Lost Footage of "Metropolis" Found

ram.loss writes "According to a Reuters article, a long version of Metropolis has been found at a cinema museum in Argentina, by a newly appointed archivist. The reels have been authenticated by the Murnau foundation at Germany. 'Although estimates of its original length vary depending on the speed at which it is shown, Possmann said "Metropolis" was conceived as a film lasting just over 2-1/2 hours. Around 20 to 25 minutes of footage that fleshes out secondary characters and sheds light on the plot would be added to the film pending restoration, he added. But around 5 minutes of the original were probably still missing, he said.'"

Comments

I have nothing insightful to add but

[cptnapalm]

Metropolis is an excellent movie and now there will be more of it for me to see. This is pretty damn cool.

Re:I have nothing insightful to add but

[MightyMartian]

It's probably the most influential "futuristic" movie ever made, and not just influencing future movies (like Blade Runner or Star Wars), but likely being a major inspiration of Asimov's Trantor in the Foundation Series. It's a touchstone for that genre of film, and it's a pretty amazing story too. I haven't seen it since the last restoration in the late 1980s (they had recovered a lot of stills and used it to fill out the plot as much as possible), and I'm really keen to see a version that comes so close to Murnau's original vision.

Don't give them any ideas...

[ActusReus]

If they include dancing CGI creatures, or replace shotguns with walkie-talkies, I'll be PISSED.

Metropolis was distributed with a piano score

[MichaelCrawford]

As was the practice with many silent films: a live pianist would play the music during the film.

The first time I saw it, in a theatre, that piano score was on the soundtrack, and it added a great deal to the whole film. It was very clear that the music was carefully composed to work with Fritz Lang's vision.

Later, a colorized version came out with a modern Heavy Metal score. I didn't care for it at all. It's not that I dislike Heavy Metal, but that the music chosen really didn't work for the film.

I read somewhere that Adolf Hitler was really into Metropolis, and that he held it up as an example that all filmmakers should strive for. Food for thought.

Re:Metropolis was distributed with a piano score

[msuarezalvarez]

I read somewhere that Adolf Hitler was really into Metropolis, and that he held it up as an example that all filmmakers should strive for. Food for thought.

What kind of thought? The kind that goes evaluates X along the line of ÂY had a good/bad opinion of it, and Y is good/bad?, therefore X is good/bad? for various possible choices of the several alternatives?

So exactly how long is it?

[nfk]

A little clarification would be good. IMDB shows lots of different runtimes, depending on the release. I watched the German version a few years ago, and I'm pretty sure it was longer than 2 1/2 hours (I even slept a bit through it, even though I loved the movie). IMDB says that version is 210 minutes long. So is it just because of playing speed, or are there differences between the versions? Has anyone else watched any of the versions referenced in IMDB?

Can we donwload?

[leomekenkamp]

It is a bit sad that this is one of the only few movies we can freely share that can give us insight of how society has been looked at from the past and that may even have formed our society. I mean, is the money that goes to all the copyright holders (who had relatively little to do in the creative process of the film, and creativity is important in arts) in a lot of other films really so important that we should not be able to freely share films our parents saw so many years ago?

Why are 30 year old films still protected by copyright? Is there any reason to think that if one company did not make enough money of one single work in 30 years in this fast-pace global market, things will look different after those 30 years? IMHO, no. Great films like Langs Metropolis should, after a time a lot shorter than 70 years, be more freely shared throughout civilization, for the benefit of all, and not for the 2% extra revenue for a few companies.

I downloaded Metropolis from the Pirate Bay. It was a version that was made to be as close to the original as possible, even with markers where it was cut because else the story would be "to difficult" for the viewers. I wish a lot more films would be legally obtainable that way.

Re:Can we donwload?

[John Hasler]

A major function of insanely long copyrights is to prevent material from entering the public domain soon enough to compete with newly-released stuff. If the Dr. No movie was in the public domain where it belongs you might download and watch it instead of spending $20 on the latest piece of crap.

Re:Good lord

[MightyMartian]

I agree. Boooooriinnng. Most black and white movies suck actually. And if they are silent, you might as well shoot yourself if some pompous "friend" has condemned you to an evening of watching it.

Ah yes, those that deprive themselves of great enjoyment because they don't like black and white films.

A few years ago I rented Rules of the Game from the library. I have to say that I can see why it sits right behind Citizen Kane in most critics lists. What an extraordinary film.

Films like Casablance, Psycho, Treasure of the Sierra Madre and NIght of the Hunter are enthralling films. In fact, I'd say in the case of Night of the Hunter and Psycho, they wouldn't be nearly as effective in color.