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Metropolis

Fritz Lang  •  Germany  • ​ 1927
153 mins  •   Black and white  •   PG
​
 ​English intertitles

Generally considered the first great science-fiction film, "Metropolis" (1927) fixed for the rest of the century the image of a futuristic city as a hell of scientific progress and human despair. From this film, in various ways, descended not only “Dark City” but “Blade Runner,” “The Fifth Element,” “Alphaville,” “Escape From L.A.,” “Gattaca,” and Batman's Gotham City...

“Metropolis” employed vast sets, 25,000 extras and astonishing special effects to create two worlds: the great city of Metropolis, with its stadiums, skyscrapers and expressways in the sky, and the subterranean workers’ city, where the clock face shows 10 hours to cram another day into the work week. Lang's film is the summit of German Expressionism, the combination of stylized sets, dramatic camera angles, bold shadows and frankly artificial theatrics.

The production itself made even Stanley Kubrick's mania for control look benign. According to Patrick McGilligan's book Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast, the extras were hurled into violent mob scenes, made to stand for hours in cold water and handled more like props than human beings. The heroine was made to jump from high places, and when she was burned at a stake, Lang used real flames. The irony was that Lang's directorial style was not unlike the approach of the villain in his film.
DIRECTOR: Fritz Lang​
PRODUCER: Erich Pommer
SCREENPLAY: Thea von Harbou
PHOTOGRAPHY: Karl Freund, Günther Rittau, Walter Ruttmann
ART DIRECTION: Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut, Karl Vollbrecht
MUSIC: Gottfried Huppertz
WITH: Rudolf Klein-Rogge (Rotwang), Gustav Froelich (Freder Fredersen), Alfred Abel (Joh Fredersen), Brigitte Helm (Maria/The Robot)

REVIEW

Metropolis is arguably the pinnacle of Weimar-era cinema’s tendency to visually abstract characters’ mindscapes to the point where the human condition is so supra-humanly romantic that it’s barely human at all. Lang’s film defies rational dissection at every turn, drunk on the possibilities of exploring a new world defined by its creator’s loftiest aspirations, petty jealousies, and domineering hubris. Visionary architect Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel) created the dazzling Metropolis, a futuristic city whirring with elevated highways, Babylonian skyscrapers, and Edenic gardens designed especially for the use of his and his colleagues’ progeny. The city’s subterranean slums, alluded to only as “The Depths,” are a direct reflection of Fredersen’s personal disdain for the plebs of von Harbou’s future.

— Simon Abrams, Slant Magazine


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New Zealand Federation of Film Societies  |  PO Box 9544, Te Aro, Wellington, NZ  
Phone: +64 4 385 0162  |  Fax: +64 4 801 7304  |  Email: [email protected]
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • SOCIETIES
    • AUCKLAND
    • HAMILTON
    • TAURANGA
    • NEW PLYMOUTH
    • WHANGANUI
    • PALMERSTON NORTH
    • CARTERTON
    • WELLINGTON
    • NELSON
    • CANTERBURY
    • TIMARU
    • OAMARU
    • QUEENSTOWN
    • DUNEDIN
    • WESTPORT
  • 2025 SEASON
    • SWEDISH CINEMA
    • KUROSAWA
    • PECKINPAH'S WEST
    • COMEDY CORNER
    • GHOST STORIES
    • NZ FILM
    • RETRO CLASSICS
    • FRENCH CONNECTIONS
    • GERMAN CINEMA
    • WORLD CINEMA