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. Continue reading
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