Metropolis

Fritz Lang's Metropolis? Oh yeah, Pat Benatar did the soundtrack right? Not exactly. Prior to 2002, most audiences (living, that is) had only experienced the German director's masterwork in either severely truncated public domain cheap videos or in the 1984 restored (87 minutes), color-tinted version sporting a rock soundtrack overseen by Giorgio Moroder and featuring Pat Benatar, Billy Squier, and Adam Ant, among others. Kino's new restored version, by contrast, clocks in at 119 minutes (shorter than the DVD jacket claim of 124 minutes, but considerably longer than any other release since its 1927 Berlin premiere). A seminal film both in the evolution of the science fiction genre (influencing Blade Runner, Dark City, and--most recently--the 2001 feature-length anime Metropolis [VL-5/02]) and in the history of silent films, Metropolis's projection of life in the 21st century is a visually stunning experience, even if the story scripted by Lang's wife Thea von Harbou is somewhat simplistic (when it's not semi-incoherent) and the film's politics rather naive. In a nutshell: the elite live the high life--both literally and figuratively--in luxury skyscrapers, supported by the labor of the oppressed subterranean masses until a pampered son (Gustav Fröhlich) of a titan of industry suddenly becomes aware of the plight of the workers, and joins a revolutionary plot led by the radiant and fiery Maria (Brigette Helm), setting into motion an apocalyptic chain of events that ultimately underscores the message that "the mediator between head and hands must be the heart." Numerous snippets from lost subplots are reinserted here along with intertitles meant to fill in the narrative gaps, making this version featuring the original 1927 orchestral score the definitive one. Sporting a very handsome restored image and sharp sound, the disc also features a handful of less than sterling extras: a soporific commentary by film historian Ennio Patalas that relies far too heavily on simple descriptions of what we're already seeing for ourselves; a so-so 44-minute retrospective making-of documentary, a nine-minute featurette on the new restoration; and photo galleries. One of the few silent films that unreservedly belongs in all feature film collections, this is highly recommended. [Note: also newly available from Kino, Lang's nearly five-hour 1924 fantasy epic Die Nibelungen in a special double disc edition priced at $39.95.] (R. Pitman)