I first saw Metropolis when I was 9 or 10. My dad (who thankfully had unconventional ideas about what movies are appropriate for children, see also: Blade Runner, A Boy and His Dog, et. al.) had a bootleg VHS of the 82min. Giorgio Moroder version (that, magically followed me to college... sorry dad.) It was the first time I heard Freddie Mercury (approximately two years before Bohemian Rhapsody would make it to #2 on the Wayne's World soundtrack).
It'd be absurd to say the picture has grown with me except that it literally has -- over time, more footage has been found or synthesized using photo stills and long-version scripts. I'm always first in line to sit for over two hours when there's a new release from Kino (2002) or another reel is found in Argentina (released 2010). My heart broke when, in my late teens, I came to understand that it's not actually a story about the rise of the proletariat but an endorsement of people knowing and maintaining their place in society -- as long as there's an adequate line of communication; right-wing propaganda, really.
But still, I came out to see it with the found-object-orchestra accompaniment at the Flicker Bar in Athens, Georgia. I saw it at The Grand Illusion (shivering under a leaking roof) and at Cinerama. I saw it with music played on the original Wurlitzer AND the Degenerate Art Ensemble at the Paramount--just think, Metropolis could have played in its original run at the Paramount -- the movie was completed in 1927, one year before the theater was built!
I still think the Giorgio Moroder version is the best.
Fritz Lang was the director but Erich Kettelhut is credited with the positions of Art Direction and Art Department, he's also responsible for uncredited roles including special effects, visual effects, and technical consultant.
The opening sequence shows inter-titles and credits (many different versions, in German and English), fussy white serif font on black background, sometimes with setup-text, sometimes without, yielding to abstract images, shooting beams of light carving out the name of the picture, and then a photo montage of an impossibly industrial future:
Pro-tip: You can visit an original Thea von Harbou script at the EMP.
Don't worry, no one will think you like Nazis.
I still make the case that the picture wasn't finished until Moroder made the soundtrack and tinted the cells. I mean, just look at this. If Bonnie Tyler can't make you understand, nothing will.
You've made it all the way to the bottom of this post. You deserve another Moroder:
