Chichester Cinema at New Park
Metropolis
Fritz Lang’s masterpiece with an extra 30 minutes of footage, and winner of the Audience Award at the 2010 Chichester International Film Festival.
This restored version brings back to the screen the original version of the monumental silent film classic which for decades was considered to be lost. The film was significantly altered and recut after its German premiere in 1927.
But now, 83 years after its first world premiere, the silent movie can be shown just as Lang had intended it. Lang's tale about the struggle between the workers and the owners in a capitalist dystopia achieved classic status, largely because of its impressive production design, which drew on the popular art forms of the time, from German Expressionism to Art Deco and Modernism.
Lang's metropolis became the template for other sci-fi cities, including such modern classics as Ridley Scott's ‘Blade Runner’. The ideas in the story's battle between technology and man have influenced countless films. In 2008 an original but heavily damaged cut of the movie was found in the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires.
The extra footage (totalling 30 minutes) had been transferred to 16mm so the new scenes could not be restored to the same aspect ratio of the 35mm original. Consequently, in the latest restored version there is a slight resizing of the picture when the newly inserted scenes are shown and they are marked with black lines, in contrast to the pristine restoration of 35mm footage. This does not detract from the overall film. The newly adapted music score which is based on the original score of 1927 accompanies the film. To be seen on the large screen, this find of the decade should not be missed.
· 1927/2010 · Fritz Lang · 145min
