Thrilling. This will be the first time I watch Metropolis!
I’m actually kind of apprehensive. We’re getting a theatrical release in the Summer so it may be best to wait…
Its a wonderful film tho, very much a favourite of mine.
Thanks for this.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
I should watch the old version first.
Savvy
maybe I am crazy but I always liked the Giorgio Moroder reissue
80mins with an amazing rock score
Amazing news. I’m a big Lang fan, but have held off watching the film for this cut!
User, my thing is, though, I almost kind of want to experience what everyone else has had to see for the last eighty or so years, so that, when I see this cut, it’s really something special.
Savvy
Den, I agree with you. Thank God for the laser disc!
Rob
The Moroder version was fine as far as it went, which wasn’t very.
Can someone post exactly what he says… for the people who aren’t on Twiter. What is the website where one would be able to watch the new cut of Metropoplis?
Apparently it turns out he was wrong and it isn’t streaming online. It’ll be playing on the Arte channel in Germany and France.
Can someone post a better link to where this is streaming? Maybe b/c I’m not on Twitter, but I can’t see what Ebert posted.
@Den & Robert Coiffi: I decided to be “hip” and show a German Silent Cinema class at the U. of California, Santa Cruz, the Moroder version of METROPOLIS. They didn’t mind the Moroder score and teh color tinting, but once the pop music started coming in, the class started booing. They were more purist than I was! They saw the anachronistic melding of Madonna & Sting & Pat Benatar et al. with Lang’s masterpiece as a desecration of a wok of art, like drawing a mustache on the MONA LISA.
They demanded that I turn off the sound altogether, so we watched it in silence.
Nathan:
Go here
Thanks, Matt Parks.
Had Moroder left it at original compositions it would’ve been something interesting, but the pop inclusions come off as wackier than Rotwang.
And hey, what’s so wrong with one of the more resounding original scores in all of cinema?
Metropolis is an innovative work, but the movie bores me.
I sort of agree with Jason. What starts off as an amazing, evocative and well composed work starts to become boring and heavy handed, with some pretty laughable performances. I saw a revival of it in a theater about a year ago, with really big film enthusiasts, and a lot of them were laughing, particularly at the “evil double” performance.
From a story stand point, I much prefer Siegfried, but Metropolis does have some amazing effects sequences.
When I heard about the new cut I was actually watching the film…I can’t say it won’t take some serious concentration to sit through an even longer cut of it.
It’s hard work to watch great films sometimes.
Jonathan Rosenbaum has observed that the director’s cut of a movie often feels shorter than a version that was cut for length. It’s more coherent.
Great news!
on Friday evening
At what time exactly? 20:45 CET? GMT?
I think its 7.15 GMT.
@Doniel: Murnau’s 4 Devils is still to be found, it is believed to be one of his best films. So I think riders of the lost film will have enough to do.
@ADAM: thanks!
No English stream?
To be fair 80% of ALL silent film is still lost. God knows whats out there. Silent film detective work is something I’m actually keen to head into for a career eventually. And besides, Metropolis still isn’t actually complete, as far as most are concerned.
>>They demanded that I turn off the sound altogether, so we watched it in silence.<<
Bully for them!
Apparently Ebert is talking rubbish, and it isn’t streaming online!
adam
Roger Ebert twittered this a few hours ago-
http://mobile.twitter.com/ebertchicago/status/8819262032
basically it would appear that the film will be screened live online on Friday evening, which is the night the new cut premieres in Berlin!