#89 Metropolis

1927

Director: Fritz Lang

Here it is folks, the one you have all been waiting for, Fritz Langs Classic 1920's German made silent movie, Please try and contain your excitement. In all fairness, I do have some German readers of this blog so maybe they will enjoy a review of the only German (I think) made movie on the list.

This movie is the first full length silent movie I have ever watched, and if it wasn't for this challenge I probably would never have watched one in full. I do have to admit tho, as its silent i did watch it a little faster than normal speed, partly to ease the pain of having to sit through 2 hours of this and partly because I watched it at the gym and didn't want to be on the exercise bike for 2 hours.

So this movie actually has a pretty interesting history, and I think that partly attributed to its cult success, and it being remastered in 2001. The original was made in 1925 costing a massive $5 million dollars, that is about the equivalent to 60-70 million dollars now. So to put that in to perspective, The Host which is out now in the cinema, had a budget of just $40 million. 

When the movie was first shown, it was a 50/50 split between people who loved it and people who thought it was too simplistic in its idea and presentation, and far too long. I have to say tho, the effects for a movie back in the day were spectacular, From a robot woman (pictured below) to different graphics on the screen, to the transformation of the robot to a human being. The reason it got remastered was because of the reaction it got from critics, after the first screening the movie was cut down considerably, and it continued to do so a few more times. Unfortunately due to this cutting, a large portion of the film was lost, so the remastered version had bits added to it to make the story have some kind of continuity. 

So the plot.... Ill break it down so its easy to understand, it is set in 2027 in a futuristic city called Metropolis. Above the ground are the rich and wealthy, who live in high rise towers and have a lavish life style. Below the ground are the workers, slaving away to keep the upper class happy. The owner of the city has a son, he has been brought up in the lavish world above ground and like many, has no understanding of how poor the working class have to live. This all changes when he sees a woman with many children who are having a tour of the impressive "pleasure garden", he is instantly intrigued by her and tries to find her in the under ground factories of the working class. He sees the terrible conditions the other half of the population have to work in and decided to try and close the gap of equality. At the same time, the workers are starting to go to secret meetings being ran by the same woman, she is a prophet who is sure a mediator between the workers and the rich will arrive, the man character turns out to be that mediator. While this is going on his father, crazed by power, has his friend build a robot to mimic the girl and tries to ruin his son, but this only ends up hurting himself. We are constantly reminded throughout the movie that,

The mediator between the head and hands must be the heart

Scores 

Visual
4/10 shocking for most of the movie, as you would expect for a 1920's movie, the effects give it the 4.

Sound
1/10 this is a silent movie so I cant give it much, there has been some music added but its pretty bad.

Acting
3/10 - I always thought a silent film, the acting told the story rather than the words, Not round here my friend.

Plot
7/10 - I liked the plot, and the ideas behind it

Ending 6/10 cant beat a good burning at the stake to end a movie
Final Score

21/50

Its a bad score, you may think ive been harsh because its an 86 year old movie, but I would like you to sit through it and then give it a rating.

Up next is Some Like It Hot.....

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Thanks, Luke.