I missed METROPOLIS :-(
Jeremy Bond Shepherd
In spite of all Jon Mirsalis' brooding about playing for the same handful
of diehards who show up for silents, the screening of METROPOLIS he accompanied
tonight at the Pacific Film Archive is Berkeley, California was sold out.
I know because I showed up too late and had to trudge home in the rain,
unfulfilled. Major drag. :-(
- Jeremy
---
Jeremy Bond Shepherd "What do you mean coming here DRESSED like that?
San Francisco, CA Amateur theatricals?"
jb...@netcom.com
ChaneyFan
>>>In spite of all Jon Mirsalis' brooding about playing for the same handful of
diehards who show up for silents, the screening of METROPOLIS he accompanied
tonight at the Pacific Film Archive is Berkeley, California was sold out.
Sorry Jeremy, but on a rainy night, competing with the Olympics and Men's
figure skating, I was as shocked as you to hear that people were being turned
away. Here's my report on what you missed.
The place was indeed sold out, and loaded with 20-year old college students who
were an extraordinarily well mannered bunch. There were some chuckles in a
couple of scenes (when the men are leering at near-nude Helm) and in a couple
of the titles about the hands and the heart, but it was minor and not terribly
disruptive.
This was a showing of the restored Munich Archive print. Eastman House
acquired a print off this negative. It ran 133 min at 20 fps. I had seen this
in the mid-80's shown at 16 fps in dead silence, so this was really the first
time I saw it propely. In addition, the print has no inserted bridging titles
over all the sequences where footage is missing. These titles are black
lettering on white (instead of white on black for intertitles) so you see
exactly where something is cut. At 20 fps there is still about 53 min of
footage missing. There are two uses of stills, which I normally dislike, but
both are stills of a statue (one of the head, one of the inscription at the
base) so it is very unobtrusive.
I have seen METROPOLIS so many times, but seeing this most complete version
with a score and at the right speed (I'm convinced now that 20 fps is
absolutely perfect...18 fps would be too slow, 22 fps too fast), this was a
dazzling experience. It is *such* a good film!
The print was not as good as I remembered it. It is obviously assembled from
several print sources. In some sequences quality is very good, in other places
it looks like a blowup from 16mm. Nowhere can it be described as stunning. In
fact, I have the 16mm print that was the preprint for the Griggs and
Thunderbird releases, and it looks about as good as most of the Munich print.
Here is what is different from the standard release version. I was playing
piano and obviously couldn't take notes, so this is all off the top of my head.
The single biggest improvement is in the titles. The American release changed
many titles around to work around the missing footage and significantly changed
the plot as a result. Now, with the bridging titles in place, everything makes
more sense. For example, I could never understand why Joh Frederson would
incite the workers to riot, thereby destroying the power station for his city.
In this version it is clear that Rotwang double-crossed him. Frederson stole
his wife (or daughter...it isn't clear?) Hel, and Freder is the son of Hel and
Joh Frederson. Frederson asks Rotwang to make the robot look like Maria in
order to discredit her and destroy the worker's faith in her. Instead,
Rotwang, who despises Frederson, tells her to incite the workers to riot,
knowing that this will mean destruction of Frederson's city and probably the
death of Frederson's son. In this context, all the interplay between the
characters makes much more sense.
As far as additional scenes, there are lots of snippets here and there. I know
the American version like the back of my hand, and I would frequently think
"Oh, that shot is new." There aren't a lot of major scenes, but the longer
scenes (1 min or more) that come to mind are:
1. At the beginning, there is a lengthy sequence (1-2 min) of elaborate
gardens, and Freder is asked to choose among several lavishly dressed women
(prostitutes?) who are flirting with him. (Some people commented that the
stadium sequences right before this are unique to the Munich print, but I have
seen them in some American prints.)
2. When Freder meets Maria underground, in the standard version she pretty
much just smiles and pecks him on the cheek, and it's not clear at all why she
bothered with just some guy hanging around. In this version, there are several
titles where she says things like, "My Mediator. Have you come at last?" which
establish that she really understands who he is. After the peck on the cheek,
he then takes her in his arms and gives her a long open-mouthed kiss (no U.S.
3-second rule here!) which adds way more spark to the romance!
3. During the flood, there is a sequence where Freder and Josephat climb up
through a long tunnel trying to reach the flooding city. A cool shot, about
1-2 min, but intercut with other standard scenes.
4. There is a scene of more revelry with the evil Maria dressed in a wild
black gown with pearls. About 1 min of drinking, cavorting, fondling, etc.
5. At the end, there's a great scene where Rotwang is dragging Maria up to the
top of the church. She falls from his arms and grabs onto the rope of the
church bell. The bell begins ringing, which is what attracts everyone's
attention to the church in the first place. (Did you ever wonder why they
looked at the church when there was a burning robot directly in front of them?)
Short, maybe 45 sec., but a great sequence.
Several, maybe most, of these scenes are in the Moroder version since it is off
this print, but I have already commented on the awful editing and cuts (not to
mention the score) in that version, so there is really no comparison.
Overall, this was a dazzling experience. Finally seeing a longer, coherent
print on a big screen, with a score, at the right speed, with a sell-out house,
I was in Heaven! Now that Eastman has a print, this may turn up more often in
the U.S. It will probably never get released to video, and if it is, they
won't do it at 20 fps, so if you ever get a chance to see a screening of this,
do it! I am going to recommend this for a showing at Syracuse for a future
year.
================
Jon Mirsalis
Chan...@aol.com
http://www.sri.com/biopharm/misc/jonfilm.htm
Lon Chaney Home Page: http://members.aol.com/ChaneyFan
Walkm
Jon,
Thanks for teh details on the showing of Metropolis. I'm
relatively new to this newsgroup, and I really enjoyed your comments on the
film.
I just picked up a 117 minute version of this on VHS that was
released in 1997 by a Canadian company, Madacy Entertainment. It's much better
than any of the previous public domain cheapo releases I've seen. (I haven't
seen the Kino version yet). Still love this movie as well as the rest of the
Fritz Lang catalogue.
ChaneyFan
>>>I just picked up a 117 minute version of this on VHS that was
released in 1997 by a Canadian company, Madacy Entertainment. It's much better
than any of the previous public domain cheapo releases I've seen. (I haven't
seen the Kino version yet). Still love this movie as well as the rest of the
Fritz Lang catalogue.
I'm curious about this. The Munich print, if run at 24 fps would be about 111
min. The standard American release version at 24 fps is about 92 min. I
wonder what version this is? Does it contain the footage I listed in my post?
I believe there are no licensed prints of the restored version, but it is
possible that someone got their hands on the Munich print and ran a bootleg
video on it.
Walkm
> I
>wonder what version this is? Does it contain the footage I listed in my
>post?
>I believe there are no licensed prints of the restored version, but it is
>possible that someone got their hands on the Munich print and ran a bootleg
>video on it.
>================
>Jon Mirsalis
>Chan...@aol.com
>http://www.sri.com/biopharm/misc/jonfilm.htm
>Lon Chaney Home Page: http://members.aol.com/ChaneyFan
I didn't see any of the scenes you mentioned about the HEL statue or
subplot. What was different from previous versions I've seen (remember these
have all been the cheapo VHS pd stuff)
was longer shots for the scenes where Maria likeness is transferred into the
Robot, including more of Rotwang's equipment in the lab. Also, this was the
first time I've seen the shot where Rotwang drags Maria up to the top of the
cathedral. Also, there were longer scenes in Fredor's father's office. One
shot in particular that stood out for me was a shot looking down over
Metropolis, with a tower dominating the shot....it reminded me of a similar
shot in Blade Runner.
ChaneyFan
>>>What was different from previous versions I've seen was longer shots for the
scenes where Maria likeness is transferred into the Robot, including more of
Rotwang's equipment in the lab. Also, this was the first time I've seen the
shot where Rotwang drags Maria up to the top of the cathedral. Also, there
were longer scenes in Fredor's father's office. One shot in particular that
stood out for me was a shot looking down over Metropolis, with a tower
dominating the shot....it reminded me of a similar shot in Blade Runner.
These all sound like scenes in the standard American release. The Munich print
robot creation scene was identical to the 93 min American release.
Walkm
<<These all sound like scenes in the standard American release. The Munich
print robot creation scene was identical to the 93 min American release. >>
Is the standard American release available on VHS from a good place you
recommend? I've heard some people suggest getting it from Kino.
ChaneyFan
>>> Is the standard American release available on VHS from a good place
you recommend? I've heard some people suggest getting it from Kino.
I haven't seen any video version of METROPOLIS (and with any luck, I never
will!), but I'm told the Kino version (which is the standard American release)
is not bad.
NWCM
ChaneyFan wrote:
>
> >>> Is the standard American release available on VHS from a good place
> you recommend? I've heard some people suggest getting it from Kino.
>
> I haven't seen any video version of METROPOLIS (and with any luck, I never
> will!), but I'm told the Kino version (which is the standard American release)
> is not bad.
Actually, I found the Kino version disappointing. Not bad,
disappointing. It's my least favorite Kino release but I don't really
know what else to recommend. Buy the Kino with lowered expectations.
Nancy
Walkm
I suppose this may have been covered in posts prior to my finding
this newsgroup, but what's the general consensus about the Japanese import
laserdisc of Metropolis? I've never seen the Georgio Moroder version and I
believe this is the laserdisc version I run into every now and then in my local
video store, which has been asking $60 for it.
Sorry for being so late to the party, but I'm enjoying the
discussion!
GregoryLA
And how does the BBC version which was made available in 1977(?) compare with
the Munich print? Just curious.
I have a copy of it and it runs I believe just over 120 mins.
I do recall it containsthe Pleasure Garden sequence where Freder is asked to
choose from among a variety of women. It also contains an alternate take of
the shot where Freder discovers Maria's handkerchief in Rotwang's house and
goes to grab it.