Lost scenes shown from sci-fi classic 'Metropolis'
By NICHOLAS KUSNETZ – 1 hour ago

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Lost scenes from the sci-fi classic "Metropolis," recently discovered in the archives of a Buenos Aires museum, were shown to journalists for the first time in decades on Thursday.

A long-lost original cut of the 1927 silent film sat for 80 years in a private collection and then in the Museum of Cinema in Buenos Aires, where it was discovered in April with scratched images that hadn't been seen before.

Museum director Paula Felix-Didier said theirs is the only copy of German director Fritz Lang's complete film.

"This is the version Fritz Lang intended," said Martin Koerber, a curator at the Deutsche Kinemathek film museum in Berlin, Germany.

"Metropolis," written by Lang and his actress wife Thea von Harbou, depicts a 21st century world divided between a class of underworld workers and the "thinkers" above who control them.

Soon after its initial release at the height of Germany's Weimar Republic, distributors cut Lang's three-and-a-half-hour masterpiece into the shorter version since viewed by millions worldwide.

But a private collector carried an original version to Argentina in 1928, where it has stayed, Felix-Didier said.

In the 1980s, Argentine film fanatic Fernando Pena heard about a man who had propped up a broken projector for "hours" to screen "Metropolis" in the 1960s. But the version of the film he knew was only one-and-a-half hours long. For years, he begged Buenos Aires' museum to check their archives for the man's longer version.

This year, museum researchers finally agreed and in April uncovered the reels in the museum's archive.

In June, Felix-Didier flew with a DVD to the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation in Wiesbaden, Germany, which owns the rights to "Metropolis." Researchers there confirmed that the scenes were original.

News of the find excited film enthusiasts worldwide.

"This is a movie that millions and millions of people have seen since its release and yet, in many ways, we've never seen the true film," said Mike Mashon, head of the Moving Image section of the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington.

"Metropolis" was reissued in the U.S. in 2002 by Kino International Corp., which owns the rights to distribute the film domestically, Kino's general manager Gary Palmucci said.

Kino may rerelease the new, complete version of the film.

Meanwhile, Buenos Aires' Museum of Cinema is holding its treasure tight. "The film hasn't left the museum and it won't leave until the city government and the Murnau Foundation decide what to do," Felix-Didier said.
[Edited 7/4/08 17:30pm]

Imago said:

It's July. Shouldn't you be busy cranking out a questionnaire?

I hope they release this SOON.

I've always wanted to see Metropolis.

PurpleJedi said:

You should. It's an amazingly visionary and standard-setting work for its time.

Lammastide said:

I've seen still images from the film, and those alone are fantastic!

i'd love to see that ~!

ThreadBare said:

For real. How was there no other copies of this version, even in the director's possession???

I knew there was a reason why I was holding out on the special edition...

GIMME! GIMME! GIMME!

I mirror Mach's emoticon and drewl; THREE AND A HALF HOURS!

PurpleJedi said:

links

horatio said:

I meant the ususal images of the original film (which I've never seen), such as this;

PurpleJedi said:

fyi you can find it just about anywhere on DVD for under 10 dollars
its a standard for any film lover IMO and one that costs nothing
[Edited 7/7/08 9:40am]

horatio said:

You know, it's one of those films that you NEVER think about when browsing the aisles at Blockbuster.

PurpleJedi said:

just buy it, you can find it almost anywhere. even in the bargain bins

horatio said:

I'll keep it in mind...tho' perhaps I'll wait for the "updated" edition DVD that is surely to be made any day now...

PurpleJedi said:

huh, it will be something like 5 + years before we see that

horatio said:

this is one of my favorite movies of ALL TIME! This is majorly exciting!!! They'd better not let Giorgio Moroder near this one!!!


I wonder when it will be release in theaters and on DVD.
[Edited 7/7/08 10:08am]

applekisses said:

thats a sweet idea

horatio said:

I think it will hit the art theater circuit for sure.

SCNDLS said:

Seems odd, but apparently stuff like this wasn't uncommon. I'm a big fan of the original Wicker Man (1973), and until 2002 all soundtrack recordings of the movie were awful lifts directly from the final cut(s) of the film. It wasn't until 2002 that someone literally chanced upon the lone original master of the music, allowing for a full soundtrack to be released without truncated edits, sound effects, dialogue, etc. Even the studio hadn't seen the master in 30 years!

Can you just imagine what other gems are floating out there in studio storage rooms and personal archives!?!
[Edited 7/9/08 16:52pm]

Imago said:

Imago said:

Lammastide said:

that was my thought when one of the major studios recently had a fire.

Why is this shit on page 2?

It should have dropped to at least page 3 by now

For some reason or another, I've never watched this film yet and I really should. I've seen picture stills, but other than that the only parts I've seen were those that were included in Queen's "Radio Ga Ga" video which I haven't seen in YEARS.