Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s 1927 breakthrough directorial effort, had been the most expensive film in the world until that date (and some time after). It was the most expensive silent film of the time, costing approximately 7 million Reichsmark (equivalent to around $200 million USD in 2005).

POW!

Unfortunately it’s been sliced and diced into countless different edits, most of which have been significantly shorter - apparently the original was “too complex” for audiences. Consequently the original, longest version remains unseen except for it’s initial premiere and release in Germany in 1927. Until now!German newspaper Die Zeit reported on July 2nd that the missing reels had been discovered - adding a huge amount of context (and sense) to sub-plots, characters and everything else to the film.

ZEITmagazin has now reconstructed the story of how the film nevertheless managed to survive. Adolfo Z. Wilson, a man from Buenos Aires and head of the Terra film distribution company, arranged for a copy of the long version of “Metropolis” to be sent to Argentina in 1928 to show it in cinemas there. Shortly afterwards a film critic called Manuel Pena Rodriguez came into possession of the reels and added them to his private collection. In the 1960s Pena Rodriguez sold the film reels to Argentina’s National Art Fund clearly nobody had yet realised the value of the reels. A copy of these reels passed into the collection of the Museo del Cine (Cinema Museum) in Buenos Aires in 1992, the curatorship of which was taken over by Paula Felix-Didier in January this year. Her ex-husband, director of the film department of the Museum of Latin American Art, first entertained the decisive suspicion: He had heard from the manager of a cinema club, who years before had been surprised by how long a screening of this film had taken. Together, Paula Felix-Didier and her ex-husband took a look at the film in her archive and discovered the missing scenes.

. . .

ZEITmagazin asked to appraise the pictures, there are several scenes which are essential in order to understand the film: The role played by the actor Fritz Rasp in the film for instance, can finally be understood. Other scenes, such as for instance the saving of the children from the worker’s underworld, are considerably more dramatic. In brief: “Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s most famous film, can be seen through new eyes.”, as stated by Rainer Rother, Director of the Deutsche Kinemathek Museum and head of the series of retrospectives at the Berlinale.

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