Metropolis: A Look Back

Can you believe such a film was made in the year 1927? Metropolis, a momentous milestone in science fiction film, is one of my all time favorite sci-fi flicks. Since this is the first time I have seen the film in years, and that it is the first time in quiet awhile that the film was aired on television, I thought I would give my own personal opinion on the remarkable masterpiece directed by Fritz Lang and tell you what I thought of the overall restoration.

Keep in mind, the version that was aired last Sunday on Turner Classic Movies was a new and improved version, the way Fritz Lang would have distributed the film back in 1927. It includes deleted scenes, different music and touching up on the fuzzy and overall vague images of the original print. This is the version of Metropolis most people are familiar with from the DVD release of the film. And all I can say is that it was just as epic now as it was then. Watching this movie again was like stepping into a time warp. I was impressed with this enhancement and what they were able to do to make the film look a hell of a lot better. It's not like they added a whole bunch of CGI and plastic puppets into the film, no, they stuck to the original and made it look a whole lot clearer and understandable. Even though the film is silent, it is still fascinating to see the characters' expressions and facial movements, and to see all the brilliant effects they were able to due. Back in 1927, it blew everyone's minds and it still lives up today.

The character of Maria is still one of my all time favorite robots. By the way, she looks awful familiar doesn't she...

I love how silent she is, and that only makes her even more iconic. For one of the first robots ever seen on the the big screen, it was consummate and really impressive, setting the standards for future movie robots to follow. I love the futuristic cities, the underground layers, and overall, the atmosphere of the film. Metropolis was one of the first science fiction films and would set the groundwork for several other sci-fi masterpieces to follow. And even though today's cinema is filled with edge of your seats chillers and sci-fi flicks with computer monsters and fake looking muppet rejects, we can always look back at Metropolis, the film that started it all.