7 minute read
Metropolis
Text: Barbara Eichhammer
Metropolis Breaks Many Records
Most well-known German film of all times, one of the most important classics of film history and precursor of the commercial blockbuster. FRITZ LANG’s expressionistic silent film centres around a two-tier society in the eponymous futuristic city. METROPOLIS is also regarded as forerunner of the SCIENCE FICTION FILM. In 2001, it was the first film to be made UNESCO Memory of the World. At its release, however, »Metropolis« failed disastrously at the box-offices and came under scathing criticism. A short introduction into the eventful history of the classic.
The Film
FRITZ LANG’s silent film METROPOLIS is set in a futuristic city with gigantic skyscrapers, which were inspired by New York’s Art Nouveau architecture. Metropolis alters the zeitgeist of the Roaring Twenties and the belief in progress of the WEIMAR REPUBLIC into a dystopia. The futuristic epic sketches a fundamentally new and distinctly gloomy version of big city life, which threatens to substitute humanity with machines. The modernistic city is characterised by stern class segregations: While the elitist upper classes enjoy their luxuries, the working classes have to dwell in cramped mass shelters in a dark underworld beneath the city. Such a society structure is reminiscent of Marxist theories of capitalism and of literary pretexts from the science fiction genre such as »The Time Machine« by H.G. Wells. The sole sovereign over the technocratic Metropolis is the powerful manufacturer and its builder Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel), who controls and reigns his city from the new »Tower of Babel«. One day, his son FREDER FREDERSEN(GUSTAV FRÖHLICH) goes into the depths of the workers’ city. There, he meets MARIA (BRIGITTE HELM), who is highly appreciated by the workers. As one of the few she dares to express love and tolerance in her speeches and sketches a promising future – beyond strict class differences.
Though the consequence is a revolution. With its pioneering visual aesthetics, gigantic settings and unprecedented special effects, METROPOLIS inscribes itself into film history as a classic. Its depiction of flying cars, robots, machines and even a highly-modern screen phone turn Fritz Lang’s silent film into the undebatable forerunner of the science fiction genre. The film boasts even more superlatives:
METROPOLIS is the internationally most-known silent film from Germany, which was – with five million Reichsmark – in 1927 the to-date most expensive UFA- PRODUCTION of all times.
Brigitte Helm
Fritz Lang
The Film's Reception
METROPOLIS was shot in 1925 and 1926 in the BABELSBERGER FILMSTUDIOS in Berlin. Its premiere took place on 10 TH JANUARY 1927. Hard to believe, given its current cult status: The silent film was pulled to pieces by both critics and audience after its first release. Even if its filmic effects and technical realisations were positively received, criticismon the script by THEA HARBOUR (Fritz Lang’s wife) was scathing. »Metropolis« developed into a financial fiasco at the boxoffices. The audience numbers and turnaround disappointed so much that the commercial failure almost ruined the Ufa. The audience of the Weimar Republic (which loved to believe in progress) apparently couldn't relate to this sombre story: A civilisation which chooses its own ruin was too abstract for the viewers of the Roaring Twenties. The classic is, however, an integral part of our contemporary cultural memory: METROPOLIS is one of the most-cited films in the history of cinema. Visual and narrative references to its figures, costumes or settings can be found in Hollywood cinema until today. Thus, many contemporary science fiction movies such as »Blade Runner« (1982) or »The Fifth Element« (1997) cite the known pretext. Moreover, the scenery of Gotham City in Tim Burton’s »Batman« (1989) also refers to the silent film. The most known reference from popular culture is probably the golden protocol android C3PO from »Star Wars« who was inspired by Lang’s machine humans. Superman’s hometown on earth is as well named after the science fiction epic.
Expressionistic Silent Film
METROPOLIS is regarded the most well-known silent film of GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM. Together with DAS CABINETDES DR. CALIGARI (1920), »Metropolis« shows a unique aesthetic which was influenced by contemporary expressionistic paintings of the 1920s. Contrasting lighting, which is intensified by painted shadows, distorted perspectives and props as well as exaggerated gestures by actors, count among the main features of expressionistic film.
It is particularly the spectacular props of Lang’s futuristic city that broke all conventions. Lang combined new perspectives of larger-than-life skyscrapers with collapsing buildings and destroyed machines. The film architects ERICH KETTELHUT,KARL VOLLBRECHT and OTTO HUNTE created a deceptively real looking model city. Inspired by his travels to New York, Fritz Lang experimented with trick techniques to resurrect the gigantic commercial billboards and lights of the American city on screen. He used multiple exposure for this effect. Moreover, he employed the time-consuming TECHNIQUE, i.e.each single frame of a motive is taken individually while small aspects are minimally altered in the frame. When the single frames are shown consecutively, the illusion of motion is created just like in an animation movie. Thus, camera man GÜNTHER RITTAI had to move 300 model cards in millimetres to depict the busy streets of Metropolis on screen. »EIGHTDAYS WORK FOR 10SECONDS OF FILM«, he commented on this technique. This pioneering cinematographic realisation of a future city made »Metropolis« into a unique documentation of its times: Fritz Lang’s silent film was declared MEMORY OF THEWORLD BY THE UNESCO. It now has the same cultural status such as the Gutenberg Bible, »Nibelungenlied« or Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9 th symphony.
Lost Cultural Heritage
The history of »Metropolis« is also always related to aspects of loss, its production circumstances and questions of cultural heritage. For after its premiere, the production company Ufa was so financially ruined that it was taken over by media magnate ALFRED HUGENBERG in March 1927. »Metropolis«’ original version was confiscated, and all existing copies were destroyed. Since the production company hoped that the film could be sold better at the box-offices, it made it considerably shorter. Thus, »Metropolis« was edited by 1,000 film metres after its debut. The new, abridged and altered version hit the box-offices in August 1927, where it failed again and found no financial success. The result: THE ORIGINAL WAS LOST. After a decade-long-history of SEARCH AND RESTAURATION, theFRIEDRICH-WILHELM-MURNAU- STIFTUNG in Wiesbaden succeeded in finding long-lost film material. A sensational find in a film archive in BUENOS AIRES in 2008 made the breakthrough: An almost complete film version of the premiere original laid the foundation for an extensive reconstruction. Thus, the new, remastered version could celebrate its opening almost 83 years later at the BERLINALE IN 2010. Nevertheless, a quarter of the film is considered to be lost forever. The 118 minutes version uses new intertexts to fill the lost gaps. An exciting contestation with our cultural heritage and the attempt to not forget.
