Original version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis recovered

If you were to ask 10 film critics or professors what the most important German film from the silent period was, more than half of them will likely tell you it's Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Like many older films, though, the work had been chopped to pieces in the distribution process. Although notes existed as to what Lang's lost footage contained, the possibility of an original resurfacing has long been assumed impossible. Luckily, the seemingly impossible has happened, and a copy of the original, scratched an torn though it may be, has been unearthed.

The story of Metropolis' many, many versions is long and sordid. The film was originally cut to roughly 90 minutes for international release and, later, edited down to a similar length domestically. This was the version of the film almost always shown in the United States until 2002 when Kino released a 118-minute cut. Kino's cut added around half an hour to the previous cut (precise numbers are difficult because rarely were two censored versions the same), but considering that the original feature was 210 minutes, the film was still missing more than a third of its length.

Even at this length, the film was a landmark. Combining stylistic tics from the German Expressionists with a thematic density that constantly defies attempts at interpretation, it has remained one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in the history of film. Its production more or less bankrupted Universum Film AG with its cost of over five million Reichsmarks. In every way it was the biggest film of the time.

Meanwhile, in 1992, the head of the distribution company Terra, Adolfo Z. Wilson, bought the original version of the film and took it with him to Buenos Aires. This version of the film was eventually sold to the national museum in Argentina and a copy ended up in Buenos Aires' Museo del Cine.

Of course, after all these years what exists isn't in such great shape. It is a 16mm copy (the original was in 35mm), and is reported to have degraded pretty badly. With today's restoration technology, though, a lot will be salvageable, even if the full 210 minutes remains impossible to achieve. And even though this cut is considered the "long" version of the film, it only purportedly contains about 85 percent of the missing material. Regardless, any new material is a blessing to film buffs and historians the world over.

Thanks to Green Cine for their excellent reporting on the find.

Related links:
News: Scorsese revives "lost" Hitchcock film
Original information on the find (in German)
Senses of Cinema: Fritz Lang

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