METROPOLIS (1927): THE 1984 RE-RELEASE WHICH ATTRACTED A NEW GENERATION OF FANS TO SILENT MOVIES

METROPOLIS – Volumes have been written about Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent movie sci-fi masterpiece. I love the film myself but rather than write the 9,899,974th glowing review of the 1927 original I will instead take a look at the 1984 re-issue, produced by Giorgio Moroder, who also did soundtracks for movies like Scarface, Midnight Express, and later Top Gun.

That reissue of Metropolis edited the film down to its essential story elements, giving it an 83 minute run time, compared to the 2-and 1/2-hour length of the original movie. Many critics were disgruntled about this, because let’s face it – film critics are almost never “gruntled.”   

Rather than have the usual classical or similar music play as accompaniment to a silent movie, composer Giorgio Moroder wrote a rock and pop music score to attract a generation of filmgoers who might otherwise have never sat through a silent movie in their lives. Freddie Mercury, Pat Benatar, Adam Ant and Billy Squier were among those performing Moroder’s score.

Pompous film critics, as short-sighted as ever, blasted the entire venture as an affront to Fritz Lang’s original production and otherwise lost their minds over it. In my view, Moroder should be praised for his efforts.

Not only 1984 audiences but all subsequent generations of viewers which were drawn to silent movies in general thanks to airings of Metropolis (1984) may never have brought the new blood and passion to the early cinematic artform if not for Moroder.

This 1984 project led to neophytes sampling other silent masterpieces like The Phantom of the Opera, Orphans of the Storm, The Mark of Zorro and many others. 

I can personally state that if not for the 1984 Metropolis‘s availability on video down through the decades, my younger self might never have seen it and developed my love of silent films. Discovering silent movies is like rediscovering the wonder of cinema itself and that’s no exaggeration.

For people unfamiliar with the storyline, Metropolis was set in what was then a future city whose architecture rose to spectacular heights but whose technological wonders were enjoyed only by the wealthy and powerful elite. On the lower levels all the way down to the actual streets and below, lived the abused and despised workers who kept the high-tech city functioning with their labors.

Amid this science fiction setting for universal labor vs management and class or income issues Maria (Brigitte Helm) emerges as an eloquent, charismatic leader of the suffering workers. Her efforts on behalf of the underclasses lead to her meeting Freder Fredersen (Gustav Frohlich), wealthy son of Johann Fredersen (Alfred Abel), the master of Metropolis.   

Maria shows Freder the plight of the workers, who live in squalor and in outrightly dangerous conditions while the callous elites live in luxury. Freder tries to make his father understand what Maria has shown him, but Johann scoffs at the working class as less than human.   

When Maria, with Freder’s help, becomes an ever more popular leader of the oppressed, the villainous Johann Fredersen fears that violence against Maria and her devotees may unleash an uprising. He turns to his brilliant but mad scientist Erfinder Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) for help.

Rotwang creates an android in general humanoid form – one of the most notable aspects of Metropolis in 1927 and today – an android which can adopt the appearance of any human being. Fredersen and Rotwang have the android adopt the form of Maria.

Rather than squelch the working class movement with force, Johann replaces the real Maria with the duplicate to instead co-opt the cause of the laborers. This strategy will use Maria’s android replacement to lead her followers to a more plutocrat-friendly approach, thus keeping the workers subjugated while thinking they are making progress.

NOTE: Sadly, this plot element was reflected in real life. Once it was clear that unions could not be easily done away with, the moneyed forces basically co-opted more and more union leaders, ultimately leading to the ever-growing divide between the union leaders and the workers they are supposed to represent.

At any rate, though initially successful, the ruse is exposed, the real Maria is freed, and the android duplicate is destroyed amid a city-threatening disaster. Maria and Freder end up together, and in the wake of the disaster, Freder is able to convince his father Johann to negotiate with the underclasses toward a better future. 

As for Rotwang, he falls to his death during a fistfght with our hero Freder (at right). Klein-Rogge, who brought the mad scientist to life, also portrayed pulp villain Dr. Mabuse for Fritz Lang. 

This 83-minute 1984 version of Metropolis is ideal for people who would otherwise never give silent movies a try or who would never want to sit through a 2 and 1/2 hour film like the original. In addition to the musical acts I mentioned above, the soundtrack also features Bonnie Tyler, Loverboy, Cycle V and Jon Anderson from Yes.   

WATCH A TRAILER FOR THE 1984 REISSUE OF METROPOLIS BELOW:

FOR A SIMILAR LOOK AT DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS’ SILENT SWASHBUCKLER MOVIES CLICK HERE.

FOR STARLET THEDA BARA’S SILENT FILMS CLICK HERE.

FOR HARRY HOUDINI’S FOUR SILENT FILMS AND ONE SILENT SERIAL CLICK HERE.

FOR TWENTY-FOUR CLASSIC SILENT HORROR FILMS CLICK HERE.

FOR ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S SILENT MOVIES CLICK HERE.