Trailer Unavailable

     Metropolis
1927  NR  SCIENCE FICTION  2h 33min
CAST— Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Fritz Rasp
MUSIC— Gottfried Huppertz  DIRECTOR— Fritz Lang  BASED ON— Metropolis (novel), by Thea von Harbou

     This highly influential, impressionistic, silent science fiction film is considered by some to be one of the greatest motion pictures of all time, a masterpiece. The story, as far as it goes, is pretty much your standard morality tale: a futuristic society is comprised of two classes of people, the rich and the poor. The rich rule the city of Metropolis, living above ground, while the poor are treated as slaves, living a meager existence powering the machines that run the city. A rich boy and a poor girl meet, fall in love, predictably ticking off the boy’s father, who begins to set off a chain reaction of events leading to the near dissolution of Metropolis. While the story begins as a solid tale of the future, it somehow veers off into an almost gothic love story (complete with a witch/robot burning). What really sets this one apart are its visuals, which are impressive: massive set pieces, intricate models, it’s all here. Just don’t expect to be swept along by the story and you’ll be fine.
OUR RATING— **