Fritz Lang produced a huge 153-minute budget-busting science fiction saga in Berlin in 1927. After
Metropolis'
first showing, it was chopped down to 92 minutes, then to 80, then it
wasn't shown for decades. When it was resurrected, it was subtitled,
colorized, a soundtrack added, and even Lang wouldn't have recognized
it. But he didn't like the movie, anyway. Or at least that's what he
said.
Lang wasn’t alone back in 1927 when the film was
first released. Critics applauded the striking visuals and the
ambitious technical achievement, but lambasted the trite melodrama and
cheap platitudes. In a vicious New York Times review, H.G. Wells
attacked the picture’s anti-progress, anti-technology message, accused
it of ripping off several earlier works (including his own), and called
it, “Quite the silliest film.” It was also attacked as a bunch of
simpleminded and heavy-handed pro-communist propaganda, while at the
same time and ironically enough it was hailed by the Nazis for
portraying the overthrow of the Bourgeoisie.
Ninety years later,
Metropolis is hailed as a work of art, a product of its time, yet ahead of its time. Read the story of
how Metropolis was produced, and what happened in the year since, at Den of Geek.
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