Michael Hinman at SyFy Portal drops a bombshell. He reported that it seems the complete uncut Metropolis movie, yes the one by Fritz Lang, is back thanks to a museum director in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Paula Felix-Didier has possibly the biggest cinema find of the century so far, according to German magazine ZEITmagazin, with what is the entire film including scenes that have not been viewed in decades! The only version of the 1929 film that was thought to exsist was the Americanized version written by Channing Pollock. The full-length version of the Fritz Lang film had been seen only once, at its 1925 premiere in Germany. The film even contains sceans that were not in the American version and these sceans are vital to truly understanding the work as a whole.
<read how the film was discover and how it came to be in Argentina in the first place>
<read how the film was discover and how it came to be in Argentina in the first place>
5 comments:
Great news. I hope they release the new version. For my money, Lang is one of the best filmmakers ever. Not just for "Metropolis" and the brilliant "M", but for very strange, unforgettable things like "The Testament of Dr. Mabuse" (see the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bLMRPpSToI)
Fantastic!
I was watching one of the cut-down versions only a week or so ago.
I hope it is released as a dvd!!!
In some ways, Metropolis might be viewed as a distant relative of sorts of my own dystopia 'Mallcity 14'.
I'm with everyone on this. I love the version that is easily available and would love to see the missing scenes. Lang was an extremely innovative director - I also like his Frau im Mond, though not as much.
Nelson and Wolfkahn,
Do you know what the letters mean in the bottom corners of the Metropolis poster in the original post? (probably something obvious, that I'm missing at this early time of morning!)
Shaun, the letters stand for UFA, a German production company that did innovative projects. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universum_Film_AG
You really must see "Testament of Dr. Mabuse," released just as Hitler came to power. Completely fascinating exploration of the Nazi ideas in Germany at the time. Don't think I've seen anything like it.
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