when is the DVD of the newly found footage restoration coming out ?
Some time in November, Rudy.
Woo! I’m seeing this next Monday!
Thanks Matt
Kino has now officially announced the release date of the restoration on DVD/Blu-ray—November 16th.
Just saw it on its “premiere” in Brazil, at Auditório Ibiraupera.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Auditorio_Ibirapuera_5.JPG
There’s only a few shots that are “noisy”, but very legible; I believe those one are from the argentinean restored print. The rest of the film is very crispy.
The restoration is also being shown on TCM on Nov. 7th.
Though the restoration is coming on DVD/BD soon, I recommend seeing a print if you can. Some of us might have big-ass TV’s, but nothing will compare with the sheer physical force of seeing Metropolis projected. It is a hammy film with a rather silly story, but none of that matters when you marvel at the gallons of water being thrown down onto the set for extras to wallow in. The sets, the scope, and unbound imagination are the things that make Metropolis what it is…a sight to behold; both terrifying and sublime.
Just caught the restored version on TCM — I have nothing to compare it to since I’ve embarrassingly never before seen the film, but I was completely and utterly knocked on my ass. The art direction alone is absolutely staggering, and in theme and dramatic staging it’s just unimpeachable (perhaps not in subtle portrayals). Deliriously good. That no one has made a stage opera out of the film yet is kind of curious; Nathan M.‘s comment about a “hammy . . . silly story” reminds me of how over-the-top and bombastic the Ring Cycle can be, which I’d have little trouble comparing to “Metropolis.”
Specifically with respect to the 2010 “complete” restoration, the 16mm added footage is a bit distracting in contrast with the existing materials, but it’s not so awful that it takes me out of the film at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the grain is digitally tamed for a next-gen release down the road; bring on the Moroder cut in the meantime.
I’m just catching the documentary… are they showing it again by any chance?
Neither the restoration nor the documentary appear due on the schedule again, at least for the next few months. I expect the intent was to use the broadcast as a buy-this-next-week enticement, which completely worked in my case.
Prokosch, there was a musical version of the film done in London in the 1970s, but it was not a success.
@PROKOSCH – I watched and recently reviewed the upcoming Blu-ray for “The Complete Metropolis” from KINO but yeah, the 16mm footage is unfortunate. There is a documentary and a featurette on the Blu-ray that explains what happened.
To make a long story short, back in the early 90’s, one of the film companies in Argentina not known for archiving or restoration were told by someone to do something with the film because Nitrate can literally burn their building down. So, they took the 32mm nitrate and instead of cleaning it up (remember, their goal was just to copy it so they can destroy the nitrate), they did a reduction to 16mm, cut the intertitles to save room and all marks and degradation that were on the 32mm, instead of cleaning it up, it is now permanently on the 16mm.
They did this to over 100 films. But considering that many of us have only watched the 2001 restoration and missing so many scenes, fortunately those newly restored scenes make the film much more comprehensible and the Argentina negative provided the roadmap of how the scenes should be in order.
But the transfer that was done in the 1990’s to the “Metropolis” footage was done quickly, with no budget and the cheapest way they can do it and thus it came out the way it did. But considering that 16mm is the only surviving print that was not cut up or re-edited, it’s all that we have of that original footage. Now if they find something hidden somwhere in the next 25 years, that would be great but for now I think the KINO and the MoC release will be the definitive versions to watch for quite awhile.
FYI: The Complete Metropolis BD has been pushed back one week, so it’ll now be available Nov. 23rd. Apparently the first pressing was not region-locked as intended.
currently available on netflix instant
Matt Parks
-If it has been a while since you’ve seen METROPOLIS, then hell yeah, get your ass to the movie theatre or get the damn DVD-(Since Roscoe told me to,) I went to see this now that it’s finally made it to my local theater. Prior to this, my knowledge of the film comes solely from a circa late ’80s/early ’90s VHS cassette from a public domain source., so for me this was an almost completely different experience.