Rotwang
Sr Member
I liken the version of metroplis we have seen until now with a heavily cut
down version of say, the Witches of Eastwick.
Now imagine you have seen the film and heard that Jack Nicholson plays a
major role in it, but all the versions you ever saw have Jack pop in a few
times and most of his scenes is missing.
That's what Metropolis feels like, suddenly a whole new character is part of
the story and he is damn great. I'm talking about the tall slim, somewhat
vampirish man Fredersen sends to keep an eye on his son Freder. He just
pops in a few times and looks ominous, that's about it. In the original
1927 reviews, Fritz Rasp, the actor is praised as one of the highlights of
the film, and we finally have him back.
Speaking of back, if you ever bet the maschinenmensch doesn't come with a back, you do get a shot of her back. At least her shoulders and head.
If you have any idea of the original story and have seen stills of the missing scenes you may think you have a pretty good idea of what you can expect, but this version throws a real curveball at you. Some of the best scenes and hammy expressionist acting to ever grace celluloid are there. Rotwang showing off his lost hand is a real hoot. Fredersen seeing the gigantic memorial to his dead wife is a touching moment.
A lot of the lost scenes deal mostly with background characters and their
involvment in the story and everything finally makes sense. How Maria
escapes the flooding city of the workers only to be hunted by them in the
upper city. It's all there and the movie suddenly works much better.
Freder's heroic side is strongly reinforced in this version.
At some point during the worker's revolt Fredersen tells Grot, the
supervisor to open the doors. We finally see the doors and by heck, they
could keep out an army of Jedi. Either George Lucas has some supernatural
powers of clairvoyance or he has a hidden copy of Metropolis, because
Metropolis has blast doors that makes those in Phantom Menace.look like a
bead screen.
Sadly, the restored footage is unsharp and streaky. There is only so much
digital cleanup can do. Dirt and scratches amalgamated over decades and
were copied onto the 16mm film and they are very visible. The image was
also cropped, but the essence of Metropolis is still there, the story is
restored.
Unlike what has been said previously two scenes are still missing. The Monk in the Cathedral and the fight between Fredersen and Rotwang, which allows Maria to escape.
A number of scenes have been tweaked from the 2001 version probably based on the complete 16mm footage. Also the digital cleanup is better now. Problems with lighting have been fixed and the earlier digial cleaning
technique seemed to have removed the more extreme levels of dark and light, making for a fairly flat, dull image with a lot of ghosting and other
problems. But now shiny objects really gleam, the robot suddenly acquires
her true metallic sheen and looks properly 3D. Even Rotwang's hand looks
sleek and menacing instead of rubbery.
The live music is also an improvement over the 2001 restoration. The tempo is different, the sound is deeper and richer overall.
If you thought the 2001 restoration was great, this version will quite
simply blow you away. You haven't seen Metropolis until you have seen this version.
down version of say, the Witches of Eastwick.
Now imagine you have seen the film and heard that Jack Nicholson plays a
major role in it, but all the versions you ever saw have Jack pop in a few
times and most of his scenes is missing.
That's what Metropolis feels like, suddenly a whole new character is part of
the story and he is damn great. I'm talking about the tall slim, somewhat
vampirish man Fredersen sends to keep an eye on his son Freder. He just
pops in a few times and looks ominous, that's about it. In the original
1927 reviews, Fritz Rasp, the actor is praised as one of the highlights of
the film, and we finally have him back.
Speaking of back, if you ever bet the maschinenmensch doesn't come with a back, you do get a shot of her back. At least her shoulders and head.
If you have any idea of the original story and have seen stills of the missing scenes you may think you have a pretty good idea of what you can expect, but this version throws a real curveball at you. Some of the best scenes and hammy expressionist acting to ever grace celluloid are there. Rotwang showing off his lost hand is a real hoot. Fredersen seeing the gigantic memorial to his dead wife is a touching moment.
A lot of the lost scenes deal mostly with background characters and their
involvment in the story and everything finally makes sense. How Maria
escapes the flooding city of the workers only to be hunted by them in the
upper city. It's all there and the movie suddenly works much better.
Freder's heroic side is strongly reinforced in this version.
At some point during the worker's revolt Fredersen tells Grot, the
supervisor to open the doors. We finally see the doors and by heck, they
could keep out an army of Jedi. Either George Lucas has some supernatural
powers of clairvoyance or he has a hidden copy of Metropolis, because
Metropolis has blast doors that makes those in Phantom Menace.look like a
bead screen.
Sadly, the restored footage is unsharp and streaky. There is only so much
digital cleanup can do. Dirt and scratches amalgamated over decades and
were copied onto the 16mm film and they are very visible. The image was
also cropped, but the essence of Metropolis is still there, the story is
restored.
Unlike what has been said previously two scenes are still missing. The Monk in the Cathedral and the fight between Fredersen and Rotwang, which allows Maria to escape.
A number of scenes have been tweaked from the 2001 version probably based on the complete 16mm footage. Also the digital cleanup is better now. Problems with lighting have been fixed and the earlier digial cleaning
technique seemed to have removed the more extreme levels of dark and light, making for a fairly flat, dull image with a lot of ghosting and other
problems. But now shiny objects really gleam, the robot suddenly acquires
her true metallic sheen and looks properly 3D. Even Rotwang's hand looks
sleek and menacing instead of rubbery.
The live music is also an improvement over the 2001 restoration. The tempo is different, the sound is deeper and richer overall.
If you thought the 2001 restoration was great, this version will quite
simply blow you away. You haven't seen Metropolis until you have seen this version.
