On the occasion of the restoration (500,000 euros) to the version of Metropolis "almost original", we take a print of articles published by Italian film in 1927. As recalled in recent days, the film was repeatedly cut in all countries, beginning with the same UFA.
have no doubt that the large-scale attirato Fritz Lang; la visione di un mondo poco prima di mezzanotte, il ballo intorno al vulcano poco prima della sua eruzione. Si deve preporre ad ogni considerazione il sentimento del direttore di scena che in questo caso non è soltanto direttore di rappresentazioni di uomini, ma prima di tutto organizzatore d'un grandioso quadro della fine del mondo. Lang intendeva di trasformare il vecchio mito della torre di Babele, che gli uomini nella loro baldanza volevano fabbricare fino a cielo, in un quadro cinematografico presente, colla prospettiva d'un sogno futuro della più alta e più terribile realizzazione di tutte le possibilità tecniche. Il terribile e lo spaventevole della creazione umana, la pericolosa brutalità della « quantità », sono stati i fattori che han servito a concretare il disegno del direttore artistico. I fabbricati e le macchine sono i veri sostegni dell'azione. L'uomo, il loro creatore, è da lungo tempo diventato il loro schiavo. Sempre più grandiosi fabbricati si accumulano e i grattacieli sembrano oggi essere giocattoli che il nostro mondo moderno di macchine considera un lavoro di principianti. Questo è il pensiero de! direttore di scena al quale tutto si sottomette per forza. Le scene impallidiscono accanto alle figure che sono tipiche come il loro nome: «Lo spettro», Rotwang l'inventore», «Maria» ecc. Anche la direzione drammatica è in seconda linea, è indifferente, per cui il mondo morto delle cose è dominante e schiaccia the human being. Paintings of this magnitude and such disasters were never seen in a film. The animation of the figure of steel is a masterpiece of technique. The construction of the palace of the joys Yoshiwara is a dream. The look of the machines in the city is a miracle of precise construction of gigantic buildings. It seems that the approaching end of the world really, despite the fact that only machines fall into ruin. Lift-fall with a crash in a vacuum, the water breaks big walls. The mayhem is a vision so grand as it has never been seen. These thoughts are dominant in the style of the artistic direction of Lang and suppress all the usual requirements of a film.
If the elements were talking about, man does a very small, that people have their effect in connection with the struggle of elemental forces accompanying them or in part explains why there is little dramatic to say this is why the fight on top of the Duomo is of little importance for the film. The artistic director Fritz Lang is considered as the formation of the Apocalypse, as the movie's end of the world. You can not even say that a painter has created the charms of a magnitude unimaginable. Each viewer will feel the feeling of pandemonium, the collapse of humanity, the fear of the abyss, that inevitably pops up in the future.
Thea von Harbou wrote a symbolic work. As in the novel is the basis of the film, too, scenario, the game of mass death and strongest of human events. In the character of this symbolism is that the figures do not lose the freshness of life which are less examples of characters that a certain type of man. The owner of the machine world, the man of the heart, the virgin a lover of all beings, the mad inventor, the agent cold, all those who have a special name and does not even have a special destiny. The events that bind them do not have a dramatic and everything is very simple not to diminish the effect of the contours of the monumental figures. All that usually makes effective a manuscript of the film, is missing - and this despite sprout mysterious forces from all angles, which are stronger degli uomini e delle sorti e che incarnano cervello ed occhi.
Protagonista del film è Maria che è la santa vergine e la mondana di Babele. Questa parte è stata rappresentata dalla giovane artista Brigitte Helm in un modo che non merita soltanto la lode per la giovane protagonista ma anche per il direttore di scena Fritz Lang. E' veramente un'arte di rappresentare due diverse figure senza aiuto, anche dei minimi mezzi esteriori come Brigitte Helm riesce a meraviglia nella parte della etèra e della pura vergine. Questo è un capolavoro d'arte drammatica. Non si crederebbe possibile che la ragazza nel vestito grigio che ha parole d'amore per i poveri schiavi del lavoro riesca nella stessa veste ad incantare la gente mondana del palazzo delle gioie Yoshiwara. His gestures, his face, when suddenly her dress up and throw her garter to the crowd voluptuous, greedy and turned on, no one will forget. Among other parties, the more lively impression produces Rasp, agent Fredersen.
Inventor: Klein-Rogge, is impressive, Gustav Fröhlich as his son and lover expresses passion and warmth and well able to hit deep. Even Alfred Abel manages to excite the admiration of those who used to see.
The extras are perfect as life in the wonderful city. Always a mass and never a single individual. Now we no longer talk of the artistic work but we try to determine whether a financial product of this magnitude can be sustained by our industry.
It is assumed that men of the profession as many of our readers know where the cost of such a film can be repaid. Depends very much on, everyone understands it, the negotiations and the success in the United States. If success in America will become even greater than in Germany we find that there seems little risk of spending many millions for a movie only with the hope that like in America. And if you do not like ... But, really, Metropolis would not like to fear the absurd. Each business has its own risk, but every seller should know what may be at risk. We are confident of success in America and we wish you very much interest from the entire German industry.
But how long will be before the huge sums that have come to expect from this film, will return from the 14,000 theaters in the U.S. Speaker of the Producer of this film. Can a company afford to immobilize this time of crisis in its capital? We feel that it is not recommended for use as large a capital for a film only when it could have been used effectively and profitably for a dozen great movies. You can not expect that the idea of \u200b\u200bthis film demanded a performance so expensive. This does not hold. The No single action could be done with one hand and the amount spent in the same way that corresponds to all artistic needs. We wish to express our opinion the financial in one sentence: films such as Metropolis that must be financed with strong gains, but never with the capital or even worse, with credit. Noli me tangere . That will be difficult in Germany as a film Metropolis . Whatever the financial success does not seem to me the moral doubt. Metropolis is a unique not only in Europe and America but also around the world including the most colossal
American films, we have not seen anything like it until now.
(from internal pubblcitario of the film published in the journal Kines, December 3, 1927)
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