Try the ultimate tool to upscale the quality of vintage video to 4K: bit.ly/Precise... Join as a member to support this channel: / @xixbacktolife Music: Lemme See About It by Max McFerren.
The quality of the film will be limited to whatever quality it was originally filmed in, minus any deterioration. Any attempts to "upscale" are only educated guesses by the computer.
I don't know why this is so intriguing to me even though I know that's the whore of Babylon with the chalice that holds the blood of the saints in her hand as she sits on the beast
I like this clip not for the colorization alone, but the obvious fact that some footage barely made it to the editor's desk. For those not familiar, this incredible masterpiece had been cut up and shortened, with some of the "streaked" scenes missing for nearly a century. From time to time footage has been found in someone's possession, and had to be placed into the reel based on whatever notes were available regarding the original sequences. I'm really happy this editor made the effort to include the missing scenes where possible, despite the drastic differences in quality. Very enjoyable for Metropolis fans.
Yes! And did you notice how the less restored pieces were reserved for the hero's fever-dream, too! The whole movie is a work of art. The makers were no less clever than us, despite the fact that there has been a lot of technological invention since then; so they made their art with the tools that they had available, and they did a blooming good job!
For years "Metropolis" was only available in the drastically shortened U.S. release version, which altered key story points and did away with entire subplots. The most recent restoration (and probably the most complete version of the film we'll ever see) incorporates footage from a badly worn but serviceable print that was found in a Buenos Aires film archive. Funny how a lot of old German things wind up in Argentina!
It appears that Giorgio Moroder is really at the origin of the revival of the film which had been forgotten. He started in 1981 and for 3 years he worked on film restoration. He took two years to find the missing images and another year to obtain authorizations from the German owners who had these copies. Over the years Lang's film had several versions. Initially the original had a duration of 153 minutes which was cut to 107 minutes for the American version (in order to make profitable the projections in the cinemas). Then successive versions of 128 minutes in England, 91 minutes (1936), 83 minutes (1984), 124 minutes (2001) and 148 minutes which seems to be the most complete version of the film (2010). If Moroder's 83-minute version is "kitsch" these days, we must underline the work of "memory" done by the composer. More classic restorations followed, which allows us to fully appreciate the film today. P.S.: I must admit that I discovered «Metropolis» with the pop version of Moroder (1984).
I watched this movie when I was 9 years old and I was absolutely riveted by it. It was my first silent film, I'm almost 30 now and I still think it's a masterpiece!
If you are referring to the pasties on the woman I think you meant to say that it was not censored. After all, all pretty much all films are edited during postproduction before arriving at the final product.
@@Teeb2023 it reminds me of fashion shows, where designers take too much acid. And you see a woman with a steering wheel on her back and the audience on acid excited.
People will never understand what a feat of ingenuity this movie is. This we can now do with a computer. They accomplished this by camera only. The multiple “eye” scene is spectacular.
@@zero_bs_tolerance8646 That's three of us so far. My mate thinks it's good too. Seriously, my heart sinks when I hear people say "It's not in HD, why would I want to watch that?". Before that it was black and white that people turned their noses up at. Someone I used to know wouldn't even give B/W films a chance. "If I see black and white when I'm channel surfing I move on straight away." There's some pretty amazing stuff. Not just in big movies Luke this or Douglas Fairbanks' Thief of Baghdad, but in the comedies, particularly Buster Keaton, who never let impossibility stop him doing something.
@@zacmumblethunder7466- Why would your heart sink? If I were a huge admirer of early medieval art, I might say the same about your love of B/W movies. Back when these movies were shown in the theater, there were many people who preferred reading books. Did their heart sink when people around them went to the movies instead of their local library? Maybe some elitists complained about it, but they were probably rejecting all forms of popular entertainment anyway. I love the songs written by the English Renaissance composer John Dowland. Does it bother me that nowadays relatively few people are listening to these wonderful pieces? Not at all. Today, more people are listening to and enjoying John Dowland's music on a single day, than during Dowland's entire life! In fact, John Dowland is now way more popular than he was back in the 16th and 17th century! The same can be said about Franz Schubert's sonatas, or Bach's Goldberg Variations. Similarly, more people are watching Metropolis today than ever before, especially now with RU-vid and other video platforms where you can watch the movie for free in the most authentic version since its premiere. Just enjoy the movies you care about. Movie classics are here to stay. The suggestion that nobody would care about old B/W movies anymore is simply not true.
@@j.vonhogen9650 Yeah, hadn't thought about it like that. I think it's easy to forget that somewhere, someone is interested in the same things we are and can find them if not _on_ the internet, perhaps _through_ it. It just saddens me that people miss out on something they might enjoy just because they don't like the format. Cheers. I'll look up John Dowland as well.
@@j.vonhogen9650 I'm 100% with you. I don't understand those who need others to enjoy what they enjoy. I frequently see comments here on RU-vid criticizing audiences for not laughing or applauding enough. I can't even imagine caring how an audience responds unless I were directly invested in the production.
The film acting at the time was still heavily based on theatre acting. In theatre the audience can't see the microexpressions on actors' faces, so they usually exaggerate everything. In this case it was also the director's vision of the enthralled crowd I guess.
I was taking "History of European Film - 1920-1930" at UCLA in 1969. We'd watch two films a day, four per week. Each day we'd have a guest speaker. One day the professor announced, "Our films for today are 'M' and 'Metropolis'. Our guest speaker is Fritz Lang." That was a fascinating session.
The actress was Brigette Helm, she was a German actress & this was her 1st film, she was only 18. She retired in 1935, moved to Switzerland largely because of the rise of Hitler and Nazism in the German film industry. She refused to talk about her film career. * she was considered for the part in 'Bride of Frankenstein' - Elsa Lancaster played the part in 1935.
I saw this in a theater with a small experimental orchestra playing music..very much like the music in this clip,,, unbelievable how amazing the cinematography is
Metropolis is a masterpiece! I only saw this film very recently and I was shocked at not only the effects but also its relevance in today's society - almost 100 years later. Beautiful film and I highly recommend it to everyone.
I saw this first in 1968 I think at College I can't remember if it was actually a film, I got hooked on German Expressionism and bought it in VHS in 1980 it didn't make sense because the film was so badly cut I have three DVD of the film.
Can anyone tell me where the bass-line part of this music came from? Not the piano or "uplifting" part but the actual - boom boom - tah tah tah tah tah tah tah - boom boom - tah tah tah tah tah tah tah
@@gertpacu3926 The whole thing is just a copyright free song produced by Max McFerren called 'Lemme See About It'. Since it's copyright free I would guess the artist just mixed it himself
I watched the entire black and white film. It was always my dad’s favorite silent film, so he had it on DVD and hung a poster of it in our house. Lol Honestly such a wonderful piece of cinema.
Which copy do you have? They added much once lost material over the years. The current one from 2010 is 148 minutes. 2001 was 124 and the 'old' Version from the 80s is just 83 minutes (but also a lot faster and different music). The original cut is 153 minutes. They only have one source for the missing two scenes and they are completely kaputt.
@@apfelschorle1988 He has the 124 minute 2002 Kino edition. Or the “restored authorized edition”. I believe he also has the complete metropolis edition, but I could be wrong.
@@charleBerglund Hmm, I don’t think it needs to be capitalized in the sentence that I used it in, but I’m not fully sure. I’m using it in a way that would be synonymous with the words “movie” or “film”... but, I’m not the best at English grammar. I’d say it’s quite negligible on this platform.
Seeing this, it reminds me of the huge cultural shift that took place in the mid-90s. When I started being interested in movies around 1990, there seemed to be a "Casablanca" restaurant, a bar called "Rick's Café Americain" or a discoteque named "Metropolis" in every given city. Humphrey Bogart was still the epitome of coolness. You could still witness audiences letting out a collective gasp of excitement when, during a screening of "Battleship Potemkin", the Odessa Stairs sequence was announced. Cinema culture was still in awe of and heavily influenced by its own history in both a good and a bad way. All this completely changed with the arrival of CGI, globalization, the internet and a new breed of young directors like Tarantino and the Coen Brothers around 1995-2000. It was a cultural watershed that came very sudden and in a short time span, but was radical and irrevocable, just as if the heirs of an ancient civilization had decided to abandon their traditional characters and switch to a modern alphabet. Only a few years on, and all this Casablanca and Metropolis stuff would be almost forgotten. Of today's millenials hardly anyone even knows who this Fritz Lang guy was to begin with. Of course these films are very old now, but they were already very old when we first saw them. Sometimes I feel like I've lived my cinematic life in two different worlds.
Revival houses that had quality prints helped bring these films out to the public again. Streaming has made them available to the average person, but there’s nothing like sitting in the dark with an audience in front of a big silver screen. Quentin Tarantino still runs 2 great movie theaters in LA. There’s also TCM for your home TV if your cable company carries it.
All those people acting in the scenes, they all had their personalities and stories, were long gone now. It is a permanent curiosity where their lives were like in the previous century.
@Halicarnassus82 While you're down in the academic weeds the rest of us are being moved, shocked, fascinated and entertained by a work of art. Try it sometime.
@@xrayban2I was thinking the same thing!! Actually it makes me wonder what the music was when this was 1st played. I mean in that era the silent movies would be accompanied by an organ player during the show.
I'm so conflicted, I would love to see what Fritz Lang could have created with modern technology but I'm so glad he was able to take what primitive tech he had access to in the 1920s and create this masterpiece. I love the visuals, the overlays of the men watching the dancer. I know it feels overacted by our modern standards but I think it works just fine as they can't communicate with words so it's all done visually. What an amazing piece of art!
It wasn't primitive, it was state of the art! Many new techniques were applied to this movie, and here we are a century later and it still looks amazing. Silent movie actors had to exaggerate their movements and expressions because, of course, they couldn't be heard (though if you watch the film, they are delivering dialogue).
@@MaskedMan66 You're right, and they weren't just acting for their own compatriots. Their expressions and mannerisms were fir a global audience. I heard someone once say that silent movies were the only truly global mass medium in history. Lang used to employ actors based on their appearance rather than any ability. What modern audiences forget is that there was no such thing as realism in cinema in those days. It's pure storytelling.
@@zacmumblethunder7466 Which I think is its main charm. You get a really good actor or actress (Mary Pickford was probably the best) and you know exactly what is meant to be conveyed. It's opera without words!
Enorm welche Qualität nach fast 100 Jahren, durch digitale Bearbeitung gezeigt werden kann. Ein Meisterwerk, dass damals ein Flop war, und heute wegweisend ist. Welch ein Aufwand zur damaligen Zeit des Stummfilms. Schade dass immer noch Aufnahmen unvollständig sind. Unglaublich toll künstlerisch und kreativ dargestellt. Wirkt durch die Einfärbungen und den Darstellungen einfach zeitlos. Klasse gemacht, auch mit dem Sound 👍👍
Hey there viewers, just want to mention that you might want to try reducing the speed on this clip to 75%. It makes the movement much more natural, and does not diminish the quality of the video or audio.
@@nerfherder4284 - This would have been shot at 18 fps. and the error introduced when it was transferred to video on equipment running at 24 fps.- 18/24 = 0.75, i.e. 75% is the correct speed for how the film was shot and originally displayed.
I love the updated music and the whole design of this is just fabulous. Combine that with the wonderful Art Deco sets and it's something I could watch over and over again. There won't be another movie quite like this. It really is a visual masterpiece (what remains of it, anyway).
Man oh man. Sometimes you just don't quite remember how mindblowingly amazing Metropolis really was especially when working under the constraints of 1920s film and sfx technology, namely silent, short reels and black and white. The artistry in this film puts 99% of the last century's works to shame.
Extraordinary scenes. The lurid dance, the direction, the camera angles, special effects, and so much more are startlingly impressive. This version is the most detailed, and sharpest I've ever seen. Although not a big fan of colourisation, this is pretty well done. The visual degradation in the non- restored insert segments is also quite the contrast.
@AliAthar-rm2pm He would have been if he hadn't died in the 1920s. He was 36 when my grandfather was born in 1878. My grandfather was 46 when my mom was born in 1924. He died in 1958 before l was two years old. He was 80 then.
@AliAthar-rm2pm l don't remember my grandfather either. He lived in another state and l only saw him a couple of times, though believe it or not l do have some memories from when l was that age. Sorry you lost your father at such a young age.
@@Williamottelucas That's a long life. I hope she had a good one. I had an aunt who lived until 94 born in 1921. She was active until she had a stroke at the end of her life. As far as l know she was the longest lived person in her family. I recently found a group school picture that was taken in the early thirties with she and my mom standing together in the group.
I never understood this, why does she constantly have this hideous and grotesque vulture neck posture while dancing? Is she supposed to look attractive? I hope not.
My English teacher in high school showed this in class (a shortened version or just extended scenes). There was a bit of this dancing - not too scandalous since it came and went on the screen. What knocked my socks off were the scenes of the future - the advanced imagination of Lang is incredible. And the special effects.
The film was a major reference for ‘Blade Runner’. Ridley Scott included several very precise visual quotes from ‘Metropolis’ and other german expressionist movies in his own masterpiece.
I've watched many many movies, but this is the only movie I've ever watched where I truly felt like I wasn't watching a movie, but a work of art. In just 4 years Metropolis will celebrate its 100th anniversary, and it better get the respect it deserves. It was literally DECADES ahead of its time, and stands to this day as one of cinema's greatest achievements, perhaps its greatest ever.
Excellent colorization and editing. The symbolism is poignant, relevant to our time, and all set in a solid Art Deco framework. This movie is a masterpiece well worth preservation.
It is not excellent colourisation - it's bog-standard freeware. And I don't think film classics such as this need the urging from YT comments to 'preserve' it.
Change the speed of the playback to .75% by the white cog located in the lower righthand side of your RU-vid screen. It should be the 4th icon that is right in the middle. It slows the music down but the actions of the actors become normal. It's absolutely stunning to see these people almost in real-life.
My absolute favorite scene in the film (and not because of Maria) The scene is genuinely a fine piece of cinematic art, all cut together beautifully between the dancing and lustful eyes looking at her, along with the images of the seven deadly sins with Maria as the encapsulation of all of them at once it's just....beautiful. Fritz Lang honestly does not get enough appreciation for his work.
At my University as my master degree For my thesis I brought 'Blade Runner and Metropolis, two architectural cities in comparison' . I loved every frame of these two movies.
I remember I watched Metropolis on Netflix a few years ago. I wasn’t expecting much but I had been looking at a list of famous, well-regarded films and started watching as many of them as I could. I was so surprised by how this silent film from 1927 not only told such a great and compelling sci-fi story that was far ahead of its time but also had great effects and set design, which while not necessarily amazing by today’s standards, still created a world that was very believable. It’s so great to see color restoration for this movie now.
"but I had been looking at a list of famous, well-regarded films and started watching as many of them as I could." I so admire you for this. I wish more people would do it. If people would just adjust their comfort levels to encompass styles and technology levels from the past, they could find many new things to love.
When stress attacks me, I wish I could be present among them at that time. Watching this video, helps make me feel more relieved. Rest in peace of love to the souls who have gone before.
this scene is the embodiment of stress, anxiety, horror, and desperation! It’s fitting it could serve as the anthem of many tortured souls in a very short time…
Such creativity and no computer generated scenes were created yet. Even though the men in the dance scene acted like perverts gawking at the dancer's skimpy costume. So ahead of it's time..... Metropolis ❤
Ancient pantomime was introduced at Rome during the reign of Augustus by Pylades of Cilicia and Bathyllus of Alexandria and was one of the greatest attractions on the ancient stage from the end of the first century BC until the end of the sixth century AD
They did. Silent film just required a very specific type of stylized acting, to convey emotions without sound. On top of that, the German expressionist movement (something Lang himself wasn't necessarily fond of) promoted an even more stylized and heightened style than, say, what they were doing in Sweden. Compare this to the work of victor sjöström from the same era, and the acting is completely different.
This is a true masterpiece... this movie was so far ahead of its time. yet it shows where the state of the world is today.. Ingenious... loved this movie... ❤️
Its frustrating that its so underrated even for its time. Many critics just brushed it off as "cheap communist propoganda" ignoring all its technological feats and core message.
@@Automedon2 "Oh please" what? If you can deny the level of technical and artistic production value this film clearly exhibits, especially for being made in the SILENT ERA 1920s? That tells me you've never even bothered to watch it, so you're baseless opinion is utterly devoid of value.
BRAVO... So much I hadn't noticed before. eg: I hadn't noticed the subtle deco shading on the bedroom walls! Terrifying, bleak yet at the same time erotic in the most wonderfully old-fashioned now sadly almost forgotten way. Best wishes from an Englishman making armour in a French forest. 🌞⚒️🇬🇧
maybe disney but maybe not pixar... And anyway not last 10 years maybe you would say 60 years. But why still disney focused when we had 55 years of hayao miyazaki ?
Except it fails to take account of the makeup worn in Black & White movies to enhance the eyes... leaving everyone looking like they have black eyes... it is well done but it is not great
Everybody is talking about modern technology and color and k4 but this movie is just on example of the impressive magical way you can work with shadow and light. The area of Expressionismus and my personal opinion is that it might be a bit dark but way more playing peaceful with whatever you can create in those shadows :)
Who's "they"? Nazis considered that kind of movies "degenerate art". The rest of the world had other concerns after WWII. 80% or even 90% of movies from that era are lost forever. The material just deteriorates. And it may take a long time for a movie to be considered a "classic" worth restoring and saving. And when that happens it may be too late, and it's almost impossible to locate any complete copies of the movie.
I’m usually against colorizing B & W moves, but I have to admit they did a brilliant job on this one! The colorizers here are not just technicians, they are artists!
why would u be against it? its not like they did it on purpouse,they where limited only on black and white so films being coloured gives new dimension that this directors couldnt get
Every time I watch this i spot something new. Like the coffin-like bed, and even the walls to the bedroom look like the lining of a coffin. The nipple backdrop behind the dancer, the grim reaper with the syphilitic skull... It's just a fascinating work!
Yes, many people seeing this sequence for the first time don't realize that it is a fever dream of the hero's. That's why every thing looks so bizarre and exaggerated.
I’ve seen this movie can’t remember when but I don’t remember seeing the scenes in such detail it’s so thought provoking and in your face. The music you chose was spot on 💜
Thanks for the cleanest version I have ever seen of this scene. I could see it more clearly on my phone than the last several times I saw I in the theater. My deepest appreciation.
I love to see some art deco furniture, which was amongst the most modern styles of that time. Every sci-fi movie tells you a lot about what was the most futuristic at the time it has been shot. It's always fascinating to see that in retrospective.
There's a scene in Star Wars episode 1 where I think Queen Panama was in her private boudoir, you can see in the corner some John McIntosh chairs. And they fit perfectly.
Last time I watched "Metropolis" it was with some friends - and some wine and some herbs. We watched the 2010 reconstruction, which is around 150 minutes long and virtually complete. When the film finished, we immediately decided to watch the 1984 Giorgio Moroder version. Unplanned, it became a Blu-ray double-bill of two versions of the same film. That's how good "Metropolis" is.
I don't know what it is but this has wormed it's way into my brain. It keeps on going over and over in my mind now. The sound track matches the cinematics perfectly. Finding this clip has made me check out the original film to which I was quite surprised how well made it was for the time. Quite an accurate reflection of how the world seems to be dividing.
Same thing happened to me. I didn't even like the song choice at first. But now it's burrowed into my head and the imagery is haunting. It's really something. I keep coming back, and I don't even really know why.
This is amazing! I have loved this film for decades and I consider it to be my favorite film of all time. Seeing this footage makes my heart sing! Please do more!
Ok so 1927: work on Mt. Rushmore began, the Holland tunnel opened, Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic, Ford released the model A car, and the Jazz singer opened marking the end of the silent film era. What's remarkable to me is that every person in this clip was raised without radio or television so there was a short period of films made by people who's imagination was fully developed by books and the real world alone.
@@eugeniaskelley5194 this film was made in 1927, I said they were "raised" without television or radio meaning these 30-60 year old people in the film were "RAISED" in the late 1800's when there were NO radios.
@@eugeniaskelley5194 Vaudeville was in the U.S. this is German. Cell phones were around in the 80's, did you have one? I didn't, I highly doubt in the 1920's that a lot of Germans had ever seen a motion picture.
I was so impressed by the scene where the statues and the skeleton start to move when I first saw it! It looks awesome with no allowances whatsoever made for the time it was made
Fritz Lang was a weirdo, an outsider, and he was considered crazy and sadistic by some actresses. But he was also a genius willing to go to the margins and do what others would not. This sequence was scandalous at the time, and still somewhat alarming. However, it is an amazing work of art. It also gives a sense of how people in the old world (Lang was Gernan) viewed good and evil by reenacting artwork. An incredible cinematic achievement. By the way, the woman plays the part of the Biblical "Great Whore of Babylon" written about in the book of Revelations.
A RU-vidr in France has done a small retrospective of Lang’s films during this past month of August (14 chosen films). I had plenty of books on Lang so I picked excerpts here and there to bring context to each film. In a funny way each individual book had a different view on Lang and it’s seemed that after reading a lot on him it’s hard to say who he really was. I was surprised to know, for instance, that he was accused of killing his first wife. The fact is that she committed suicide after she discovered that Lang was having an affair with Thea Von Harbou (his screenwriter for the german era). So because of that, Lang, most of his life, had a notebook were he wrote every thing he did in a day. And in his later years he had a stuffed monkey (called Peter) that he talked to and brought with him on trips. Lang was actually Austrian but he finally took the German nationality. In Hollywood he was considered difficult because he was a perfectionist and he knew what exactly he wanted in a pictures. Some producer noted that it was much easier to work with him when you where giving him respect. After all he left Germany as a semi «God Director» and went to Hollywood to blend in the group of expatriates from Europe bringing new creativity to tinseltown. Lang was complex indeed and he had a fascinating career.
@Tweety Kid - Also worth noting that, in this film, Babylon is capitalism, with the tuxedoed bourgeoisie leering and lusting after her in their private cloud-top club.
@@danopticon yes, that is the biblical significance. In the Bible God refers to Babylon as a place of commerce. Revelation talks about the whore of Babylon. There's also a lot in Daniel about the Babylonian captivity and Israel. My opinion is that it was likely the birthplace of money, also created due to a specific refusal to spread out and subdue the earth, which is what God had commanded. Just my two centavos. Yeah, the men in their tuxes. The son of the corporate boss realizing that the workers are treated horribly. It's all an economic message.
I watched this when i was 15 and thought i wanted to be a filmmaker. My sister who was 14 thought she hated black and white movies but she was engrossed by this one- a silent movie no less! A classic and along greatest of all time for sure
At 3:33 the German words above the figures translate to GLUTTONY, STINGINESS, VANITY to the left of the Reaper and LUST, ENVY, ANGER, FOLLY to the right.
I first saw "Metropolis" back in the Eighties with the Giorgio Moroder soundtrack. I have DVD copies of both the Moroder and the 2002 restoration version, but this clip takes the film to an astonishing new level.
@@alejandrocastillo9209 Interesting! Apparently, it's possible to sync Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" with "The Wizard Of Oz," but I've never succeeded.
The colorizing really adds to this scene. Of course, there are many editor cuts of the scene in the original movie, but regardless of that the colorizing really helps in bringing this scene to today's world, almost a century beyond.
@@genesmiley9866 Monochrome is a restrictive and emotionally distancing medium mostly only valued by those who were brought up to regard it as arty and aesthetic.
@@genesmiley9866 I can always find the purist who hates colorizing, but I love it. For me, it greatly enhances the video. I think that most people agree with me.
The art museum near me played this completed version in 2014 and I sat through it twice, even though I had first seen it in my college film class and at theaters since then. The entire film is incredible. Fritz Lang was a genius. I am glad he left Germany in 1933 before the Nazi's rise to power. Joseph Goebbels had a meeting with him and it was the final straw for filming in Germany. They showed it on TCM a few days ago and I was glued to the screen since my eyes could not be moved from the fantastic images before them.
![[4k, 60fps, colorized] (1927) Metropolis, Fritz Lang. Dance scene.](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
