Reviewed by Dennis Morton

Most folks with a life long love of the movies have seen Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s masterpiece. But I hadn’t, until recently. It’s an amazing film. Also, recently, I had the pleasure of listening to film historian Morton Marcus deliver a short talk about the making of Metropolis. Here’s a bit of what I learned:
Working from a script by his wife, Lang made Metropolis in the years 1925 and 26. It was released in 1927 and pulled from circulation shortly thereafter. At well over two hours, the movie was considered too long. Drastic cuts were made and some of the missing footage has never been found. But the current version is apparently the most intact in a long history of botched attempts to recreate the original. We can all be grateful.

Metropolis is exciting to watch. To me, it resembles a grand ballet. Because it is a “silent film", gesture and body movement are integral to the narrative. It made me remember a conversation I had with the deaf Scottish percussionist, Evelyn Glennie. When I asked her if she thought it possible for those of us with normal hearing to learn to “listen” as carefully as she does, she said “yes” and, among other things, suggested that we practice watching movies or TV with the sound off. We can learn to listen better partly by observing better. Watching a “silent movie” then, is good practice in learning to listen more attentively.

By today’s standards, the director would be pilloried for forcing his actors to behave histrionically. And I admit to chuckling at some of the scenes, with full knowledge that no humor was intended. But I’m looking through 21st century eyes. Most of the time I was in awe. Lang is as much choreographer as director, and the result is magnificent. The original score is also intact, newly recorded and, at times, very beautiful. In it I heard quotes of old jazz standards, though the score is orchestral and not at all jazzy.

Watching Metropolis for the first time is to see the origin of many contemporary sci-fi classics, Blade Runner, The Fifth Element, and this summer’s Minority Report among them. The original Frankenstein is so obviously in debt to Lang that it must have seemed a bald rip-off at the time.

What most surprised me about Metropolis was the eroticism of it, some very open, and some of it not so. If it’s possible for a rape scene to be subtle, and yes, even erotic, Lang has done it. Of course it couldn’t have been done without the skill of his young actress, Brigitte Helm.

It may seem odd to withhold from you the plot of a 75 year old film, but I won’t say much about it. It involves a futuristic city-state lorded over by an arch capitalist who keeps the workers, in his words, “where they should be.” That is, deep underground.

The big boss has a big-hearted son and in the underground city there’s a beautiful gadfly named Maria. They meet. Throw in an egomaniacal mad scientist and you have the main ingredients for Metropolis. I’ll add only that as much as I enjoyed the sheer inventive spectacle of the film, I find its politics disturbing. Reportedly, Metropolis was one of Hitler’s favorite films. Lang didn’t stick around for the accolades, however. He hightailed it to Hollywood not too long after Metrolpolis was released.

I am keenly aware that I almost always report to you on movies that I like. I do not enjoy writing about the crap that occupies so many movie screens these days. But I feel obliged to warn you about a movie that opened this week. It’s called Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. I think I can safely say it’s the worst movie I’ve ever seen. It’s utterly devoid of intelligence. It consists almost solely of fifth rate pyrotechnics. Two minutes into it I turned incredulously to my companion. I stayed only to verify that my initial reading was accurate and to assure a place for this truly terrible movie on my list of all time worsts. If you don’t believe me, let me tell you that it’s directed by someone who calls himself, or herself, Kaos. That’s KAOS.

By all means, head to The Nickelodeon in downtown Santa Cruz and watch Metropolis. But if you see the word Ballistic on a marque near you, turn around - flee.

For KUSP’s Film Gang, this is Dennis Morton.