EVEN DeepER Blurting!: DBNS: Quiet on the Set

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DBNS: Quiet on the Set

Posted by Kenneth Morgan on 5/6/2006, 10:25 pm

This week, Kenneth Morgan looks at a science fiction classic that catches your attention without saying a word.
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There is an unfortunate tendency among audiences today to dismiss any movie made over, say, fifteen years ago. If a movie is in black & white, it’s dismissed even more. And, if it’s a silent movie, today’s moviegoers behave as though it’s not worthy of so much as a glance. That’s a real shame, especially when it comes to silent movies, since their influence survives to this very day.
Which brings us to our current subject, the silent sci-fi classic “Metropolis”, released in its native Germany in 1927.
Set in the distant future, the film takes place in Metropolis, a machine-driven, Art Deco utopia. The city is inhabited by two distinct classes of people: a ruling class, who live in idle luxury in the city proper, and the nameless working class, who live and toil amongst the city’s machines below ground. As the film opens, we meet Metropolis’ creator and master, aloof Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel), and his good-natured son Freder (Gustav Frohlich). While Fredersen senior coolly runs the city, Freder is content to just while away his time in the classic “rich man’s son” style.
One day, though, a stranger arrives at his exclusive club: the beautiful Maria (Brigitte Helm), a young woman who lives amongst the workers, accompanied by a group of the workers’ children. She’s there to introduce each group to the other, and show that they are related to each other by common humanity. She doesn’t stay long, but her visit has a powerful effect on Freder. He becomes determined to find out more about her, and about the downtrodden workers. To this end, with the aid of Fredersen’s disgraced assistant Josaphat (Theodor Loos), Freder ventures down into the city’s mechanized depths. Eventually, motivated by sympathy and a desire to learn how the other half lives, Freder trades places with another worker, known as No. 11811 (Erwin Biswanger).
Soon, Freder finds Maria. In the underworld, she’s looked upon almost as a saint by the workers. While she knows that their trying lives have pushed them close to violence, she urges them to remain peaceful. She prophesies that, one day, someone will come who can act as a moderator between rulers and workers, bringing peace to both. Later, she talks with Freder, and is convinced that he is the moderator she’d sought. She and Freder also seriously fall for each other.
However, Fredersen has discovered what his son has done, and learns of Maria’s work. Determined to put the workers in their place, he seeks the help of the brilliant scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge). The plan is that Maria will be kidnapped, and Rotwang will transform his newly-built robot (also played by Brigitte Helm) into a false Maria that will lead the workers into a doomed rebellion. This is indeed what happens, with the Maria robot urging the workers to revolt, while also enticing the dissipated rulers above with her beauty.
But what Fredersen doesn’t know is that Rotwang, who holds a long-standing grudge against him, has his own plans, which could bring doom to both Freder and Metropolis…
While I’d heard about this movie for a long time, I knew it more from its influence than from the actual film. (For example, judging by the design, it’s quite clear that the “robotrix” could truly be considered to be Threepio’s “grandmother”.) Not too long ago, though, I decided to finally see it. And I was very impressed. Directed and co-written by Fritz Lang, I’d say this movie truly warrants its “classic” status.
While the story, scripted by Lang and Thea von Harbou from the latter’s novel, seems familiar, primarily due to the number of times it’s been re-used since, it works quite well and is given a good amount of depth. The acting may seem overstated at times (particularly in the scenes of eager men lusting for the robot Maria), but you have to remember that this is done to compensate for the lack of sound. Taking that into account, the cast does very well, particularly Brigitte Helm, who handles multiple roles.
Arguably, the most impressive element of the movie is the visuals. As noted, the design from Art Directors Otto Hunte, Erich Kettehut and Karl Volbrecht, is done in a wonderful Art Deco style. And the visual effects, supervised by Kettehut and Eugen Schufftan, are still pretty amazing, especially when you consider that this was done in 1927. Not only was this long before CGI, it was even done before optical printing, meaning the visuals had to be inserted via on-set camera tricks, including the pioneering Shufftan Process involving model work and mirror effects. Add in the huge cast and on-set effects used in the movie’s powerful finish, and you got a film whose look even rivals that of today’s big-budget blockbusters.
While the full original version of “Metropolis” is reportedly lost, several different versions exist, including one from back in the 1980s that features color tinting and a rock-oriented music score. The version I saw is a highly-regarded restoration prepared by the F.W. Murnau Foundation in 2002. While it restores some sequences cut from other versions, bringing the movie to a 2-hour-plus running time, it replaces some still-lost footage (including, sadly, some crucial scenes) with descriptive titles. While this version is available on video, I had a real treat: I saw it as an actual film in an actual theater (the Union County Arts Center in Rahway, NJ) with live musical accompaniment from an actual Wurlitzer theater organ. It was a great experience, one that I heartily recommend.
All in all, “Metropolis” is still a powerful movie, which continues to influence films to this day. I think its well worth the effort to locate, and not just if you’re a student of film or media history.
Just don’t expect to see Superman in this one. That’s a different Metropolis.
CONNECTIONS NOTE: Yes, even a movie from 1927 has MST and DBNS connections. Uncredited Set Designed Edgar G. Ulmer directed both MSTed “Amazing Transparent Man” and the reviewed “Man from Planet X”. And Curt Siodmak, who worked as an extra on the movie, wrote the screen story for the reviewed “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” and the original novel for the reviewed “Donovan’s Brain”.