Fritz Lang,Metropolis, 1925.

v Political context -post war crisis

Germany of the post-war years know an unprecedented economic crisis the hyperinflation of which is the main characteristic. In 1923, the republic has no more the means to pay the repairs fixed by the treaty of Versailles, and the new government stops payments. In reply, France supervised by Raymond Poincaré and Belgium occupy the Ruhr, the most industrialized region in Germany. Theytake the control of mines and factories .

The appearance of the barter (in particular to get itself foodstuffs) testifies of the reliable loss in the currency. From 1924, an economic recovery takes place: the first action of the new chancellor, Gustav Stresemann is to introduce a new currency, Rentenmark, to stop the hyperinflation which ate away at the economy and at the German society. But the crisis of 1929 underlines the weaknesses of the German economy of the 1920s. The German stock exchange collapses, it is the banking panic. The Nazi party realizes good results because of their program which promise the full employment. The monstrous characters, the totally artificial decorations and the strongly dramatic lightings mark the trauma of this bruised, destroyed and frightened Germany.

v Weimar Republic-rise of Nazism

Weimar Republic is the name given by the historians to the German regime in position from 1919 until 1933, established at the conclusion of the First World war, as a result of the defeat of the German Empire and the Revolution of 1918, taking the name of the city (Weimar) where the German National Assembly drafted the Constitution. It was a parliamentary democracy managed by the president of Reich, and governed by the chancellor of Reich, elected by and the person in charge of Reichstag; it was marked by several tensions and internal conflicts. The regime of Weimar was repealed officially only at the conclusion of the Second World War in 1945. In its movie, Fritz Lang tries to warn against the misdeeds of the technological evolution, originally, according to him, the likely slavery of the man by the machine. Nowadays, it’s rather seen as a cry of alarm in front of the rise of the Nazism in his country.By the way, the movie is adapted by a novel written by Thea von Harbou, the woman of Fritz Lang and co-writer, who is close to Nazis and influences the scenario of Metropolis.

v Artistic & musical innovations

It’s the first movie to be classified in the register " Memory of the world " by the UNESCO. Metropolis is the most expensive movie never produced by the UFA. It is shot from May, 1925 until August, 1926 for an initial budget which spends Reichsmarks 80 000 in 3,5 millions. The architecture have portrayed in the movie appears based one contemporary Modernism and art Deco. In the movie, the Tower of Babel is modeled after Brueghel 1563 painting. It’s the first real science fiction film with special effects, then unpublished. In this movie, Fritz Lang lands, and very probably create, two of the main themes of the science fiction such as we know it today: the artificial intelligence & the loss of the control of the people over their technological creations.

Metropolis is also an expressionist movie and accumulates at least five aspects about it :

- The presence of the death (symbolized by Hel)

- the absence of the nature (world from down dedicated to the automated work and artificial world from above)

- The theme of the double (expresses himself through both Maria)

- the madness which seizes at the moment or in other one of all the characters

- the relations of fascination (almost of hypnosis) that the characters maintain between them: Rotwang fascinated by Hel, Maria fascinated by Rotwang, Freder fascinated by Maria and workers fascinated by false Maria.

The music is composed by Gottfried Huppertz: he composes a leitmotific orchestral score which includes many elements from the music of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, plus some mild modernism for the city of the workers and the use of the popular Dies Irae for some apocalyptic imagery. There have been many other soundtracks created for Metropolis by different artists, including, but not limited to :

En 1984, Giorgio Moroder, the famous composer of theme music (composes for Donna Sumer and Scarface’s score among others works), rereleases Metropolis in colorized version, as the British version. He adds to this score of the contributions of Freddy Mercury, Bonnie Tayler and Pat Benatar

2000 – Jeff Mills creates a techno score for Metropolis which is released as an album. He also performs the score live at public screenings of the film.

v Importance of archives

There are four versions of Metropolis:

- On 1927, the editing of origin (probably lost never has), for the first one in Berlin.

- On 1927, further to the censorship, a reduced editing is finally planned in Germany and somewhere else.

- On 1983, after the works of restoration made in Munich, the musician Moroder goes reedites the movie by trying to be the most faithful possible has the original work of Fritz lang. Successful bet.

- 2001, totally restored, this version is inspired a great deal of the original, by adding it even present dialog cards of transition in the silent movies. We shall regret only that these dialog cards are in English and not in German as in the original work.

Fritz Lang regretted all its life the end of its movie and did not absolutely assume it. He found it totally unrealistic: " I do not love Metropolis. It is false, the conclusion is false, I did not already accept it when I realized the movie " (Les cahiers du cinema, in September, 1959)

v Missing part of film found in Argentina , 2008.

In January, 1927, Metropolis arrives to the United States where he is completely reshaped and amputated by several scenes by Paramount.

In summer, 1927, the German version went reedited on the same model and reduced of thirty minutes. The cut scenes are destroyed. The German original negative is lost. In 1927, an Argentine distributor buys a copy of the movie in a version original and takes it in Buenos Aires. The film critic Manuel Pena Rodriguez gives then this copy to the Argentine film library.

The missing thirty minutes will remain untraceable until the discovery in 2008 of a very bad copy 16mm in Buenos Aires which restores finally the initial editing, even if, very degraded.

The anecdote is that an ancient projectionist - Salvador Samaritano-remembers having had to maintain the window of projection during two hours and a half, and not one hour and thirty or two hours (reduced German editing,1927).

The movie in complete version is presented for the opening of the 60th Berlinale in March, 2010.

v Inspirations’F.Lang .

While seeing New York one night of 1924 Fritz Lang was impressed by the unlimitedness of buildings and city. It’s there that for the first time, he thought in a gigantic city which became later Metropolis.

He also takes back the myth of Frankenstein through character of ‘Futura’.

Fritz Lang was also influenced by:

* The artist Paul Citroen and, more particularly, by one of its photomontages title " Metropolis " ( 1923 ).

* The Soviet movie of science fiction Aelita, YakovProtazanov, 1924, adaptation of the novel of Alexis NikolaïevitchTolstoï.

Moreover, Metropolis is also directly inspired by the futuristic city of Antonio Sant'Elia (1888-1916), an Italian architect from the futurist movement.

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v Influence of Metropolis on future films.

The artificial intelligence & the loss of the control of people over their technological creations are recurring themes throughout the history of the science fiction cinema (Blade Runner, 2001: The space odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, Matrix), they are represented here by “Futura”, an android which escapes very fast the control of its master.

Ridley Scott had been already inspired by the architecture of the city for Blade Runner (1982).

For example, the commissionership is the perfect copy of that of Metropolis.

The city in 2046 by WongKarWai (2004) looks like exactly Metropolis.

Back to the future by Robert Zemeckis and Le cinquièmeélément by Luc Besson (1990) are inspired by flying cars of Lang.

George Lucas is inspired by the design of Maria's robot for C-3P0 in Star Wars (1977).

The sequence between the scientist and the robot is imitated in the Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975 ).

It also influences the 2001 animated movie Metropolis, a manga by Osamu Tezuka.

In Batman by Tim Burton (1989), the fight between Batman and the Joker is inspired by the final scene on the cathedral in Metropolis.

For his decoration, Alex Proyos is also inspired in Dark City (1998)

The idea of social inequalities with high city and low city is represented in Final Fantasy XII.

The idea of a city slave of the machine is represented in Alphaville, uneétrangeaventure de LemmyCaution by Jean Luc Godard (1965).

And in musical area :

Some scenes from the film were featured in the music video for Queen's Radio GaGa and Madonna parodies the movie in one of her clips, Express Yourself, directed by David Fincher in 1989.

Metropolis

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