Metropolis Film Review

The 1927 film Metropolis is the quintessential expressionist Sci-Fi film. Complete with a maiden in distress, a mad professor and an insane robot on the loose, this film set the trope for many films that would come. As stated by Roger Ebert; Metropolis does what many great films do, creating a time, place and characters so striking that they become part of our arsenal of images for imagining the world. Lang filmed for nearly a year, driven by obsession, often cruel to his colleagues, a perfectionist madman, and the result is one of those films without which many others cannot be fully appreciated

The director, Fritz Lang (who also directed another trail blazing movie, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari), uses several innovative techniques to create this timeless and hugely influential film; including be the first film to use a true mix of camera angles and shots. Previous films such as Dr Caligari had only used a static camera, with actors and actresses waling in front of the camera and then back out of the frame, much the same as a theatre performance. In Metropolis, we see a combination of the static shots and well as shots that are considered far more modern than this period, including a hand-held shot. This not only became possible because of improved technology as well as a new combination of on location filming, miniatures and traditional sets. This creates a much more interactive, realistic and immersive visual narrative. This flow of narrative is also aided by a reduced number of Intertitles when compared to previous films. In Metropolis, Lang only uses Intertitles for key dialogue that either could not be otherwise understood or must be ensured to be noticed.

“In the handling of light, the Germans have been well abreast with the times, and their cleverness in working out unique effects, such as the travelling concentric rings of light moving through one another in the metamorphism scene in Metropolis (fig. 1), has often baffled the American experts.” Writes Sime in his 1927 review of the film. Lang also uses a combination of mirrors to create the illusion of the actors running inside miniatures, as well as showing some of the first dollying techniques. This was the first truly “modern” film. The recently restored footage that we watched makes it easy to see how the audiences at the time would have found the movie incredible. This could have been a black and white film of today, rather than being nearly over 90 years old.

Fig.1 The Metamorphosis (1927)

Metropolis also presents itself as a timeless social commentary. Depicting the seemingly endless gap between the haves and have-nots, the upper and lower classes. In Metropolis this is shown arguably better than any other film. The simplicity and strength of the contrast between the grey, clone like appearance of the workers in the dark undercity (fig. 2) and the individuality, light of the upper city (fig. 3) as well as the softened edges to the shots in the wealthier areas. “Here the producer shows the laborers living in tall buildings underground, while the families of the wealthy enjoy the fresh air and sunshine atop a great skyscraper.” As Mordaunt Hall says. This was a complete reflection of what was going on in the real world. As industry boomed in the lead up to the wall street crash, there was an increasing section of society that was treated as part of the machine, with little to no worth. Lang’s film would have been truly shocking to the upper classes and have resounded with the less fortunate.

Fig. 2 The Worker's City (1927)

Fig. 3 The Over city (1927)

Overall, I think it can truly be said that Lang was one of the trendsetters and leaders of the modern film movement, leading to where we are now, and are going to in the future. Without the rich past of film that Metropolis contributes to, we would not have a film industry anything like the one we know today.

References

Ebert, Roger (2010) Great movie Metropolis. At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-2010-restoration-1927 (Accessed on 02/10/2017)

Hall, Mordaunt (1927) A Technical Marvel. At: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A05E2D8143BE13ABC4F53DFB566838C639EDE (Accessed on 02/10/2017)

tanineallison (2012) The Magic of Metropolis (Fritz Lang 1927) [online blog] In: Movie Magic: Special & Visual effects from 1896 to now. At: https://emoryfx.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/the-magic-of-metropolis-fritz-lang-germany-1927/ (Accessed on 02/10/2017)

Sime, Metropolis. Variety, New York, 16^th March 1927

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. The Metamorphosis (1927) [Film capture] At: http://www.theaterjones.com/images/large/l_550521150132.jpg (Accessed on 02/10/2017)

Figure 2. The Worker's City (1927) [Film capture] At: https://fanwithamovieyammer.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/metropolis-2.jpg (Accessed on 02/10/2017)

Figure 3. The Over City (1927) [Film Capture] At: http://www.voxeurop.eu/files/images/article/2034.jpg?1261590241 (Accessed on 02/10/2017)