METROPOLIS Movie Review

Fritz Lang's astounding 1925 science-fiction epic is a classic of the German cinema's golden age. It's the story of a future in which society is neatly divided into haves and have-nots; the “masters” run the city from their palatial above-ground digs, while the workers are squeezed into underground tenements and work like slaves. (Did I say science fiction?) The plot includes a great mad scientist named Rotwang (Rudolph Klein-Rogge, who was also Lang's Dr. Mabuse), who invents a robot who—disguised as a trusted female worker—incites the unsuspecting workers to riot and destroy their own homes. The film's message is for understanding between workers and management, but what the movie's really about is its incredible expressionist design. A restored version—including tinted sequences and some heretofore missing footage—was issued in 1984, and included a truly horrendous soundtrack by Giorgio Moroder featuring Loverboy, Pat Benatar, and Queen. Just turn off the sound, or better yet, try to catch a performance of Metropolis when the Alloy Orchestra accompanies the film on tour. Their score for the film is rousing, witty, and respectful—everything Moroder's is not.

NEXT STOP … Woman in the Moon, Dr. Mabuse, Die Nibelungen

1926 115m/B GE Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Froehlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Fritz Rasp, Heinrich George, Theodore Loos, Erwin Biswanger, Olaf Storm, Hans Leo Reich, Heinrich Gotho; D: Fritz Lang; W: Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou; C: Karl Freund, Gunther Rittau, Eugene Schufftan; M: Gottfried Huppertz. VHS, LV SNC, NOS, MRV