Reporters were given a rare opportunity this week to see a piece of cinematic history that has laid hidden and thought to be lost for over 80 years. Those lost scenes came from the Fritz Lang classic sci-fi film “Metropolis.”
All this time the can containing the scenes were sitting in the archives of a museum in Buenos Aires, the capital and largest city of Argentina. Investigation showed that before finding its way to the museum the lost original version of the movie, which premiered in 1927, was part of a collector’s private film library and contains scenes never before viewed by an open audience.
According to museum director Paula Felix-Didier, this is the only copy of Lang’s complete film and as such is absolutely priceless.
The film may be remade and include these never-before-seen sections, however, this 1927 original won’t be leaving Argentina anytime soon.
“The film hasn’t left the museum and it won’t leave until the city government and the Murnau Foundation decide what to do,” Felix-Didier said in a press release.
“Metropolis” was Lang’s Marxist religious/political statement of his day in 1920’s Germany. It was set in a futuristic city that was sharply divided between the working class (proletariat) and the city planners, the visionaries and organizers who lack common labor skills. The Mayor’s son named Freder Fredersen, who has been bred for governmental leadership, falls in love with a working class prophetess who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences. What Freder sees when he ventures deep underground to the heart of the working-class soon overwhelms and changes him forever.
darn, i was going to send this in to Sam. You’re just too fast for me. hehe.
darcy
Can not wait to see the restored and full version of this classic. Amazing how things can get lost.
I gave the DVD of this film to my kids and it has been the source of endless discussion! Darcy, I hope you and your dad sit down and watch this together. It’s an absolute Must See for any sci-fi geek.
There has been a rumor for years that a “directors cut” existed. I hope the Argentinians settle the ownership question quickly so it can be published for all the world to see.
I saw the digitally remastered (silent) version on the big screen a few years back. They even brought in an organist and theremin to do the sound f/x.
What a night! He had what little remained of the original accompaniment score, and mixed it with some originals that he wrote.
And, to top off the 20s movie experience, the film jumped the track and melted at one point!
Good times, good times…