Fritz Lang’s Metropolis

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Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou

Fritz Lang’s silent masterpiece

Fritz Lang made two films in Germany that can be considered his grand masterpieces: the sound film M (1933) and the silent Metropolis (1927).

Erich Kettelhut’s Metropolis set designs and drawings helped director Fritz Lang create the unique imagery of this science-fiction classic. Some critics consider the film’s architecture symbolic of the power relationships — power versus oppression, freedom versus subjugation — in the story. Six months after a visit to New York City, Lang imbued his film with a vision of skyscrapers of the future.

Metropolis
The silent film classic Metropolis was created in Germany in 1925-26 by the Austrian director Fritz Lang in collaboration with his wife, Thea von Harbou. This science-fiction film, so admired today, was not a big box-office success in its time and the production costs almost put the Ufa film studios out of business. But Fritz Lang’s Metropolis continues to fascinate viewers today, and for many decades has influenced Hollywood and world cinema — from music videos (“Radio Gaga,” “Express Yourself”) to films such as Blade Runner and The Fifth Element.

Although based on a story written by von Harbou, some claim it actually stems from Georg Kaiser’s 1920 “Gas Trilogy.” In any case, Metropolis is really more memorable for its fantastic imagery than its story, which is a bit vague and confusing, at times even plain silly. (Note: A copy of 30 minutes of missing Metropolis footage found in Argentina in 2009 may help change this perception.) But even today, there is something fascinating about the futuristic scenes shot by the camera team of Karl Freund and Günther Rittau.

Ironically, in light of the respect accorded the film today, Metropolis nearly bankrupted the Ufa studio (the legendary German film production company). In production for almost two years, Metropolis required vast resources — 37,633 performers, including 1,000 men (FX-multiplied by six) with their heads shaved for the Tower of Babel sequence alone. The stop-action scenes of cars zipping along freeways and airplanes zooming past skycrapers required six days to shoot, but only make up about one minute of the finished film. At 5.3 million marks, the film ended up being the most expensive ever produced in Germany up to that time. The mounting expenses almost closed production early, and the film failed to make money. But even the modern viewer can see where the all the money went. Some of the scenes and special effects in Metropolis are as impressive today as they must have been in 1927.

Metropolis poster.

The film’s reception at the time of its release in various countries was mixed. The London Times and The Spectator gave generally positive reviews, but in the US, Time magazine’s review of Metropolis ended with this unkind comment: “Ufa might better have shut the eyes of its great cameras than permit them to reflect nonsense in such grandeur.” In his later years Lang himself seemed to be one of the film’s biggest detractors. In 1958 he said, “I don’t like Metropolis. The ending is false. I didn’t like it even when I made the film.” (This from the director who was such a perfectionist, he required three days to shoot a brief love scene in the film between Brigitte Helm and Gustav Fröhlich.) One can only speculate on how much of Lang’s negativity stems from his past association with ex-wife Thea von Harbou, the film’s co-writer and a big Nazi sympathizer.

The Metropolis that moviegoers and reviewers of the 1920s saw varied from country to country and place to place. Lang’s cut was no doubt far too long to begin with, but the American version was severely cut to ten reels from the original 17, seriously disturbing the film’s rhythm and making it impossible for US viewers to make any sense out of the already convoluted plot. One unfortunate result of all this snipping: some segments of the film may have been lost forever, with some scenes today existing in restorations only as still shots (but see the note above about the recent Argentinian find). Nevertheless, enough of the Expressionist film masterpiece remains to allow us to appreciate Lang’s cinematic craftsmanship — despite his own words.

See the selected filmography for Fritz Lang on the next page.

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