MOVIECLUB #10 - Due Monday 8/03: Metropolis

Metropolis (1927)
Directed by: Fritz Lang



Double-Feature: M (1931)

Other Suggestions: Dark City, Metoroporisu, THX 1138


Honors: #82 on the IMDB Top 250


more info TBA

A beautiful film though even I find it long at times. In many ways it's the primer for many sci fi films involving cyborgs and robots. Interesting accompaniments could also include Blade Runner or AI.

Its kind of funny that I watched this on the day that the Movie Club was supposed to and didn't know a think about it. Anyways, I thought it was great, though silent films I tend to doze off in parts.

I don't know how in-depth we're supposed to go, but it was more like modern-day sci-fi films than I expected. Its very historical, like reading Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" which explored harsh working conditions in meatpacking ("I aimed for the heart and hit the stomach," Sinclair once said). This explored the conditions between the working class and the upper class (there was not real middle class) and was trying to find a way for the two to coexist. It seems like they came up with a union representative, but who really knows if the mob ended up overthrowing them anyways.

Taking into account this movie is over 80 years old I was impressed. It was entertaining enough to keep my 12 year old son watching the entire movie (that's his 2nd full length silent movie he has watched; I didn't watch my first until I was an adult). At times I found the music a bit too much, but most of the time it was effective. The acting of the foreman(?) at the end of the movie was funny, and I mean that as a compliment. He looked just like an unsure, sightly embarressed kid who didn't know what to do until the mediator/heart (son) came and helped. The other acting role that I found interesting was Maria as the robot. It was sort of maniacal as was the world around her at the time. Anyone else think the director might have had a hard time directing hundreds of kids during the flooding scene. I can picture him saying "stop looking like you are having fun, it's meant to be a scary time" as the kids are having a great time splashing around. Actually that was another impressive scene, the flooding, for back in the day.

They're Germans, leestu. They would have been shot if they were having fun.

Thanks for the comments and for keeping Movie Club alive. I'm gonna be a couple o' days late on this one--but I should have a response this week.

just watched THX-1138 for my first time ever.. it's hard to judge it objectively because we watched the "director's cut"--which has clearly been heavily retooled by Lucas.. nonetheless, I loved it..

the film proudly wears its influences on its sleeve (Huxley, Orwell, Beckett, Sartre, etc.), but i was astounded at how many movies i could list as indebted to it (one flew over the cuckoo's nest, 12 monkeys, cube, fortress, and--more obviously--pretty much every dystopian movie filmed since)..

Pleasance and Duvall give pitch-perfect performances.. the music is effective and, obviously, the visuals are unforgettable.. in a stroke of genius, Lucas went the Kubrick/minimalist route in terms of a vision of the future--and, because of it, the movie has dated FAR better than most 70s sci-fi (i'm looking at YOU Logan's Run)

it was hard to watch Metropolis as anything other than an historical artifact.. this feeling was compounded by the fact that much of the original footage is lost and we only have a vague reconstruction of the original work.. this isn't to say that i didn't enjoy it--i did.. but much in the same way i enjoyed The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu.. interesting and entertaining, yes, but hard to identify as (or compare to) the modern medium of film..

i was struck by how much religious symbolism was used throughout the narrative--both explicitly and implicitly.. so many modern (and derivative) visions of the future attempt to sterilize the religious factor, but i think Lang had it right.. religion isn't going away.. Nietzsche and Heidegger would eat their proverbial hats if they could see how much of a dominating force faith remains in international and domestic affairs of the 21st century..

to be honest, though, i felt this movie draaaaagged overall.. and it wasn't the story that was slow--it was the combination of redundant and lingering shots.. not to mention the title-cards that stayed on screen longer than a six year-old would need to read them... i know this movie must've been pretty fucking epic upon first reveal (and even now it's an impressive spectacle), but come on.. after finishing the movie, i went back and watched a few scenes at 1.5x speed (with King Crimson providing the soundtrack) and, damn, i think i would've preferred it this way.. honestly, i don't mind "slow" movies--but this was ridiculous.. case in point: how long did we need to see Rotwang and Maria wrestle over that table (or run around the room, or run around the catwalk, or climb up the side of that rooftop) to get the point?? when this movie was first released, audiences and distributors thought it was too long.. the movie was then recut and SPED UP.. today, that choice is considered sacrilege amongst film purists, but fuck that.. this movie needed a kick in the butt..

anyway, no regrets in watching it, of course.. amazing effects--for the time.. cool movie overall--and even cooler to consider its influence.. aside from the obvious derivations (THX 1138, Dark City, Equilibrium, a bunch of Twilight Zone episodes, etc.), i saw formative bits of Children of Men, Blade Runner, Ghostbusters, Total Recall, Batman, etc..

i actually own a copy of M that i've never bothered to watch.. gonna have to make time for that soon

They've got the full version coming out some time next year. Kino found the lost footage and they are currently restoring it.