Metropolis (Restored Authorized Edition) Reviews

This Kino Region 1-only DVD offers an almost pristine-looking video transfer of the film. The untinted, black-and-white image is clean and sharp throughout, the result of a mostly manual frame-by-frame restoration started in 1998 by Germany's F.W. Murnau Foundation. The included jacket essay gives a brief account of its efforts, as well as the work of other restorationists in the past, notably Munich Filmmuseum and film historian Enno Patalas. The DVD supplements also include an excellent mini-documentary that explains some of the technical details in the restoration.

The film's running time on this DVD is 118 minutes (not 124 as printed on the case). It is shown at the speed of 24 frames per second, an unusual frame rate for a silent film. But according to F.W. Murnau Foundation, this was the projection speed used at the film's premiere in 1927. Some viewers may find the motion a bit too fast at times due to the high frame rate. But some believe this was director Fritz Lang's way to intensify some of the action. (For those who want to watch METROPOLIS at a slower speed, there is a PC DVD player called WinDVD 4.0, which lets you extend or shorten a DVD's running time without affecting the pitch of the audio.)

This DVD only has English intertitles (supported by French and Spanish subtitles). The style, typeface, and the occasional animation in the intertitles were all re-created according to the original film. The original score by Gottfried Huppertz was also "adapted" from its 153-minute original length to the current, shorter length. This is the first time I have a chance to listen to Huppertz's elaborately orchestrated score, and it sounds terrific.

This latest restoration, unfortunately, did not recover a lot of film footage that had been missing over the years. Major sequences that were lost, such as Maria's escape from Rotwang, are still lost. To make up for this, and to make the film's plot more coherent, new intertitles were inserted to summarize the story lines of the missing footage. These intertitles are frequently seen in this restored version, a constant reminder of the large amount (a quarter of the film) of lost footage.

I did a brief side-by-side comparison between the Kino DVD and a few old video versions, and discovered the DVD actually has "alternate scenes" that were utilized for this restoration. In other words, Lang apparently shot some of the scenes *twice* (probably for domestic theaters and abroad), resulting in two versions of a scene looking slightly different. For instance, in the running competition early in the film, the winner wins by a big margin in all older video versions that I had seen. But on the Kino DVD, the winner only wins by a hair.

The DVD's audio commentary by Enno Patalas is mild disappointment. As in the Kino DVD of THE BLUE ANGEL, the comments are too sparse and not too in-depth. And long stretches of silence are frequent. The commentary is largely analytical, and it points out some of the key themes and visual motifs of the film.

The other DVD supplements include an involving 45-minute documentary that covers the making of the film, the German Expressionist period, the "unmaking" of METROPOLIS by censors and Hollywood, and a few interview segments of Lang. The still gallery contains about 90 production photos and design sketches, including about 27 photos taken from missing scenes.

Rating: 5 - The must-buy version!
I've read over the reviews given here, after having viewed my own copy of this DVD, and must agree with all of you. This version is really stunningly fine, and a must-buy for anyone at all interested in the history of film, and in quality cinema in general.

My first experience of Metropolis was seeing the usual truncated version in a little community cinema in San Francisco some 23 years ago. The musical accompaniment was improvised brilliantly on the piano by an old friend of mine who had seen the original film in Germany as a teenager! It was an unforgettable experience. I especially remember as I greeted him at half-time him saying (probably about the actor who played Freder), "oh, that one actor is a real Westphalian ham! It's really hard to keep up with him!"

Anyway... this restored version is a great revelation for me. As a composer myself, and one who has been studying silent film music lately, seeing this film restored with the music originally written for it is hugely rewarding. The music is well-written, and perfectly carries across the film-maker's intentions, in a style in keeping with that of the film. It is a model of good silent-film music, worthy of study. It points up all the more how problematic it is when silents are released without proper music (e.g. the DVD of Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin", with a bunch of spliced-together extracts of Shostokovitch symphonies: fine music, but often incongruous with the film; a CD now exists of the original music by Edmund Meisel -- when will someone finally match this with the movie for a true restoration?).

Besides the music, the visual restoration is truly magnificent, often breathtaking in its beauty. Would that all great silent films could get this treatment (but the cost would be astronomical)!

As to speed: actually, there's reference in the DVD (or its booklet, I forget) to the original speed being 25 frames-per-second, which is pretty close to the modern 24 fps. But the action does sometimes look a little frantic, so I wonder about the 20 fps theory... If so, that's about the only flaw in this production.

Again, a must-buy!

Rating: 5 - Magnificent!
Over the years, as an amateur film historian, I have dutifully watched this film several times in its various butchered incarnations (with the sound turned down to stop myself from cringing at the various, woefully inappropriate attempts to score the film). I knew the film was one of the most important films in cinema history, but for the life of me, I just didn't "get" it.

With this new Kino restoration, I finally get it. Metropolis, as it was meant to be seen, really and truly is an astounding film. This restoration is incredible, making the movie look for all the world like it was filmed yesterday. Yes, it still contains its dated pantomime overacting; but, my god, what a beautiful, stunning film! The incorporation of description cards and photo stills to fill in the missing footage really helps to flesh out the story, so it makes more sense. Best of all, the addition of the original 1927 score really enhances the film -- Finally, we have a score that matches the movie's action and historical significance! The score itself is magnificent and memorable, and hopefully will be made available on CD.

This DVD is definitely a must-have for anyone interested in science fiction or film history in general. If you already own one of the older, butchered copies of this film, keep it so you can make comparisons -- It will help you appreciate Kino's restoration even more.

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Metropolis (Restored Authorized Edition)