Metropolis
 

Has anyone seen the new restored 35mm print Metropolis? The running time is 124 minutes. Any comments? I'm thinking of seeing this new version. It's playing at Cinematheque here in Downtown Vancouver.

Ah, thanks for the reminder.

Speaking of robots, Robert Wise's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was just released on DVD.

Two of my favorites! I've both on laserdisc but didn't realize that they were being released on DVD. Gotta go to amazon now.

Keith, want to take a sick day and catch a matinee of Metropolis later this week? :)

I saw the new Metrolopolis print at the 28th CWRU Science Fiction Marathon in January.

The mediator between the hands and the brain must be the heart!

Out of all the interesting visuals in that film, the one that stands out most in my mind are the quirky head and eye tics Brigitte Helm affects as the robot clone.

Film purist objections notwithstanding, I think the movie would be much improved--sped up if nothing else--if the title cards were just turned into subtitles. Sufficiently talented voiceover performers could even redub the original German dialogue spoken by the actors. It's just such a chore to watch lines being mouthed and then have to read title cards; I'd much rather just read subtitles to German, or even subtitles to silence, than have to repeat every line of dialogue in the movie twice.

Dylan, I'm taking next week off to finish Umbrella Killa.

<<<-- Originally posted by Keith Loh : Dylan, I'm taking next week off to finish Umbrella Killa. -->>>

:0
Surely this is one of the signs of the Apocalypse!




Today is the last day for Metropolis anyway. I'll just get it on DVD.
Want to take a morning next week and go do some practice shooting in Stanley park or around downtown for a couple hours?

re: film purists
 

R.K.S.: I don't know about the title cards idea, but maybe if it was a double sided disc...besides, we should appreciate the title cards; if they had decent subtitles in the pre-sound ere, The Jass Singer (and every other talkie) would have been delayed by probably 15 more years.

Darn! I didn't get to go see it due to a screwed-up upper back from spending too much time on the computer; plus my other, cat commitments interfered with the March 5th showing. (I look after 3 cats. I inject them with solution, and shove pills down their throats. Sweet little creatures---one's 22 years old!)

The Day the Earth Stood Still? That's one of the best ones ever made. But then there's always Barbarella. :D

<<<-- The Day the Earth Stood Still? That's one of the best ones ever made. But then there's always Barbarella. :D -->>>

Don't forget Flesh Gordon!

I only caught bits and pieces of flesh. One of these days I'll have to watch the whole thing through...when I'm feeling a bit strange.

I saw metropolis over thanksgiving weekend in Detroit. Lucky for me it was showing when i was back visiting family. It didn't come to Central Florida at all! It was an amazing experience. I would HIGHLY recommend getting it on DVD. I have the old dirty DVD and the difference is amazing.

Boy do I agree. I just saw the restored Metropolis (DVD) and it is absolutely the finest restoration I've ever seen. Comparing my old copy (on laserdisc) with this version is jaw-dropping. It's such a shame that 25% of the film was irretrievably lost. Still, anyone interested in film history should really find an opportunity to see this.

Another film that gets a restoration treatment every score or so when new 'lost' footage is discovered in some distant vault is Frank Capra's Shangri-La adaptation Lost Horizon (1937). Interesting film--no less hamhandedly moralizing than Metropolis (1927), but still a shame to see such big chunks of it probably gone forever.

Ditto for the epic Nazi-produced version of Münchhausen (1943).

<<<-- Originally posted by Robert Knecht Schmidt : Another film that gets a restoration treatment every score or so when new 'lost' footage is discovered in some distant vault is Frank Capra's Shangri-La adaptation Lost Horizon (1937). Interesting film--no less hamhandedly moralizing than Metropolis (1927), but still a shame to see such big chunks of it probably gone forever.

Ditto for the epic Nazi-produced version of Münchhausen (1943). -->>>

The last time I say Lost Horizon the missing footage was replaced by stills with the audio over the top. I quite liked the effect, though it did make the film hard to watch, since it breaks up the flow.

I found the 1943 Münchhausen version quite impressive. I only ever saw it once, just after the release of Gilliam's Munchausen film, which I'm not keen on, it's like a bad panto. The 1943 version is definitely lavish and stylish, with a far better take on the Munchausen story, shame it's pedigree is so disagreeable, otherwise it would be better known.

The scene I've always remembered is the shooting dual in the darkened room. Damn, I really would like to see the film again.