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

Metropolis is really good

[fermion]

I really wish the silent film shown more. It really forced the creative team to utilize what is special about film, i.e. the images, rather than make a movie that is radio with images. Nothing wrong with the later, I actually prefer good dialoque to pretty picture, but have great respect for movies that have both good writing and good cinematography. Action does not hurt either.

Metropolis has action, it is what I would consider the original speculative fiction flick. The original action flick would, I think, be Zorro. Both have plots are driven by sequential credibly related events. Character are stylized, but that is what happens in a yarn. This is kind of different from movies that just degenerate into sequences of special effects driven by some arbitrary plot device. This, in my mind, is really p0rn. Again, not bad, but not film. For instance, I saw the preview to Journey to the Center of the Earth. It seemed to be this kind of random movie. Eye candy.

I am glad the found an original cut of Metropolis, and hope they release it on DVD at some point in the near future. Hopefully it will show up for rental. Highly recommended. For those who can't wait, the current release is on DVD.

Re:I have nothing insightful to add but

[niktemadur]

Ah yes, Fritz Lang's Metropolis - the banned Director's Cut!

Ever heard of Eveready Harton?
You have been warned, it links to YouTube and the cartoon is Extremely Unsuitable For Work, albeit a fascinating artifact of the same era.
The Roaring Twenties were weirder than we can suppose.