Science Fiction Movie Review - Metropolis (1927)
A Classic Silent Sci-Fi Film from the 1920s by Director Fritz Lang
Aug 19, 2009
The German husband and wife team of director Fritz Lang and writer Thea von Harbou wrote a screenplay for Metropolis in 1924 and published a novelized version of it in 1926. The following year, their vision of a futuristic dystopian society was released as a movie, the most expensive of its time, costing $200 million in today’s money.
Details and Synopsis of the Movie Metropolis
- Cast: Gustave Frohlich, Brigette Helm, Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
- Director: Fritz Lang
- Length: 153 minutes (original released version)
- Color: B&W with tinting
- Production Company: Ufa
Metropolis, a story of class struggle with religious overtones, is set in 2026. Society has been divided into “thinkers and owners,” who live high above the city in luxury, and “laborers,” who live in its bowels and whose only purpose is in operating the machines that run the city.
The story centers around two people: Freder (Gustave Frohlich), the son of the city’s chief planner, John Frederson (Alfred Abel); and Maria (Brigette Helm), a young woman from the lower class who believes that some day a “Mediator” will come to reconcile the class differences. After realizing that Freder supports the workers, she feels that he may be the savior that she has envisioned.
Frederson, not pleased with his son and Maria’s efforts, turns to a mad scientist, Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), for help. The scientist creates a Maschinenmensch (also played by Helm), a robot that can take on Maria’s appearance. Both men believe that the false Maria can be used to stir the workers to revolt thus destroying any hopes of reconciliation.
Analysis of the Movie Metropolis
The release of Metropolis was met by so-so reactions from German audiences. In other countries severely shortened versions were shown that often left viewers confused. Critics were unkind. Although the movie may have been influenced in part by the H. G. Wells stories The Time Machine and When the Sleeper Wakes, the British author called the film, “foolishness.” A contemporary NY Times review said that “it had feet of clay.”
The basic storyline does have several flaws. One obvious question: Why would Frederson want a revolution that could easily destroy the machines on which Metropolis subsists? Also, the dialogue is often stilted and at times laughable. Yet, the movie is still a masterpiece because of the atmospheric setting that Lang creates. From its art deco skyscrapers and interior sets to the god-like machines to the zombie movements of the workers, Metropolis has left a legacy through the years.
The Legacy of Metropolis
Metropolis has often been called the first influential science fiction movie. Among its direct and indirect influences on other films:
- In the original film version of Frankenstein, the doctor’s lab is identical to Rotwang’s
- A Flash Gordon serial from 1936 copied many of the Metropolis machines
- Stanley Kubrick patterned his character, Dr. Strangelove, after Rotwang
- George Lucas used the Maria robot as the prototype for the android C-3PO
- The visual designs for both Bladerunner and Tim Burton’s Batman are based on Metropolis
- The climax of Tim Burton’s Batman takes place in a cathedral and was intentionally patterned after the ending of Metropolis
- Japan’s anime feature Osamu Tezuka no Metoroporisu (2001) uses elements of the Metropolis story
- In the animated film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the visual effects used for the transformation of the Were-Rabbit are the same effects used for the transformation of the Maschinenmensch
Fritz Lang’s Own Opinion of Metropolis
In the book Who the Devil Made It? by Peter Bogdanovich, Lang told the author that he was always dissatisfied with the movie, calling it [“a fairy tale that was silly and stupid”] and that he only made it because of his fascination with machines.
Bogdanovich surmised in a separate section of the book that Lang's distaste for his own movie began when Lang, who despised the rising tide of Nazism in Germany, learned that Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were fascinated with the film. Lang’s hatred of the Nazis became so intense that in the early 1930s he came to America after he divorced von Harbou who had joined the Nazi party.
Metropolis DVD
There have been several versions of Metropolis released on DVD, but the best is the Kino version released in 2003. For over eighty years, 25% of Metropolis has been missing, thus leaving some subplots incomplete and viewers bewildered. The Kino version, authorized by the F.W. Murnau Foundation, helps by filling in missing sections with inter-titles and still production photos.
In July 2008 a full length negative of the movie was discovered in Argentina with only one small section unusable. Restoration began in early 2009 and plans are to release this new “completed” edition of Metropolis on DVD in early 2010. Because of the condition of the negative, this release date may be overly optimistic.
Another 1920s Science Fiction Movie: The Lost World
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