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Metropolis (1927)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 03, 2020 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Obviously I didn't watch enough of it to realize that my previous description of the variable colorization was accurate.

It's certainly the best version of Metropolis I've ever seen! Very Happy

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scotpens
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 03, 2020 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
As with other silent movies I've watched on YouTube (like the amazing Cosmic Voyage), the sped-up rate of the film can be corrected by going to the "cog" icon in the lower right corner of the viewing window and calling up the "settings", then changing the speed from "normal" to 0.75. This causes a little jerkiness, but the people movie MUCH more normally. Very Happy

The colorized version of Metropolis on YouTube (in ten parts) plays at the correct speed, with the original synchronized orchestral score. It has exactly the same total running time as my black-and-white copy of the most recent restoration of the film.

The old speeded-up look of silent films was due to their being shown at the faster sound frame rate of 24 fps. That's no longer an issue, since silent films can now be played at the original speed of 16-18 fps and transferred to digital video.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 03, 2020 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

With all due respect, sir, the movie is clearly playing at a much faster rate than it should, and this causes all the action to move abnormally fast.

The characters look ridiculous, and this makes it hard to take the story seriously.

If you prefer to watch it at the Keystone Cops speed, that's your choice. But I prefer to watch it at a more realistic playback speed. I don't really care if it's the "correct" speed according to film historians. I just want the film to look more like reality.
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 03, 2020 5:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hmmm . . . looking at it again, perhaps the film does look a bit too fast. Technically there's no reason why it should, though.

The 2010 restoration incorporates nearly 30 minutes of footage from a badly worn but serviceable 16mm print that was discovered in a Buenos Aires film archive. Funny how so many old German things seem to wind up in Argentina!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

scotpens wrote:
The old speeded-up look of silent films was due to their being shown at the faster sound frame rate of 24 fps. That's no longer an issue, since silent films can now be played at the original speed of 16-18 fps and transferred to digital video.

Yes, I've heard about that. Unfortunately this was not done to the video of Metropolis. The action moves faster than normal.

If it had been modified as you described and the action moved normally, it would look abnormally slow after I reduced the speed to 0.75. Try watching it yourself at 0.75 and you'll see that it does not look slower than normal.

Please note that 75% of 24 fps is 18 fps. Cool

I was also delighted to notice that slowing down the speed does NOT lower the pitch of the music, just the tempo. YouTube apparently employs auto-tuning to keep the slowed-down audio from being lower in pitch when it plays at a slower rate.

Actually the music sounds much better when played at 0.75. Very Happy

Here's a relevant article from the DVD Savant on the subject. I'm sure you'll find it as interesting as I did. (I've underlined a few passages just to call attention to them.)

_______________________________________

Metropolis and the Frame Rate Issue

by Glenn Erickson

With all the buzz among film and disc fans about the new, nearly fully-recovered restoration of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, I'm also receiving notes asking about the new restoration's frame rate.

You may recall my concern nine years ago when the 2001 Kino DVD of Metropolis was presented at 24 fps. I had just seen the German restoration experts exhibit their restoration at The L.A. County Museum of Art. They had chosen a slower film speed of (my guess at the time) 20 frames per second.

At that frame rate the movement of the actors seemed more natural, and the film seemed appropriately "heavier". Rapid montages no longer seemed to flit by in a blur; Brigitte Helm's erotic dance didn't elicit laughs. Metropolis took on a new power.

Kino's 2002 DVD seemed a return to the old sped-up norm for Metropolis. I assumed that the projection had been standardized at 24 because Kino wanted to distribute the film theatrically, and normal theater projectors couldn't change their frame rate. Then Kino's experts explained that they were simply doing what was necessary to show the film with its original score, which was composed to match the film running at a speed of 25 or 26 frames per second. Metropolis was projected that fast at its premiere back in January of 1927. (A photo of the specially-built Berlin premiere venue is above).

For ten years now I've been writing about Metropolis using information gleaned from a number of sources, and not a year goes by when I'm puzzled to learn that something I was taught / read / assumed from common sense, just isn't true.

Hearing about Ufa's financial implosion and the exit of Fritz Lang's producer/patron Erich Pommer, I'd always assumed that Metropolis was projected fast at its premiere because the company felt that the film was far too lengthy and was nervous about its investment. Accelerating the frame rate made a 3+ hour film finish more than 30 minutes sooner. The print I saw projected at the museum played a full 147 minutes. The same print on Kino's DVD has a duration of only 123 minutes. It makes a big difference.

I was so impressed with how well Metropolis played at 20 fps, that I got into one of my few web arguments over the issue, with readers, Kino people and a few other experts telling me that 24 fps was a legitimate frame rate and the one used at the 1927 premiere.

My argument hung on the fact that the expert Murnau-Stiftung restorers themselves had chosen a slower frame rate for their authorized museum screenings. Even more to the point, I stressed the not-wholly-subjective observation that some of the film's action is ridiculous at 24fps.

Maria bounces like a puppet on a too-fast cathedral bell, and our hero Freder zips through the streets like The Roadrunner. At sound speed, I also felt that Fritz Lang's quick-cut montages were just too quick -- an admittedly subjective judgment.

Now nine years later the newest restoration is here. It appears to be transferred at 24 fps as well, and clocks in at approximately 140 minutes. If I haven't complained about the frame rate this time, it's because I've seen Kino's excellent 2002 disc so many times that the speed now seems normal to me. The film needs to be running at that frame rate speed for Gottfried Huppertz' handsome original score to fit properly. Kino's 24 fps discs are historically correct.

I've received several more emails from readers hoping that a slower transfer will surface.

For now the answer is No. Perhaps the German restorers have prepared one for internal use but we haven't heard of anything of this kind yet.

I know that computer programs exist to convert 25 fps video transfers to 24 fps, and I wonder if such a program could be used to slow down Metropolis, even if the result had to be silent. The film has come out in so many versions that we have to realize that there are probably viewers out there who are going to prefer the older incoherent shorter copies, just for perversity's sake.

Around my house, for instance, my kids grew up listening to the Giorgio Moroder version, disco vocals and all. Nostalgia-wise, that's the real Metropolis for them.

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scotpens
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
If it had been modified as you described and the action moved normally, it would look abnormally slow after I reduced the speed to 0.75. Try watching it yourself at 0.75 and you'll see that it does not look slower than normal.

Please note that 75% of 24 fps is 18 fps.
Cool

Duly noted, and I stand corrected. The Kino restoration is too bloody fast.

Bud Brewster wrote:
I was also delighted to notice that slowing down the speed does NOT lower the pitch of the music, just the tempo. YouTube apparently employs auto-tuning to keep the slowed-down audio from being lower in pitch when it plays at a slower rate.

Most media players have that capability. The audio is compressed or expanded digitally, so there's no change in pitch.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 3:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Sir, I salute you! Very Happy

Together we've both learned new things about this fascinating subject! Your comments inspired me to spend several hours researching the subject to make sure I was not making inaccurate claims — and as a result I discovered that this matter has been highly controversial for decades! Shocked

I'm grateful that we both live in an age that provides technology which can rescue the great work done in the past . . . and even enhance these creations so that modern audience can appreciate them.

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Eadie
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 4:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A colorized picture of the :Moloch" machine:


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Maurice
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 09, 2020 3:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
I just wish we'd gotten to see the backside (I mean . . . the back side). I'm sure the design was equally interesting. You know . . . something like this, maybe? Wink



On second thought, backside was the right word after all. Embarassed

Ew.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2020 1:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production, Very Happy
________________________________

~ Much to Fritz Lang's dismay, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were big fans of the film. Goebbels met with Lang and told him that he could be made an honorary Aryan despite his Jewish background. Goebbels told him "Mr. Lang, we decide who is Jewish and who is not." Lang left for Paris that very night.

Note from me: What an insane time that was . . . Sad

~ Unemployment and inflation were so bad in Germany at the time that the producers had no trouble finding 500 malnourished children to film the flooding sequences.

Note from me: Yes indeed, a very insane time.

~ Brigitte Helm's robot costume was extremely uncomfortable to wear. Helm suffered greatly underneath it as it cut and bruised her, though Fritz Lang insisted that she had to wear it








Note from me: I'm sorry to hear that. I'm surprised that a greater effort wasn't made to fix the problems.

~ Fritz Lang insisted that Brigitte Helm should wear the robot costume instead of a stunt double. During the transformation scene, Helm actually fainted, as the shot took so long and she couldn't get enough air in the restricting costume.



_________


Note from me: Another example of how unpleasant it was inside that costume!

~ The multiple-exposed sequences were not created in a lab but right during the filming on the set. The film was rewound in the camera and then exposed again right away. This was done up to 30 times.



__________


Note from me: We have to admire the intelligence, skill, and imagination of filmmakers during the early days of cinema.

~ For the U.S. version, Paramount hired playwright Channing Pollock to rewrite the film around Fritz Lang's footage. He created an entirely new story that blamed all of the action on a greedy employee and identified many of the revolting workers as soulless robots. For the film's U.S. release, Paramount replaced the UFA logo with its own and reshot the credits. Lang refused to see this version.

Note from me: Changing the downtrodden workers into robots brazenly strips the plot of its most important element! I'm shocked that such a bastardization of this work of art was committed. Shocked

~ For the chase across the rooftops, Brigitte Helm and Rudolf Klein-Rogge actually had to climb across the tops of the exterior sets and race on planks 25 feet above the ground. At the end of that sequence, Helm, without benefit of a stunt woman, had to leap for the rope attached to the cathedral's bells.

Although mattresses were placed in the event of a fall, the height would still make the stunt dangerous. She caught the rope first try, and then slowly slid down it as the ringing bell sent her careening into the set's walls. Bruised and battered, she fled the set in tears.


Note from me: Some movie directors are almost as heartless as the dictators their movies portray! Sad

~ For the explosion of the heart machine, Fritz Lang refused to use dummies as stand-ins for the workers thrown about. He insisted that would look phony. So extras were to be hooked to harness belts and thrown through smoke, steam and fire.

To lighten the mood before shooting, he insisted that his assistant, Gustav Puttscher, try out the harness, and then had him yanked almost to the top of the soundstage and left him there. During filming, he insisted the extras show pain, even though there were no close-ups. Fortunately for him, they already were in pain.


Note from me: Concerning my previous comment . . . I rest my case. Sad

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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Metropolis is a stunning masterpiece. Sadly, the critics seeing it when it was originally released did not think it was. Many found the movie to be "cold" and "soulless."

As the late great comedian Charlie Callas once observed: "You don't see any statues or monuments saluting critics."

Fritz Lang and his writer wife Thea von Harbou collaborated on Metropolis. The novel was published in 1925 as part of a marketing and merchandising strategy.

The novel contains plenty of supernatural elements that the film does not.

Brigitte Helm's dress caught on fire during the burning at the stake scene.

The flooding scene required two weeks to shoot. Lang purposely kept the water cold much to the discomfort of the extras.

The movie was budgeted at 1.5 Reichmarks but came in at 5.3 Reichmarks. This was an absolutely unheard of sum for any movie in that era.

H.G. Wells was not at all a fan of the movie and thought it was the silliest film he had ever seen.

The film was originally 153-minutes long. Theater owners showed 115-minutes and 91-minute versions for years in order to have more showings of the movie in their theaters.

In 2008 an entire uncut version of Metropolis was discovered. Unfortunately it was not in tip-top shape. The portions that could not be fully restored had title cards substituted in their place.

Interesting as already noted here that Paramount Pictures rewrote and recut Metropolis so that it is the workers who are the villains of the piece due to their greed. Not the wealthy and powerful as Lang established in his film.

Makes me think that given the climate today with the GOP in regards to their favoring the rich and corporations over the middle-class & poor, those attitudes go back much further than I imagined they did.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
__________

This photo shows the technicians moving the vehicles by stop-motion animation, which is how all the city effects were done. The photo shows eight people that I can see. It must have been quite an operation to coordinate all the people needed to animated all the cans and aircraft.

The robot costume was made out of what was referred to as "artificial wood". I would think that it was sawdust suspended in some type of resin. I can well imagine that the interior was rough.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
The robot costume was made out of what was referred to as "artificial wood". I would think that it was sawdust suspended in some type of resin. I can well imagine that the interior was rough.

That's amazing!

I would have guessed just about anything other than "artificial wood" as the material used to make the costume. When I read that info above, I wondered how they shaped the material, so I found a Wikipedia article called which included this.
__________________________________________

Walter Schulze-Mittendorff [de], the robot's designer, described how it was made.

He originally considered making the robot from beaten copper, but it would be too heavy to wear and difficult to achieve.

He then discovered a sample of "plastic wood", a new material which was very easy to sculpt into the required shape. Using a plaster body cast of actress Brigitte Helm, Mittendorff cut large chunks of plastic wood, rolled flat with a pin and draped them over the cast, like pieces of a suit of armour.

The resulting costume was then spray-painted with cellon varnish spray mixed with silvery bronze powder which gave it a very convincing appearance of polished metal.

__________________________________________

I still can't visual the process.

First he said he "sculpted" the material (as if it was soft, like clay), but then he said he "cut large chunks", rolled them flat, and draped them over the cast of the actress.

Maybe I can find more info on the subject . . . or perhaps you can.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
The robot costume was made out of what was referred to as "artificial wood". I would think that it was sawdust suspended in some type of resin. I can well imagine that the interior was rough.[/size]

That's amazing!

I would have guessed just about anything other than "artificial wood" as the material used to make the costume. When I read that info above, I wondered how they shaped the material, so I found a Wikipedia article called which included this.
__________________________________________

Walter Schulze-Mittendorff [de], the robot's designer, described how it was made.

He originally considered making the robot from beaten copper, but it would be too heavy to wear and difficult to achieve.

He then discovered a sample of "plastic wood", a new material which was very easy to sculpt into the required shape. Using a plaster body cast of actress Brigitte Helm, Mittendorff cut large chunks of plastic wood, rolled flat with a pin and draped them over the cast, like pieces of a suit of armour.

The resulting costume was then spray-painted with cellon varnish spray mixed with silvery bronze powder which gave it a very convincing appearance of polished metal.

__________________________________________

I still can't visual the process.

First he said he "sculpted" the material (as if it was soft, like clay), but then he said he "cut large chunks", rolled them flat, and draped them over the cast of the actress.

Maybe I can find more info on the subject . . . or perhaps you can.
Very Happy
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It sounds like there was a period of time where the plastic wood was malleable, perhaps air dried. He would have a certain amount of time to mold the plastic wood before it stiffened into a permanent shape.

They probably didn't sand down and finish the interior because it didn't show, so why waste the time and effort. It sounds like Lang wasn't too concerned about the comfort of the performers in the film.

It's still like that today, except they do try to make it more comfortable for the performers. But the general attitude is, if you don't see it, then don't waste precious time. There is never enough time.

What director was it that said that actors should be treated like cattle?

David.
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