Escape Artists
The Lounge at the End of the Universe => Gallimaufry => Topic started by: Heradel on April 03, 2008, 10:46:00 PM
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Confused? See here: http://forum.escapeartists.info/index.php?topic=1476.0
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Metropolis
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/Metropolisposter.jpg)
Metropolis is a silent science fiction film created by the famed Austrian-German director Fritz Lang. It was produced in Germany in the Babelsberg Studios and released in 1927 during the height of the Weimar Republic. It was the most expensive silent film of the time, costing approximately 7 million Reichsmark (equivalent to around $200 million USD in 2005) to make.
The screenplay was written in 1924 by Lang and his wife, Thea von Harbou, and novelized by von Harbou in 1926. It is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and examines a common science fiction theme of the day: the social crisis between workers and owners in capitalism.
— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_%28film%29
Links:
Amazon: $10 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000REQTJU/escapepod-20) , $30 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00007L4MJ/escapepod-20)("Restored Authorized Edition")
Netflix (http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Metropolis/60026474)
IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/)
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For next week (Thread goes up Monday):
Serenity
No introduction needed.
Links:
Amazon:$12 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BW7QWW/escapepod-20) (Widescreen), $20 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000Q9IZ5C/escapepod-20) (Collector's edition)
Netflix (http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Serenity/70035994)
IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/)
Let me know if the links are broken.
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It's difficult to discuss Metropolis without first establishing which version of the film people have seen. Since there are public domain, and copyrighted titles out there, and virtually all with footage missing, reordered, reinserted, or reinserted as stills, not to mention a dozens of different soundtracks and stuff...
That said -
I was fortunate enough to see the mid or late 1980's Georgio Moroder rerelease in the theater which restored several minutes of footage, tinting, some stills, and a new score featuring some metsa-metsa pop tunes along with the visuals. I absolutely loved every minute of it.
I've also seen some of the cheapy releases on VHS and DVD with various piano scores and/or stock soundtracks. I am guessing the restored version linked above is probably closest to Lang's original, but even then I can't say for sure. The story has always stuck with me though, and I loved the dichotomy of the workers and leisure/management classes and how when finally exposed to just how dire the situation below the city is, Freder becomes a reformer even as his father is hatching a plan to lead the workers into a suicidal rebellion.
Lang's camerawork, especially stuff like attaching a camera directly to the cameraman and swinging him at Freder to simulate an explosion, is fantastic. The miniatures never seem to feel like a scale city, and even film like Things to Come (which I also love) don't manage to look as convincing as Metropolis does.
Just can't say enough good things about this film. Today much of the moralizing in it will look ham handed, but I think remembering that it was produced in 1927 at the height of the industrial revolution when Germany was all but bankrupt, helps keep it in perspective.
For science fiction on film, it doesn't get much better than Metropolis.
And for crime drama, Lang's "M", the film that introduced Peter Lorre to film, is the best crime drama ever made.
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Well Done, Heradel! The Netflix link worked like a charm. Though I didn't get there in time to make it my next flick... Hero (http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Hero/60027142?trkid=226870) went out this afternoon. :)
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Well Done, Heradel! The Netflix link worked like a charm. Though I didn't get there in time to make it my next flick... Hero (http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Hero/60027142?trkid=226870) went out this afternoon. :)
Oh good, those were the links I was most unsure about, and thank you. I'll be getting the movie from a friend of mine with a larger DVD collection (and apartment) tomorrow, so I'll get to it when I need to take a break from homework this weekend.
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For next week (Thread goes up Monday):
Serenity
No introduction needed.
What's Serenity? :P
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I live right near the Babelsburg Studios. I saw Metropolis a few years ago. There was a bit of history at the beginning of the film. No prints of the movie survived the war in Germany. This is why there is no real complete original version of the film. I don't know if there are any writings or anything left from Lang to tell us what the film really should look like.
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This was just on AMC or TCM a week or so ago. I almost watched it, but I didn't.
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Okay... just finished it, and it was agonizing.
Not to say I didn't appreciate it, but it took the spirit of Tom Crow to get us through. I take full responsibility for being too immature and silly to handle 2 hours and 4 minutes of classic German cinema without making zombie jokes and laughing out loud at the "erotic dance" of Hel. (I couldn't decide which was more ridiculous: her dance, or the seething, lustful masses seething at her so lustfully.)
But to my surprise, the 11-year-old actually stuck with me, and once she recognized the similarities between the Machine-Man and C-3PO, she started to get into it. We were starting to nod off near the end of the Prelude section, but we managed to build to a state of utter hilarity during the fight scene on the roof of the cathedral. Her giggles as Rotwang and Freder tussled to the improvised dialogue ("You stop tickling me with your fake hand or I'll kick you in the ding-ding!" led to Rotwang's anguished cry of "My ding-diiiiiing...!" as he plunged to his doom) and our outright guffaws as Grot gamboled by the robot bonfire ("I'm the world fattest Leperchaun!") were probably not the reactions Fritz Lang had in mind.
I don't suppose I will be able to MST3K my way through Children of Men, but I also won't be watching it with such a bad influence at hand. :)
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As TAD has pointed out this is not a modern film. Metropolis is from the same year as the first Laurel and Hardy silent film. Many of the conventions have not held up. All of the actors' movements and expressions are over emphasised. These guys were actoring to the back row of Olympic Stadium during their close-ups. Another thing I noticed was that all of the non-close-ups seemed to be shot at a slower film rate. People seemed to move alright in close-ups, but during all of the other shots they were moving just a little too fast and erratically.
If this came out today, I'd be the first to rip it apart. As a piece of history, it's really interesting. We have robots, but no cell phones, no automated machinery, no computers.
In short you can look at it with a serious eye and find something to look at or you can grab a couple of beers and ridicule it until the cows come home and have a great time.
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Apparently, a copy of the long lost full print of Metropolis has been found in Buenos Aires of all places.
http://www.zeit.de/online/2008/27/metropolis-vorab-englisch?page=1
Perhaps in a year or two after restoration is done, we can all see a version of this film that actually makes sense!
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I prefer this version (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293416/).
(http://www.pleinlabobine.com/images/Films2006metropolis.jpg)
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I prefer this version (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293416/).
Not me. I reviewed that film a few years back.
Metropolis -
There is a lot to be said for Fritz Lang’s 1925 masterpiece of science fiction, Metropolis. From a design standpoint Lang’s work is a seminal exercise in how to make a movie look, from a script standpoint Lang’s work is both a biblical allegory and a cautionary tale about the dangers of structured inequality.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, yet Taro Rin’s take on Lang’s work is not so much imitation as it is a deeper retelling. From a design standpoint Rin’s film is a strange duopoly, the design of cities and machines is breath taking. However, his depiction of people, while stylised to resemble cartoons of the 1920s and 30’s, is distracting and a constant reminder that “it’s just a cartoon.” Imagine watching Tron but replace all the characters with Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons, or Betty Boop.
http://www.horrorview.com/Metropolis.htm