights. However, newspaper articles show that he had already started the project before his trip, so New York could not have been his initial inspiration. His wife, Thea von Harbou, wrote the novel the screenplay was based on.

Lang wanted Metropolis to be the most expensive European film ever made. It cost an estimated six million marks, took more than a year and a half to make, and included 37,000 extras. The German studio, UFA, did not expect to make money with it; they were hoping to attract the attention of the profitable United States market for their films.

Adolf Hitler greatly admired the film. Hitler offered to ignore the fact that Lang’s family was Jewish so Lang could take charge of the Nazi film industry. Instead, Lang fled Germany for Paris and America.

This was the first film role for Brigitte Helm, who starred as Maria and her robot twin. Maria’s love interest, Freder, was played by Gustaf Frohlich, who was plucked from the crowd of extras to take the part. Another actor had been initially cast as Freder, but his acting was not satisfactory and Lang’s wife suggested Frohlich for the role.

Lang made severe demands of his actors. Helm was subjected to jets of cold water, flames caught her dress on fire, she was enclosed in an airless shell where she passed out from lack of oxygen, she wore armor that cut and bruised her, and she was made to run and leap across heights. Frohlich and the extras also suffered from cold, pain, and exhaustion.

Plot

Freder Fredersen is a privileged young man, the son of the master of Metropolis. One day, while in the gardens with his friends, an elevator door opens and he sees a woman surrounded by ragged children. She tells the children the people they see are their brothers. Freder is struck by her words and beauty and follows when she leaves. At the bottom of the elevator, he discovers the world of the workers who slave to keep the machines of Metropolis running. One of the workers drops in exhaustion and a machine explodes.

Freder confronts his father about the conditions in the subterranean world but his father says the workers are where they are supposed to be. Freder attends a secret meeting where Maria tells the workers that a mediator will come someday to help them. Freder’s father and Rotwang, an inventor who loved Freder’s mother, also witness the meeting. Rotwang has built a robot to take her place. After hearing Maria’s words, the father orders Rotwang to make the robot look like Maria so she can incite them to revolt and he can use force against them.

Freder and Maria declare their love for each other but Rotwang kidnaps her. In his laboratory, he transfers Maria’s appearance onto the robot. The robot urges the workers to destroy the machines, which they do, despite being warned that this will flood their underground city. Maria escapes from Rotwang and tries to help the underground children escape the rising waters. Freder, who has been searching for her, helps everyone escape up the airshafts. The workers realize their children will drown and blame the robot Maria. They mob the streets of the upper city, and burn the "witch," who returns to her robot form, before they discover their children are safe. Freder’s father thinks his son has drowned.

Rotwang tries to recapture Maria; Freder and Rotwang fight, and Rotwang falls to his death. Freder, the mediator, is now able to bring together his father and the head of the workers.

Significance

As the first science fiction epic, Metropolis has had a large influence on later movies, especially those in the science fiction genre. Some of the original concepts that have become iconic are that of the horrible future city, the mad scientist and his lab, and the humanoid robot. The visual effects have also made a powerful impression on both films and the arts.

Metropolis is well known for its expressionistic style, art deco sets, and for its visual effects, which were considered groundbreaking. One special effect, the Schufftan Process, was first used in Metropolis. The technique was invented by Eugen Schufftan and used mirrors to combine shots of miniature model sets with live action. Another technique used was stop-motion photography, which gave motion to the cars, automobiles, and trains. The dizzying multiple exposure shots were produced by rewinding the film inside the camera and then exposing it again, sometimes as many as thirty times.

Metropolis received a positive response from its premiere audience, and critics enjoyed the visually spectacular aspects of the film, though they did not appreciate the plot. A live orchestra provided the musical score. The film was long and it was difficult to show it frequently enough to make a profit. UFA cut half an hour from the original two and a half hour film, and the original film was lost. The version shown in the United States was cut further until it was only ninety minutes long. In 1984, composer Giorgio Morodor released a color-tinted version with his own musical score and rock numbers. Some loved it, but the film was nominated for Razzie Awards for worst score and worst original song. A newly restored version was released in 2002 to rave reviews and a special award for the restoration from the New York Film Critics Circle. In 2008, lost footage was found in South America and that led to a 2010 movie with the new footage and a new recording of the original score.

In 2011 Metropolis was nominated for a Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films for best international film and best music. It was included in the British Film Institute’s poll naming the greatest movies ever made. It ranked thirty-fifth.

Bibliography

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Schneider, Steven Jay. 1001 Movies You Must See before You Die. Rev. Ed. Hauppauge: Barron’s, 2013. Print.