Furthermore I challenge any film technician or any of the members on the restauration team of the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation to tell me that this version of Metropolis is transfered at the correct speed. And by that I mean the speed at which any normal human being walks, runs and can gesticulate without looking like an episode from Comedy Capers. Have a look at the final scene where Rotwang chases Maria up the Cathedral. It is actually comical and embarassing to see, taking into account the enormous effort the F.W.M. Foundation took in restoring this monument. Trust me, you don't have to be an animation student or an expert in locomotion to see that the actor's movements are sped up. Even the big clock's second hand in Frederson's office races by at exaggerated speed. When Joh Frederson stands opposite of Rotwang (Hal statue sequence), Rotwang waves his hands frenetically in Fredersen's face to gesticulate refusal. For a moment his hands elude me because of motional blur. Eureka's 1999 release of Metropolis had much better and natural movement of the actors. What very few people know is that Fritz Lang under-crancked the camera for some of the shots in his movie to add drama and weight to some scenes. These little moments of genius gave Metropolis some of its extraordinary atmosphere and appeal and are now completely lost with this release.

In 1927 the German production company UFA ordered the film to be cut for the US release. The American editor charged with this operation also exchanged the German intertitles and scenes with German texts for English substitutes. It's an irony that this release has been labeled "Restored Authorized Edition" for it perpetuates the act of defacing the original print as the editor did in 1927. The claim Kino makes this being a restored edition is at least misleading. Apart from footage that must be considered permanently lost, the claim holds no truth. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines "restore" as: "To put or bring back into a former or original state." Metropolis is a German movie. It used German text and titles. So let's get over the five star rave and try to be at least a little critical. I mean we're talking about one of the most influential and monumental movies of all time. Too bad its fantastic restauration is marred by such obvious flaws.

My first copy of Metropolis was Eureka's 1999 release which runs at 139 minutes on region 2 equipment. Although the image suffers from a very bad transfer and even more missing footage in comparison with this release, it is so much more the viewing experience you want and ultimately can't forget. Speeding up a film destroys the director's artistical vision together with the movies ambience and atmosphere. Needless to say I immediately returned my recently acquired Restored Authorized Edition for a refund.

Until now.

A great chunk of METROPOLIS--perhaps as much a quarter of more--has been forever lost, but this Kino Video DVD release offers the single best version of the film available. The previously cut footage that still exists has been restored; gaps in the film have been bridged by the occasional use of stills and explanatory title cards; the film itself has been painstakingly and digitally restored; and the soundtrack is the Gottfried Huppertz original created for the film's 1927 Berlin debut. In seeing this version of METROPOLIS, I was struck by how very differently it reads from the previously available truncated version. The visual style and the story itself are much more exciting and cohesive, and in the wake of this restoration it becomes impossible to deny the film status as landmark of international cinema.

Freder Fredersen (Gustav Frohlich) is the son of Joh Fredersen (Alfred Able), who reigns over the great city of Metropolis. Freder is surprised to discover his lifestyle has been built on the unseen but backbreaking labor of an entire class of unseen workers who tend the machines that make the city run--and he descends to the subterranean levels of Metropolis in an effort to understand their lives... and, not incidentally, to find the mysterious but beautiful woman Maria (Brigitta Helm) who has inspired his interest in the workers' plight. But his father is concerned by both Freder's interest and Maria's activities among the workers, and he turns to scientist C.A. Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) for aid. Rotwang has created a robot, and he agrees to give it the likeness of Maria in order to undermine both Freder's love for the girl and her own activities. But Rotwang has a hidden agenda of his own: once the robot has been unleashed, he will use her to destroy Metropolis and thereby exact revenge on Joh Fredersen for past transgressions against him.

In many respects the story is simplistic, but the film's visual style and connotations are anything but. Deeply influenced by such art movements as Expressionism, Objectivism, Art Deco, and Bauhaus, the film is visually fascinating--not only in its scenic designs, but in director Lang's famous skill at creating the powerful crowd scenes that dominate the film and building the pace and tension of the film as it moves toward an intense climax. But while one can--and many do--admire the film purely at this level, there is quite a lot going on in terms of philosophical content as well: while it offers few viable solutions, the film raises such issues as the relationship between capital and labor, the place of religion in modern society, human reaction to overwhelming technology, and (perhaps most interestingly) the drift of government into a class-conscious corporate entity. And religious motifs abound in the film: a largely deserted cathedral; Moloch; the Tower of Babel; and crosses--intriguingly juxtaposed with a repeating motif of the pentagram-like designs associated with the robot. It is fascinating stuff.

There has been complaint that this restoration runs at incorrect speed and the performances are therefore unnecessarily jerky. I did not find this to be the case. In certain instances the movement is deliberately jerky and mechanical--the workers are a case in point--but beyond this there is nothing for which the difference between silent acting and modern acting techniques cannot account. There has also been some complaint that the title cards should have been left in their original German and translated via subtitle. There is a certain validity to this, but it seems a minor quibble; title cards were typically translated in the silent era itself. The DVD includes a number of extras, including still photographs, biographies of the major figures involved in the film, and two interesting documentaries-one on the restoration process and one on the creation of the film itself. Both are interesting; the audio commentary track by film historian Enno Patalas, however, is mildly disappointing. But when all is said and done, it is the film that counts. And this restoration is a remarkable achievement, to say the least, a project which brings a great landmark of world cinema back from the edge of the abyss. Indispensible; a must-own.

--GFT (Amazon Reviewer)--

It is a pity that this film will almost certainly NEVER be completely restored. Like The Magnificent Ambersons, this is a masterpiece that seems permanently damaged. But in 2002, the next best thing was done; and the most complete possible restoration was carried out.

The results are truly remarkable. You can see that silent films were NOT originally shown in a spotty, scratchy condition with hyperactive actors. When they first came out, silent movies looked just as good as any modern movie (well, maybe less screen-resolution). The original soundtrack was discovered and recorded - and it, too, is a revelation. Silent movies were NOT actually silent - they had live soundtracks (though only rich premieres had full orchestras). The soundtrack is as well-composed as any modern soundtrack. I initially thought I would not be able to get used to another soundtrack after hearing the Moroder version - but now I think I can't see the film any other way.

Most importantly, the film now actually makes sense! Every scrap of film possible was extracted from archives all over the world, to make the film as complete as is humanly possible. The scenes still missing (alas, comprising a quarter of the film even now) are signified by intertitles telling the audience what they ought to be seeing. This is not a perfect compromise, but it's probably the best solution.

Silent movies often look strangely modern, since they concentrate almost entirely on visuals at the expense of the actors (a feature that, incidentally, made movies easier to show overseas than any modern movie). Compare that to our movies, which are very heavy on visuals and contain the simplest and least amount of dialogue possible in order to cater to foreign markets. Also, the complete manipulation of the image, so favoured in Metropolis, is very much like modern computer graphics.