Capital Celluloid 2016 - Day 251: Thu Sep 8

Metropolis (Lang, 1927): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 5.55pm


This film screens as part of BFI Southbank's Big Screen Classics season and is also being shown on September 13th. Full details here.

Chicago Reader review:
Fritz Lang's 1927 silent epic about class struggle in a city of the 21st century still has a lot of popular currency, but it's never been a critics' favorite. This 124-minute version is the longest since the German premiere, and the unobtrusive use of intertitles to fill in the blanks makes it more coherent. The restoration clarifies the relationships among the hero (Gustav Fröhlich); his late mother, who died giving birth to him; his father, the ruler of Metropolis (Alfred Abel); and the father's bitter romantic rival (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), an inventor who creates a robot in the mother's image. Later the robot is upgraded to impersonate the hero's heartthrob (Brigitte Helm), a radical preacher who helps organize the city's exploited workers. The film looks fabulous, and Gottfried Huppertz's original score is another worthy addition.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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