The Best Version Yet of Fritz Lang's Great Classic
Metropolis was a big-budget box-office bomb when first released in 1927, but later a shortened version running only 90 minutes found success as a cult film. In 2003, Kino put out a restored version on DVD that was about two hours long, and in 2010 the same company released a version on DVD and Blu-ray that added about 25 more minutes of footage. The 2010 version is billed as "The Complete Metropolis," although it still seems to be about six minutes shorter than a widely shown 1927 version.
Fritz Lang's masterpiece is famous for spectacular visuals, and these were retained in pretty much all the versions. Furthermore, the video quality on the 2003 DVD version is about as good as it gets for silent movies. The 2010 version consists of the high-quality 2003 footage plus about 25 additional minutes that have fine black vertical lines and are in a different aspect ratio. Nevertheless, the 2010 version is better overall because it is more emotionally involving.
Metropolis is not just visual spectacle, there's a story: it's a fable about capitalism and labor. The backdrop is a dictatorial tycoon and his workers who toil away under hellish conditions and are on the verge of revolution. But the main character is Freder, the semi-divine son of the tycoon. Freder falls for Maria, the spiritual leader of the workers. Thrown into the mix is a robot double for Maria, intended to provide the tycoon with an excuse to crush the workers. The additional footage greatly enriches the 2010 version, giving plot, characters and theme more resonance.
Bonus Materials
The outstanding extra is the 55-minute documentary titled "Voyage to Metropolis." Of particular interest is the milieu of architecture and art that existed when Lang was creating the film in the mid-1920s. There's also a little about the splendid symphonic musical score, which is done in a 19th-century style. Another aspect of the documentary is how Paramount, which had a big financial interest in the film, drastically shortened it. Quite a bit of time is taken up in a discussion of the restoration work that has been done on Metropolis over the years. Special attention is paid to the 25 minutes of new footage in the 2010 version, which comes from a 16-millimeter print found in poor condition in 2008. But the documentary doesn't explain why the fine black vertical lines couldn't be removed — presumably this was impractical given the current state of computer technology.
The only other bonus material of any consequence is a 9 1/2-minute English-language interview with Paula Félix-Didier, who played a key role in finding the 16-millimeter print at the Film Museum in Buenos Aires. She has some interesting things to say about the Metropolis print in particular, as well as about film preservation in general.
DVD Release Date: November 16, 2010
Total Runtime: 2 hours 28 minutes
MPAA Rating: Not Rated