Metropolis (1927)

In this article, we will be looking at 2019’s book “1001 Movies to See Before You Die” and going through each film in a random order that I have chosen. We will be looking at what constitutes this film to be on the list and whether I think this film deserves to be here at all. I want to make perfectly clear that I won’t be revealing details from this book such as analyses by film reporters who have written about the film in question, so if you want the book itself you’ll have to buy it. But I will be covering the book’s suggestions on which films should be your top priority. I wouldn’t doubt for a second that everyone reading this article has probably watched many of these movies anyway. But we are just here to have a bit of fun. We’re going to not just look at whether it should be on this list but we’re also going to look at why the film has such a legacy at all. Remember, this is the 2019 version of the book and so, films like “Joker” will not be featured in this book and any film that came out in 2020 (and if we get there, in 2021). So strap in and if you have your own suggestions then don’t hesitate to email me using the address in my bio. Let’s get on with it then.

Metropolis (1927) dir. by Fritz Lang

World premiered in Berlin on the 10th of January, 1927, it was said to have been met with spontaneous applause in most of its scenes by a writer for a Berlin Newspaper at the time. At the time, the length of the film at over two hours was far too long for the day and so, for the American Market a playwright named Channing Pollock was told to cut the film down for viewing purposes. Pollock cut it down so much that a lot of the meaning was lost and Fritz Lang saw the film stating this:

"I love films, so I shall never go to America. Their experts have slashed my best film, Metropolis, so cruelly that I dare not see it while I am in England."

Thankfully, here in England, you can get the uncut version very easily because the cut version is absolute tripe. Seriously, the amount that was cut out and what was cut out means that the movie lost a lot of the main symbolic meaning. Especially when it comes to the robot.

But what better person to weigh in on a Sci-Fi film that the master of Sci-Fi himself, HG Wells? Well, this is what he had to say about the film:

"foolishness, cliché, platitude, and muddlement about mechanical progress and progress in general"

Oh. Oh, okay...

Fritz Lang stated that he would never go to America but when he divorced his wife, she joined the Nazi Party and he ran off to America to escape whatever was coming. She stayed in Germany to write state-approved films.

With an average 9/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, the critics' consensus reads that "Metropolis" is:

"A visually awe-inspiring science fiction classic from the silent era."

Since its release, it has gotten wide acclaim and I'm not going to lie, it is a beautiful film with some brilliant themes and progressiveness. And of course, there were restorations to the movie - the first being in East Germany in 1972 and then that one we all know with the soundtrack by Freddie Mercury done by Giorgio Moroder in 1984 ("Love Kills" begins to play in the background as the article is being written).

Personally, I have seen this movie a few times because I am a pretty big fan of Fritz Lang. I think that this film, apart from being a Sci-Fi film, was also quite a good psychological thriller as it depicts the man and machine argument. There’s a split between what is a machine and what is a soul and sometimes, the lines are blurred. It is a brilliant progressive film that acts upon storylines that were lesser known at the time but serve as a great metaphor for Lang’s home country of Germany and what was becoming of her.