Metropolis (1927) Dir Fritz Lang Metropolis is a German expressionist science-fiction film directed by Fritz Lang in 1927.

One of the biggest productions of its time, Metropolis still holds its own when set design and special effects are compared. (Galecawitz, 1999). The film was inspired by a book that Fritz Langs wife had written. The film begins in a futuristic utopian society named Metropolis. You are introduced to Freder Fredresen who is the son of Joh Fredersen the founder of Metropolis. Freder one day spots a beautiful woman with a group of children, trying to follow her he discovers the underground world of the workers, who keep the entire city functioning. Freder leans that the women is Maria who has a vision to join the workers and those above together. Freder wants to help the workers achieve a better life. When his father finds out about this he devises a plan with the help of an old colleague Rotwang, an inventor, who works towards squashing the uprising. Joh is unaware that Rotwang has his own agenda. Together they kidnap marie and replace her with a robot of Rotwangs design that looks exactly like her. The robot starts to cause chaos and shuts down all the machines, which brings chaos to the utopian city above. Eventually Freder becomes the mediator and brings the working class and the upper class together, in harmony. A lot of praise seems to be given to this film for its remarkable sets or innovative graphics for the time. Such as Jochen Lotke Fig. 1 Original 1927 theatrical Beautiful sets and cinematography make this film quite release poster remarkable. The costumes, too, are fabulous in the extreme. (Lotke, 2007) The sets were very futuristic and influences of them are seen in films such as The Fifth element, the whole concept of robots taking over or having human form is an idea that plays in numerous films today. One of the most iconic shots of the film is shown in Fig. 2, so in many respects the film was beyond its time. However not much praise is given to the storyline, in some opinions its thought to be overly simplistic or simply just not make sense. In others it just drags out a very simple story into a very long film that leaves the viewer slightly bored. H. G Wells being one of those who thought the film lacked in certain areas. I have recently seen the silliest film. I do not believe it would be

Fig. 2

possible to make one sillier. He further went on to say Possibly I dislike this soupy whirlpool none the less because I find decaying fragments of my own juvenile work of thirty years ago, The Sleeper Awakes, floating about in it. (Wells, 1927) In conclusion the films concept, set and costume were all ahead of their time and their influences can been seen in films today such as C3PO in Star Wars bears a remarkable resemblance to the robot in this film. And whether or not the plot is very good the fact remains that this film has stood the test of time, and its original.

List of Illustrations Fig. 1 Original 1927 theatrical release poster [Poster] At: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(film) Fig. 2 At: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare7/metropolis2.htm Bibliography Galecawitz, Doug (1999) In: IMDb.com [Online] At: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/reviews15 the father of sci-fi cinema Lotke, Jochen (2007) In: IMDb.com [Online] At: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/reviews-259 Well, H.G (1927) [Online] At: http://erkelzaar.tsudao.com/reviews/H.G.Wells_on_Metropolis%201927.htm