Every film teacher in the world will be rejoicing on November 23rd when Kino International releases The Complete Metropolis on Blu-ray. This ‘truly’ complete version of the 1927 film features some scenes that were feared lost thanks to Paramount pictures incinerating the original film when it first signed a deal to bring the Fritz Lang classic to America (don’t blame them, though — just the sign of the times). Silent in nature and vicious in story, The Complete Metropolis is everything you’ve heard and more, especially on Blu-ray.
If you’re not familiar with the story it’s pretty simple. Two classes of people exist in the city of Metropolis; the upper class (literally up in the massive towers) and the lower class (those who work underground to keep the city running). When an upper class son falls in love with a lower class woman, things he had never realized before are uncovered as he follows her down into her environment (down under the city). Not only does he discover the dreadful horrors of the world, but he also finds his love kidnapped by an evil scientist and ends up using her to create a robot to control the masses keeping the machines alive and working. If the machines stop then the city stops and utter chaos will break out.
For a 1927 film this is pretty intense. Normally silent movies didn’t give much thought into the art, and powerful storyline. Metropolis did this and it did it on an epic scale. Fritz Lang built giant sets, huge model sky risers and made something that most films in 1927 (and prior) simply couldn’t touch. The film is nothing short of brilliant, though many people of this generation may not get it. Understandably, it is a bit long in the tooth, but that’s by today’s standards. Back in 1927 a two-hour plus film was a rare sight (thus the reason why Paramount brought on the cutters and turned on the burners) and something that studios feared would be too long to keep the budding film audience’s attention (considering most silent films were either Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin or real footage of places that people never visited in their life).
Anyway, the film is everything that Fritz Lang imagined and was very much ahead of its time in terms of narrative structure, special effects and detailed sets. It’s an amazing achievement from beginning to end and if you have the attention span to appreciate such a film then you’re in for a treat.
Now with that said, let’s talk about the real reasons this release interests you. Let’s start with the visuals. The visuals in The Complete Metropolis are unrivaled when it comes to 1927 standards. The picture quality from the film previously released to the public has been cleaned up and nearly flawless when it’s played in HD. Kino and company did a helluva job putting such a remastered, refined, cleaned up version of the film onto Blu-ray. The only flaws are when you get to the 25 minutes added back into the film. Instead of a fullscreen you get a slightly cutoff picture that is extremely grainy. You might thumb your nose at such a notion, but after watching the special features you’ll understand why its grainy and why it looks much better than it did. Only rivaled by the Buster Keaton film that is going to be released from Kino later this month, The Complete Metropolis is a film teacher’s dream when it comes to getting a very clear version of the complete movie in HD. I can only tell you that it’s the best silent film I’ve seen on HD to date. Again, you’ll have to excuse the 25 minutes of added footage, but once you do that you’ll appreciate the rest. The good thing about the grainy footage is at least you’ll be able to identify the added footage.
Anyway, what’s also been improved and cleaned up in addition to the visuals is the audio. The audio has been reworked and orchestrated (in the 2000’s) for the HD film. Using the original composer’s notes, the new soundtrack sounds much better and works well with the HD footage. Music is so darn important and this music, especially, helps the film along. That’s another aspect of Metropolis that’s pretty impressive; the film was more than a Nickelodeon piano being played.
Finally, as features go, you don’t get many special features, but what you do get is fantastic. Here is what you get:
· Original 1927 score by Gottfried Huppertz, performed by the Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, Berlin, conducted by Frank Strobel presented in DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
· “Voyage to Metropolis,” a 50-minute documentary on the making and restoration of the film (presented in HD)
· Interview with Paula Felix-Didier, curator of the Museo del Cine, Buenos Aires, where the missing footage was discovered
· 2010 re-release trailer
Again, not a lot, but the 50-minute documentary is pretty amazing. You get a complete description of how the film was discovered and put back together (and cleaned). Film teachers will simply adore this, especially in HD. For any budding filmmakers out there you simply can’t ignore that feature or the interview that was included. There may not be a lot here in terms of quantity, but there is plenty to be had in terms of quality.
