4/5 Newly Restored Copy
  by Catalina (Memphis, TN)
Do we know when the newly found copy will be restored and available for sale?

1/5 Wait for it.........
  by Dr. C. (Springfield, Missouri)
a MUCH better version is in the works from the print found in South America. I'm waiting for it. (I already have two other versions.)

5/5 5 stars in honor of Fritz Lang's creation & Moroder's presentation.
  by Greg Purdy (Atlanta, GA)
I do not believe that I could add any more to the praise for Fritz Lang's ground-breaking SciFi classic. Instead I will just add a bit of information for someone that is trying to track down a copy of Giorgio Moroder's fantastic version with his Rock based soundtrack.
The Giorgio Moroder version of Metropolis was released on VHS by Vestron Video, PO Box 4000, Stamford, Ct 06907. The VHS tape has a part number of VA5090 and a UPC of 0-28485-15090. I was lucky enough to buy this from a Video store clerk for $85 about 18 years ago. This version has a fantastic sound track and is really fun to watch. The Moroder version was also released on Laser Disc. Both versions are 87 minutes.
This version would of course be perfect for re-mastering to Blu-ray. One can only hope.

5/5 A true classic
  by Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA)
There are many movies that are termed "a classic" or (God help us!) "an instant classic," but there are some movies that rise so high above all others that it becomes undeniable that they are indeed true classics. This is one of those movies.

Fritz Lang's 1927 movie, Metropolis, tells the story of a dystopian future in which the working class lives below ground, even below the machines that they work that supports the lifestyle of the rich and blessed who live in huge, beautiful buildings. And, one of the most blessed is Freder, whose father runs the entire city of Metropolis. But, Freder's world is rocked when he meets Maria, a beautiful working class girl, through whom he sees that the dualistic world of Metropolis must be made one. There are those who would see Metropolis go up in smoke, either through hatred or ignorance - is Freder and Maria's love enough to win through?

Like I said, this is a true classic, and as you watch it you will see scenes that you have seen before - the workers marching off to work, the workers toiling at their gigantic machines, and the transformation of Rotwang's robot among them. Even though the movie is very old, and incredibly primitive by today's standards, watching it is a very moving and meaningful experience. Indeed, Fritz Lang worked hard to make every image in the movie a work of art, from the Pleasure Garden scene, to the sermons of Maria in the grotto, to the corruption of the image of Maria, to Freder hanging on the clock, and so on with all of the scenes.

This is a great movie, that everyone should watch, and I highly recommend it to everyone!

5/5 AMAZING MASTERPIECE RESTORED by KINO. The BEST available until the full version is released
  by Alberto M. Barral (new york)
I had never seen "Metropolis" before although I have seen many silent films. I looked around for what looked like the best version, the Kino had the best reviews and I think they did an amazing job, the film is very clear and the speed looks fine, this is particularly important for this film where the visual impact is overwhelming from the opening credits when a series of lines create the word Metropolis, and the viewer is directly confronted with the machine world, powerful and frightening, yet beautifully depicted.

The musical score is an additional plus. This edition has the original music by Gottfried Huppertz, which is effective and interesting music, and as excellent complement to the film as one could want.
The viewer should be aware that since this copy was made there have been several original films re-discovered: One at the Museum of Cinema in Buenos Aires, another in Chile and a third in New Zeland, so a full length version with all the missing scenes is to be expected in the near future.

When we see the main "Heart machine" through the protagonist's eyes, we perceive its inherent evil by its transformation into the monstruous ancient god Moloch, devouring in its furnace-mouth the worker-slaves. This vision sequence is one of the best in the film and one of the best in the history of cinema. The extremely complex process required for the subtle transformation is explained in the extra section of the DVD where there are a lot of other useful details on the costume designs, biography of the artists involved, making of the film and interviews with the director himself, many years later, all of which I also recommend watching to fully comprehend the film within the context of the period.

The story line is a typical love story: Freder Fredersen (Gustav Frohlich) is the son of Joh Fredersen (Alfred Able), who rules over the great megacity of Metropolis. Freder, like all happy aristocrats in many ages, is surprised to discover his lifestyle has been built on the backbreaking exploitation of a largely invisible working class (thankfully for the visuals, very attractive men make up most of the groupings) who constantly tend to the machines that make the city work. He discovers the subterranean levels of Metropolis in an effort to understand these lives, but is driven to it by the infatuation with a mysterious and radiantly beautiful woman, Maria (Brigitte Helm) who makes an unexpected apparition at his Club (actually aptly named Club of the Sons, Eternal Gardens) surrounded by a group of the worker's children while she is showing them the garden of the club.
Though the scene is cut short by the Master of Ceremonies of the club and his attendants who clearly find such an intrusion inappropriate-The closeups between Freder and Maria at this point are extraordinary in their expressivity, a whole passion is growing in seconds and the poetry of her perfectly lit face, particularly her eyes in this scene is a highlight of the film and reminiscent of the visual impact of a Garbo closeup. Interestingly while reading the notes, I found out that this great actress of the silent cinema retired only a few years later when she married a German industrialist, and in Pre-Garbo fashion never again appeared or discussed her life in films or interviews to the end of her very long life.

When Freder rushes to see his father we catch a glimpse of that great city, still imposing and futuristic today after so many hundreds of skyscrapers have been built, everywhere in the world. And for us that have lived here in New York for so long that the skyscraper skyline is the most familiar urban landscape, it is obvious that the inspiration for his gargantuan city came to Lang when he visited here in 1924. It is hard to understand from today's perspective, but when the movie was completed, and certainly at the time of that voyage, neither the Chrysler (which particularly resembles the central tower of Metropolis) or the Empire Estate existed, they came years later in 1930-31, the Woolworth building in downtown Manhattan, which was completed in 1913 was the world's tallest structure till 40 Wall street was constructed, ahead of the Chrysler, also in 1930. But since 1908 all the tallest structures of the world were located here, as one replaced the other through the years, and the massive construction, particularly around the financial district, had already given New York a 'Babylonian' look as the city of towers reaching for the stars. In his uniquely perceptive and prophetic way, Lang was already dreaming up the city that developed in the future, but that would already be realized to architectonic perfection in his great film.

The hero's father is a powerful and detached executive, whose every facial expression beams out elegant self agrandizement, as well as the peculiarl expression that comes with absolute power, is worried by both Freder's unnatural interests and Maria's potentially subversive activities among the workers. He makes this discovery through the intelligence of evil scientist: Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge a great actor who portrays this villain to perfection within the contrast of Maria's purity and Freder's innocence.

Rotwang shows him the entire scene of Maria haranguing the workers from a tunnel in his house that is conveniently connected to the catacombs where they meet. She is telling them the story of the Tower of Babel, another sequence of film that is absolutely riveting in its recreation and manipulation of the huge crowds in the construction, who resemble in their enslavement, the citizens of Metropolis and is actually an allegory for their coming rebellion. More importantly, she is prophesying to them of a "Mediator" who will come to "make things better" . Rotwang actually hates Joh Fredersen because he took away his love, an idealized beauty named Hel that appears in the scene in the shape of a marble bust, uncanningly similar to Maria in looks. Fredersen married Hel, but she died giving birth to the young Fredersen. He also has created a robot, an extraordinary creation that can be 'better than man' and he agrees to give it the likeness of Maria in order to destroy both Freder's love for the girl and her own revolutionary activities. But Rotwang has a hidden plan of his own: once the Maria-robot has been unleashed, he will use her to destroy Metropolis and thereby take revenge on Joh Fredersen, though things do not turn out quite as he expects, of course. The transformation sequence of the robot however, is one of the most successful and visually fascinating parts in the movie, and marks it as one of the all time masterpieces of science fiction.

The movie is not only high art and entertaining, but it manages to retain a level of modernity and relevance to contemporary social issues that is still, today, almost a century after its creation, simply baffling. There is a lot here that reminds the viewer of an earlier masterpiece by an American genius of the cinema, Griffith's "Intolerance". It is certainly on the same level of importance and quality as one of the best films ever made.


The missing parts of the movie are explained with titles, and they basically relate to subplots, so I am relieved to think the most important and relevant part of the film is what has survived, though any cut it is to be regretted, given the high quality of the design, scenery and costumes of this movie, which are always perfect. However only last year(2008) a copy of the original film was discovered at the Cinema Museum in Buenos Aires and is currently being restored by the rights holders of Metropolis, the F.W. Murnau Stiftung, which later confirmed that the newly discovered footage largely completes the missing footage, except for a single scene which was badly damaged due to being at a reel end. Although the new footage is reported to be in a "deplorable" condition they had begun restoration work on the rediscovered film this year and a new restored copy is to be expected in the near future, I for one can not wait to see it, though I consider this existing version enough of a masterpiece to be viewed over and over again.