Editing Metropolis (1927 film) (section)

==Production==
===Pre-production===
''Metropolis''<nowiki/>'s screenplay was written by Thea von Harbou, a popular writer in Weimar Germany, jointly with Lang, her then-husband.{{sfn|Magid|2006|p=129}}{{sfn|Grant|2003|p=14}} The film's plot originated from a [[Metropolis (novel)|novel of the same title]] written by Harbou for the sole purpose of being made into a film. The novel in turn drew inspiration from [[H. G. Wells]], [[Mary Shelley]] and [[Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam|Villiers de l'Isle-Adam]]'s works and other German dramas.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=9}} The novel featured strongly in the film's marketing campaign, and was serialized in the journal ''Illustriertes Blatt'' in the run-up to its release. Harbou and Lang collaborated on the screenplay derived from the novel, and several plot points and thematic elements—including most of the references to magic and occultism present in the novel—were dropped.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=12}}

{{stack|[[File:Fritz Lang und Thea von Harbou, 1923 od. 1924 crop2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Lang and Harbou in their Berlin apartment, about the time they were working on the scenario for ''Metropolis'' (ca 1923 or 1924)]]}}
The screenplay itself went through many rewrites, and at one point featured an ending where Freder flew to the stars; this plot element later became the basis for Lang's ''[[Woman in the Moon]]''.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=12}} The time setting of ''Metropolis'' is open to interpretation. The 2010 re-release and reconstruction, which incorporated the original title cards written by Thea von Harbou, do not specify a year. Before the reconstruction, Lotte Eisner and Paul M. Jensen placed the events happening around the year 2000.{{sfn|Eisner|1986|p=83}}{{sfn|Jensen|1969|p=59}} Giorgio Moroder's re-scored version included a title card placing the film in 2026, while Paramount's original US release said the film takes place in 3000.<ref name=NYT>{{cite web |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A05E2D8143BE13ABC4F53DFB566838C639EDE |author-link=Mordaunt Hall |author=Hall, Mordaunt |title=Movie review Metropolis (1927) A Technical Marvel |date=7 March 1927}}</ref>

A note in one edition of Harbou's novel says that the story does not take place at any particular place or time, in the past or the future. Meanwhile, the 1963 Ace Books edition, which is a reprint of the 1927 English edition, specifies the setting as "The World of 2026 A.D.".{{fact|date=September 2024}}

===Filming===
On 22 May 1925, ''Metropolis'' began [[principal photography]] with an initial budget of {{Reichsmark|1.5 million}}.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=12}} Lang cast two unknowns with little film experience in the lead roles. Gustav Fröhlich (Freder) had worked in vaudeville and was originally employed as an extra on ''Metropolis'' before Thea von Harbou recommended him to Lang.{{sfn|McGilligan|1997|p=113}} Brigitte Helm (Maria) had been given a screen test by Lang after he met her on the set of ''[[Die Nibelungen]]'', but would make her feature film debut with ''Metropolis''.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=12}} In the role of Joh Fredersen, Lang cast Alfred Abel, a noted stage and screen actor whom he had worked with on ''[[Dr. Mabuse the Gambler]]''. Lang also cast his frequent collaborator Rudolph Klein-Rogge in the role of Rotwang. This was Klein-Rogge's fourth film with Lang, after ''[[Destiny (1921 film)|Destiny]]'', ''Dr. Mabuse the Gambler'', and ''Die Nibelungen''.{{fact|date=September 2024}}

Shooting of the film was a draining experience for the actors involved due to the demands that Lang placed on them. For the scene where the workers' city was flooded, Helm and 500 children from the poorest districts of [[Berlin]] had to work for 14 days in a pool of water that Lang intentionally kept at a low temperature.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=16}} Lang would frequently demand numerous re-takes, and took two days to shoot a simple scene where Freder collapses at Maria's feet; by the time Lang was satisfied with the footage he had shot, actor Gustav Fröhlich found he could barely stand.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=16}} Other anecdotes involve Lang's insistence on using real fire for the climactic scene where the false Maria is burnt at the stake (which resulted in Helm's dress catching fire), and his ordering extras to throw themselves towards powerful jets of water when filming the flooding of the workers' city.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=16}}<ref name="Turner">{{cite web|last=Miller|first=Frank|title=Metropolis (1927)|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/25817|publisher=[[TCM.com]]|access-date=23 February 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316012144/http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/25817%7C0/Metropolis.html|archive-date=16 March 2014}}</ref>

Helm recalled her experiences of shooting the film in a contemporary interview, saying that "the night shots lasted three weeks, and even if they did lead to the greatest dramatic moments—even if we did follow Fritz Lang's directions as though in a trance, enthusiastic and enraptured at the same time—I can't forget the incredible strain that they put us under. The work wasn't easy, and the authenticity in the portrayal ended up testing our nerves now and then. For instance, it wasn't fun at all when Grot drags me by the hair, to have me burned at the stake. Once I even fainted: during the transformation scene, Maria, as the android, is clamped in a kind of wooden armament, and because the shot took so long, I didn't get enough air."<ref>{{cite news |last=Helm|first=Brigitte |title=The Making of Metropolis: Actress Brigitte Helm – The Maria of the Underworld, of Yoshiwara, and I |url=http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2010/05/the-making-of-metropolis-actress-brigitte-helm/ |work=[[Cinefantastique]]|access-date=23 February 2012 |editor-first=Lawrence |editor-last=French |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140709020834/http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2010/05/the-making-of-metropolis-actress-brigitte-helm/|archive-date=9 July 2014|date=15 May 2010}}</ref>

Despite the hardships, Thea von Harbou recounted how the film set was paradise for the hundreds of poor, malnourished children used as extras. In 1927 in ''Metropolis Magazine'', von Harbou describes their warm and clean rooms, time for play, and ample toys and hot meals four times a day. "No film ever had more enthusiastic and willing collaborators than these little children," she recalled, "always willing to dash into the chilly water [...] like perfect actors".<ref>peterharrington.co.uk/blog/metropolis</ref>

UFA invited several trade journal representatives and several film critics to see the film's shooting as parts of its promotion campaign.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=24}}

Shooting lasted 17 months, with 310 shooting days and 60 shooting nights, and was finally completed on 30 October 1926.<ref name="Turner" /> By the time shooting finished, the film's budget leapt to 5.3 million Reichsmarks, or over three and a half times the original budget.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=19}}<ref name=bennett /> Producer Erich Pommer had been fired during production.<ref name=bennett />

===Special effects===
The effects expert [[Eugen Schüfftan]] created pioneering visual effects for ''Metropolis''. Among the effects used are [[miniature effect|miniatures]] of the city, a camera on a swing, and most notably, the [[Schüfftan process]],{{sfn|Mok|1930|pp=22–24, 143–145}} in which mirrors are used to create the illusion that actors are occupying miniature sets. This new technique was seen again just two years later in [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s film ''[[Blackmail (1929 film)|Blackmail]]'' (1929).<ref>{{cite web|last=Cock |first=Matthew |title=Hitchcock's Blackmail and the British Museum: film, technology and magic |url=http://blog.britishmuseum.org/2011/08/25/hitchcock%E2%80%99s-blackmail-and-the-british-museum-film-technology-and-magic/ |work=The British Museum |access-date=23 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811212031/http://blog.britishmuseum.org/2011/08/25/hitchcock%E2%80%99s-blackmail-and-the-british-museum-film-technology-and-magic/ |archive-date=11 August 2014 |date=25 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{stack|[[File:Maschinenmensch in a screen shot from the Metropolis film.jpg|thumb|A film scene with Maschinenmensch]]}}

The ''[[Maschinenmensch]]'' – the robot built by Rotwang to resurrect his lost love Hel – was created by sculptor Walter Schulze-Mittendorff. A whole-body plaster cast was taken of actress Brigitte Helm, and the costume was then constructed around it. A chance discovery of a sample of "plastic wood" (a pliable substance designed as wood-filler) allowed Schulze-Mittendorff to build a costume that would both appear metallic and allow a small amount of free movement.<ref>{{cite web|last=Schulze-Mittendorff|first=Bertina|title =The Metropolis Robot – Its Creation| url = http://www.walter-schulze-mittendorff.com/EN/robot01.html| access-date =17 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140903121353/http://www.walter-schulze-mittendorff.com/EN/robot01.html |archive-date=3 September 2014}}</ref> Helm sustained cuts and bruises while in character as the robot, as the costume was rigid and uncomfortable.{{sfn|McGilligan|1997|pp=115–116}}