Editing Metropolis (1927 film)

{{Short description|German silent science-fiction film}}
{{For-text|the novel of the same name by Thea von Harbou|[[Metropolis (novel)]]}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Metropolis
| image          = Metropolis (German three-sheet poster).jpg
| image_upright  = 0.65
| alt            = Poster of a robot standing in front of a futuristic urban skyline
| caption        = Theatrical release poster by [[Heinz Schulz-Neudamm]]
| director       = [[Fritz Lang]]
| producer       = [[Erich Pommer]]
| screenplay     = [[Thea von Harbou]]
| based_on       = {{Based on|[[Metropolis (novel)|''Metropolis''<br>1925 novel]]|Thea von Harbou}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Alfred Abel]]
* [[Brigitte Helm]]
* [[Gustav Fröhlich]]
* [[Rudolf Klein-Rogge]]
}}
| music          = [[Gottfried Huppertz]]
| cinematography = {{Plainlist|
* [[Karl Freund]]
* [[Günther Rittau]]
}}
| editing        = 
| studio         = [[UFA GmbH|UFA]]
| distributor    = [[Parufamet]]
| released       = {{film date|1927|1|10|df=yes}}{{sfn|Kreimeier|1999|p=156}}<ref name=bennett>Bennett, Bruce (2010) "The Complete Metropolis: Film Notes" Kino DVD K-659</ref>
| runtime        = 153 minutes (Original German release)
| country        = [[Weimar Republic|Germany]]
| language       = {{plainlist|
* [[Silent film]]
* German [[intertitles]]
}}
| budget         = {{Reichsmark|5.3 million|link=yes}} ''(estimated)''<ref name=bennett/> (equivalent to €{{Inflation|DE|5.3|1927}}<!-- using official exchange rate of 1 RM = 1 DM = 1.95583 EUR; note that {{inflation}} automatically converts DM to euros from 2003 onwards --> million {{Inflation-year|DE}})
| gross          = {{Reichsmark|75,000}} ''(estimated)'', $1 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)<ref name=variety1990>{{cite magazine|date=15 October 1990|title=All Time Film Rental Champs|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|issn=0042-2738|page=M-172|first=Lawrence|last=Cohn}}</ref>
}}
'''''Metropolis''''' is a 1927 [[German expressionist cinema|German expressionist]] [[science-fiction film|science-fiction]] [[silent film]] directed by [[Fritz Lang]] and written by [[Thea von Harbou]] in collaboration with Lang{{sfn|Magid|2006|p=129}}{{sfn|Grant|2003|p=14}} from von Harbou's [[Metropolis (novel)|1925 novel of the same name]] (which was intentionally written as a [[film treatment|treatment]]). It stars [[Gustav Fröhlich]], [[Alfred Abel]], [[Rudolf Klein-Rogge]], and [[Brigitte Helm]]. [[Erich Pommer]] produced it in the [[Babelsberg Studio]] for [[UFA GmbH|Universum Film A.G.]] (UFA). ''Metropolis'' is regarded as a pioneering science-fiction film, being among the first [[Feature film|feature-length]] ones of that genre.<ref>[http://www.scififilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=metro"Metropolis (1927)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010074916/http://www.scififilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=metro |date=10 October 2017 }} ''Science Fiction Film History''. Retrieved 15 May 2013. Quote: "Although the first science fiction film is generally agreed to be Georges Méliès' ''A Trip To The Moon'' (1902), ''Metropolis'' (1926) is the first feature length outing of the genre."</ref> Filming took place over 17 months in 1925–26 at a cost of more than five million [[Reichsmark]]s,<ref name="HAJ">{{cite book|first1=Ronald M.|last1=Hahn|first2=Volker|last2=Jansen|title=Die 100 besten Kultfilme|publisher=Heyne Filmbibliothek|location=Munich, Germany|date=1998|page=396|isbn=3-453-86073-X|language=de}}</ref> or the equivalent of about €{{Inflation|DE|5.3|1927}} million<!-- copied from Infobox template-->.

Made in Germany during the [[Weimar Republic|Weimar period]], ''Metropolis'' is set in a futuristic urban [[dystopia]] and follows the attempts of Freder, the wealthy son of the city master, and Maria, a saintly figure to the workers, to overcome the vast gulf separating the [[Social class|classes]] in their city and bring the workers together with Joh Fredersen, the city master. The film's message is encompassed in the final [[inter-title]]: "The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands Must Be the Heart".

''Metropolis'' met a mixed reception upon release. Critics found it visually beautiful and powerful – the film's art direction by [[Otto Hunte]], [[Erich Kettelhut]], and Karl Vollbrecht draws influence from opera, [[Bauhaus]], [[Cubism|Cubist]], and [[Futurism|Futurist]] design,{{sfn|McGilligan|1997|p=112}} along with touches of the [[Gothic art|Gothic]] in the scenes in the [[catacombs]], the cathedral and Rotwang's house<ref name=encyc>Brosnan, Joan and Nichols, Peter. "Metropolis". In [[John Clute|Clute, John]] and [[Peter Nicholls (writer)|Nicholls, Peter]] (eds.) (1995). ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]''. New York: St.Martin's Griffin. p. 805. {{isbn|0-312-13486-X}}</ref> – and lauded its complex special effects, but accused its story of being naïve.{{sfn|McGilligan|1997|p=130}} [[H. G. Wells]] described the film as "silly", and ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]'' calls the story "trite" and its politics "ludicrously simplistic".<ref name=encyc /> Its alleged [[Communism|communist]] message was also criticized.{{sfn|McGilligan|1997|p=131}}

The film's long running time also came in for criticism. It was cut substantially after its German premiere. Many attempts have been made since the 1970s to restore the film. In 1984, Italian music producer [[Giorgio Moroder]] released a truncated version with a soundtrack by rock artists including [[Freddie Mercury]], [[Loverboy]], and [[Adam Ant]]. In 2001, a new reconstruction of ''Metropolis'' was shown at the [[Berlin Film Festival]]. In 2008, a damaged print of Lang's original cut of the film was found in a museum in Argentina. Footage from both this print and a second one archived in New Zealand was restored and re-integrated into the film, bringing it to within five minutes of its original running time. This version was shown on large screens in [[Berlin]] and [[Frankfurt]] simultaneously on 12 February 2010.

''Metropolis'' is now widely regarded as one of the [[List of films considered the best|greatest and most influential films ever made]], ranking 67th in ''[[Sight and Sound]]''{{'}}s [[The Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time 2022#Critics' poll|2022 critics' poll]], and receiving general critical acclaim.<ref name="bfi">{{cite news| url= https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time | title= The Greatest Films of All Time |  newspaper= [[Sight & Sound]] | publisher= [[British Film Institute]]| access-date=19 September 2022}}</ref> In 2001, the film was inscribed on [[UNESCO]]'s [[Memory of the World Programme|Memory of the World Register]], the first film thus distinguished.<ref>Staff (ndg) [http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-5/metropolis-sicherungsstueck-nr-1-negative-of-the-restored-and-reconstructed-version-2001/ "Memory of the World: Metropolis – Sicherungsstück Nr. 1: Negative of the restored and reconstructed version 2001"] [[UNESCO]] website. Accessed: 5 November 2018</ref> 
On 1 January 2023, the film's [[Copyright law of the United States|American reserved copyright]] expired, thereby entering the film into the [[public domain]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.openculture.com/2023/01/whats-entering-the-public-domain-in-2023.html | title=What's Entering the Public Domain in 2023: Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Virginia Woolf's to the Lighthouse, Franz Kafka's Amerika & More &#124; Open Culture }}</ref>

==Plot==
[[File:Metropolis (1927).webm|thumb|thumbtime=9|''Metropolis'', as reconstructed in 2010]]
In the future, wealthy industrialists and [[business magnate]]s and their top employees reign over the city of Metropolis from colossal [[skyscraper|skyscraper]]s, while underground-dwelling workers toil to operate the great machines that power it. Joh Fredersen is the city's master. His son, Freder, idles away his time at sports and in a pleasure garden, but is interrupted by the arrival of a young woman named Maria, who has brought a group of workers' children to witness the lifestyle of their rich "brothers". 

Maria and the children are ushered away, but Freder becomes fascinated by her. Against the strict rules of the city, he enters the lower levels to search for her. In the machine halls, he witnesses the explosion of a huge machine that kills and injures numerous workers. Freder has a hallucination that the machine is a temple of [[Moloch]] and the workers are being fed to it. When the hallucination ends, and he sees the dead workers being carried away on stretchers, he hurries to tell his father about the accident.

Grot, foreman of the Heart Machine, brings Fredersen two maps found in the dead workers' pockets. Fredersen fires his assistant Josaphat for not being the first to bring him details about the explosion or the maps. After seeing his father's cold indifference towards the harsh conditions faced by the workers, Freder secretly rebels by deciding to help them. He enlists Josaphat's assistance and returns to the machine halls, taking the place of a worker who has collapsed from exhaustion.

[[File:Horst von Harbou - Metropolis Maschinenmensch.jpg|thumb|upright|Set photograph of the Maschinenmensch from ''Metropolis'']]
Fredersen takes the maps to the city's greatest inventor, [[Rotwang]], to learn their meaning. Rotwang had been in love with a woman named Hel, who left him to marry Fredersen and later [[Maternal death|died giving birth]] to Freder. Rotwang shows Fredersen a [[Maschinenmensch|robot]] he has built to "[[Resurrection|resurrect]]" Hel. The maps show a network of catacombs beneath Metropolis, and the two men go to investigate. They eavesdrop on a gathering of workers, including Freder. Maria addresses them, prophesying the arrival of a mediator who can bring the working and ruling classes together. Freder believes he can fill the role and declares his love for Maria. 

Fredersen orders Rotwang to give Maria's likeness to the robot so that it can discredit her among the workers, but is unaware of Rotwang's true plan to destroy Metropolis and kill Freder. Rotwang kidnaps Maria, fashions the robot in her image, and presents her to Fredersen. Freder finds the two embracing and, believing his father to have betrayed him, falls into a prolonged delirium. Intercut with his hallucinations, the false Maria preaches to the workers that they must rise up against the surface world, resulting in chaos and dissent.

Freder recovers and returns to the catacombs, accompanied by Josaphat. Finding the false Maria urging the workers to destroy the machines, he accuses her of not being the real Maria. The workers ignore him and carry out her wishes, smashing the machines and triggering a great flood in their underground city that threatens to drown their children. The real Maria, having escaped from Rotwang's house, rescues the children with help from Freder and Josaphat. Grot berates the celebrating workers for abandoning their children in the flood. The workers become hysterical and condemn the false Maria, burning her at the stake. A horrified Freder watches until the fire reveals her to be a robot. Rotwang, now suffering from a delusion that Maria is Hel, chases her to the roof of the cathedral, pursued by Freder. The two men fight as Fredersen and the workers watch from the street, and Rotwang falls to his death. Freder fulfills his destiny to unite the two halves of Metropolis' society by linking the hands of Fredersen and Grot to bring them together.

==Cast==
* [[Alfred Abel]] as Joh Fredersen, the master of Metropolis<!--"Joh" is correct, not "John".  Short for "Johann"-->
* [[Gustav Fröhlich]] as Freder, Joh Fredersen's son
* [[Rudolf Klein-Rogge]] as [[Rotwang]], the inventor
* [[Fritz Rasp]] as the Thin Man, Fredersen's spy
* [[Theodor Loos]] as Josaphat, Fredersen's assistant and Freder's friend
* [[Erwin Biswanger]] as 11811, a worker, also known as Georgy
* [[Heinrich George]] as Grot, guardian of the Heart Machine
* [[Brigitte Helm]] as Maria / [[Maschinenmensch|the Machine Human]]{{notetag|In the film's opening credits, several characters appear in the cast list without the names of the actors who play them: The Creative Man, the Machine Man, Death, and the Seven Deadly Sins. These roles are sometimes incorrectly attributed to Brigitte Helm, since they appear just above her credit line. Brigitte Helm actually did perform the role of the Machine Man, as shown by production stills which show her inside the robot costume.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.capitalpictures.com/image/I0000Cy4itqVZqTg | title=Metropolis - filmstill &#124; CAPITAL PICTURES }}</ref>}}
* [[Heinrich Gotho]] as Master of Ceremonies in Pleasure Gardens ''(uncredited)''<ref name="FP">{{cite web |url=https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/metropolis_ea43d4a6990b5006e03053d50b37753d |title=Metropolis |work=Film Portal |access-date=10 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414220221/https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/metropolis_ea43d4a6990b5006e03053d50b37753d |archive-date=14 April 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Cast notes===
* Four roles (The Creative Man, the Machine Man, Death, the Seven Deadly Sins) are included in the opening credits but do not list any actors' names.
* Among the uncredited actors are [[Margarete Lanner]], [[Helen von Münchofen]], [[Olaf Storm]], [[Georg John]], [[Helene Weigel]] and [[Fritz Alberti]].<ref name="FP"/>
* One scene in which Freder listens to a monk preaching in the city cathedral has been lost. However, the 2010 restoration includes a call-back to the scene, with Freder hallucinating that the Thin Man is the monk.

==Influences==
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = vertical
| header            = 
| width             = 267
| image1            = NYC skyline 1912.jpg
| caption1          = Manhattan skyline in 1912
| image2            = Metropolis-new-tower-of-babel.png
| caption2          = The New [[Tower of Babel]], Fredersen's headquarters in Metropolis
| image3            = Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Tower of Babel (Vienna) - Google Art Project - edited.jpg
| caption3          = The Tower of Babel in Maria's recounting of the biblical story was modeled after [[The Tower of Babel (Brueghel)|this 1563 painting]] by [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder|Pieter Brueghel]].{{sfn|Bukatman|1997|pp=62–3}}
}}

''Metropolis'' features a range of elaborate special effects and set designs, ranging from a huge gothic cathedral to a futuristic cityscape. In an interview, Fritz Lang reported that "the film was born from my first sight of the skyscrapers in New York in October 1924". He had visited New York City for the first time and remarked "I looked into the streets—the glaring lights and the tall buildings—and there I conceived ''Metropolis'',"{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=4}} although in actuality Lang and Harbou had been at work on the idea for over a year.<ref name=bennett /> Describing his first impressions of the city, Lang said that "the buildings seemed to be a vertical sail, scintillating and very light, a luxurious backdrop, suspended in the dark sky to dazzle, distract and hypnotize".{{sfn|Grant|2003|p=69}} He added "The sight of Neuyork [sic] alone should be enough to turn this beacon of beauty into the center of a film..."{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=4}}

The appearance of the city in ''Metropolis'' is strongly informed by the [[Art Deco]] movement; however, it also incorporates elements from other traditions. Ingeborg Hoesterey described the architecture featured in ''Metropolis'' as eclectic, writing how its locales represent both "functionalist modernism [and] art deco" whilst also featuring "the scientist's archaic little house with its high-powered laboratory, the catacombs [and] the Gothic cathedral". The film's use of art deco architecture was highly influential, and has been reported to have contributed to the style's subsequent popularity in Europe and America.{{sfn|Russell|2007|p=111}} The New Babel Tower, for instance, has been inspired by Upper Silesian Tower in [[Poznań]] fairgrounds, which was recognized in Germany as a masterpiece of architecture.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Minęły 92 lata od pierwszych Targów Poznańskich. Zobacz co po nich zostało &#91;UNIKALNE ZDJĘCIA&#93;|url=https://gloswielkopolski.pl/minely-92-lata-od-pierwszych-targow-poznanskich-zobacz-co-po-nich-zostalo-unikalne-zdjecia/ga/905839/zd/1997127|access-date=29 December 2022|website=Głos Wielkopolski|language=pl-PL}}</ref>

Lang's visit to several Hollywood studios in the same 1924 trip also influenced the film in another way: Lang and producer Erich Pommer realized that to compete with the vertical integration of Hollywood, their next film would have to be bigger, broader, and better made than anything they had made before. Despite UFA's growing debt, Lang announced that ''Metropolis'' would be "the costliest and most ambitious picture ever."<ref name=bennett />

The film drew heavily on biblical sources for several of its key set-pieces. During her first talk to the workers, Maria uses the story of the [[Tower of Babel]] to highlight the discord between the intellectuals and the workers. Additionally, a delusional Freder imagines the false-Maria as the [[Whore of Babylon]], riding on the back of a many-headed dragon.

The name of the [[Yoshiwara]] club alludes to the famous red-light district of Tokyo.{{Sfn|White|1995|p=348}}

Much of the plot line of ''Metropolis'' stems from the [[World War I|First World War]] and the culture of the [[Weimar Republic]] in Germany. Lang explores the themes of industrialization and mass production in his film; two developments that played a large role in the war. Other post-World War I themes that Lang includes in ''Metropolis'' include the Weimar view of American modernity, [[fascism]], and [[communism]].<ref>{{Cite book
| title = Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War
| last = Kaes
| first = Anton
| publisher = Princeton University Press
| year = 2009
| isbn = 978-0-691-03136-1
| location = Princeton, New Jersey
}}</ref>

==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}}

==Music==
===Original score===
[[Gottfried Huppertz]] composed the film's [[film score|score]] for a large orchestra. He drew inspiration from [[Richard Wagner]] and [[Richard Strauss]], and combined a classical orchestral style with mild modernist touches to portray the film's massive industrial city of workers.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=125}} Nestled within the original score were quotations of [[Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle]]'s "[[La Marseillaise]]" and the traditional "[[Dies Irae]]", the latter of which was matched to the film's apocalyptic imagery. Huppertz's music played a prominent role during the film's production; the composer often played piano on Lang's set to inform the actors' performances. Huppertz's score only accompanied the film once, at its original premiere. Sections of the score were recorded and released by the record label Vox.

The full score was not recorded until 2001, for the film's first comprehensive restoration, with Berndt Heller conducting the [[Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern|Rundfunksinfonieorchester Saarbrücken]]. It was released internationally on various DVD editions beginning in 2003.<ref name="DVDCompareDVD">{{cite web|url=http://dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=429|title=Metropolis (1927) DVD comparison|publisher=DVDCompare|access-date=27 November 2019|archive-date=4 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204052913/http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=429|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2007, Huppertz's score was also played live by the VCS Radio Symphony, which accompanied the restored version of the film at Brenden Theatres in Vacaville, California.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thereporter.com/entertainment/ci_6457575|title=VCS to play live film score at screening review|publisher=The Reporter|date=25 July 2007|access-date=31 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903045230/http://www.thereporter.com/entertainment/ci_6457575|archive-date=3 September 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> The score was also produced in a salon orchestration, which was performed for the first time in the United States in August 2007 by the Bijou Orchestra under the direction of Leo Najar as part of a German Expressionist film festival in Bay City, Michigan.<ref>{{cite web|title =State Theater August Line Up in Downtown Bay City| url = http://www.mybaycity.com/scripts/P3_V2/P3V3-0200.cfm?P3_ArticleID=1728| work =State Theater of Bay City| access-date =9 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160209194447/http://www.mybaycity.com/scripts/P3_V2/P3V3-0200.cfm?P3_ArticleID=1728|archive-date=9 February 2016}}</ref> The same forces also performed the work at the [[Traverse City Film Festival]] in Traverse City, Michigan in August 2009.

For the film's 2010 "complete" restoration premiere, Huppertz's score was performed live and subsequently re-recorded by the [[Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra]], conducted by [[Frank Strobel]].<ref name=bennett /> This version was released internationally on various DVD and Blu-ray editions beginning in 2010.<ref name=DVDCompareDVD/><ref name="DVDCompareBlu-ray">{{cite web|url=http://dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=17394|title=Metropolis (1927) Blu-ray comparison|publisher=DVDCompare|access-date=27 November 2019|archive-date=3 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103112548/http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=17394|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Other scores===
Various artists have created other scores for ''Metropolis'':
* In 1975, the BBC provided an electronic score composed by William Fitzwater and [[Hugh Davies (composer)|Hugh Davies]].<ref>{{cite web|title =Hugh Davies – Electronic Music Studios in Britain: Goldsmiths, University of London|url=http://www.gold.ac.uk/ems/davies/|publisher=gold.ac.uk |access-date=25 December 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130310092004/https://www.gold.ac.uk/ems/davies/|archive-date=10 March 2013}}</ref>
* In 1978, Australian composer [[Chris Neal (songwriter)|Chris Neal]] created an experimental score for the film. It was performed live around Sydney throughout 1979.
* In 1984, [[Giorgio Moroder]] restored and produced the 80-minute 1984 re-release, which had a pop soundtrack written by Moroder and performed by Moroder, [[Pat Benatar]], [[Bonnie Tyler]], [[Jon Anderson]], [[Adam Ant]], Cycle V, [[Loverboy]], [[Billy Squier]], and [[Freddie Mercury]].
* In 1991, the [[Club Foot Orchestra]] created an original score that was performed live with the film. It was also recorded for CD.
* In 1994, Montenegrin [[experimental rock]] musician [[Rambo Amadeus]] wrote his version of the musical score for Metropolis. At the screening of the film in [[Belgrade]], the score was played by the [[Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra]].
* In 1998, the material was recorded and released on the album ''Metropolis B (tour-de-force)''.<ref>{{cite web|title =Rambo Amadeus & Miroslav Savić – Metropolis B| date = 5 September 1998 | url = https://www.discogs.com/Rambo-Amadeus-Miroslav-Savi%C4%87-Metropolis-B/release/1735914 | publisher=Discogs |access-date =17 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090821201427/http://www.discogs.com/Rambo-Amadeus-Miroslav-Savi%C4%87-Metropolis-B/release/1735914|archive-date =21 August 2009}}</ref>
* In 1996, the [[Degenerate Art Ensemble]] (then the Young Composers Collective) scored the film for chamber orchestra, performing it in various venues including a free outdoor concert and screening in 1997 in Seattle's [[Gasworks Park]].<ref>{{cite web|title =Metropolis – revival of our 1997 orchestral score| url = http://degenerateartensemble.com/new-page-1 | publisher= degenerateartensemble.com/ |access-date =17 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150204033117/http://degenerateartensemble.com/new-page-1/ |archive-date=4 February 2015}}</ref> The soundtrack was subsequently released on Un-Labeled Records.
* In 2000, [[Jeff Mills]] created a [[techno]] score for ''Metropolis'' which was released as an album. He also performed the score live at public screenings of the film.
* In 2004, [[Abel Korzeniowski]] created a score for ''Metropolis'' played live by a 90-piece orchestra and a choir of 60 voices and two soloists. The first performance took place at the Era Nowe Horyzonty Film Festival in Poland.
* In 2004, [[Ronnie Cramer]] produced a score and effects soundtrack for ''Metropolis'' that won two Aurora awards.<ref>{{cite web|title =Ronnie Cramer|url = http://cramer.org/music/index.htm#Metropolis | publisher= cramer.org/|access-date =17 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20000815061257/http://cramer.org/music/index.htm |archive-date=15 August 2000}}</ref>
* The New Pollutants ([[Mister Speed]] and DJ Tr!p) has performed ''[[Metropolis Rescore]]'' live for festivals since 2005{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the whole sentence|date=February 2016}} and rescored to the 2010 version of the film for premiere at the [[2011 Adelaide Film Festival]].<ref>Staff [https://e.issuu.com/embed.html#18792601/66196258 "Past Festivals: 2011"] p.28 [[Adelaide Film Festival]] website</ref>
* By 2010, the [[Alloy Orchestra]] had scored four different versions of the film, including Moroder's, and most recently for the American premiere of the 2010 restoration. A recording of Alloy's full score was commissioned by Kino Lorber, with the intention of it being issued on their remastered Blu-ray and DVD as an alternative soundtrack, but this was vetoed by Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, which owns the copyright to the restoration and mandates that only their own score can accompany it. Alloy's score is available on its website and can be synchronised to the film independently.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.alloyorchestra.com/product/metropolis-mp3-cd-2010-complete-score/ |title=Alloy Orchestra: ''Metropolis'' – MP3 CD, 2010 Complete Score |access-date=9 October 2018 |archive-date=9 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009213007/http://www.alloyorchestra.com/product/metropolis-mp3-cd-2010-complete-score/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Complete Metropolis from Kino in November - Page 2 - NitrateVille.com|url=https://nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7058&p=39025#p39025|access-date=29 December 2022|website=nitrateville.com}}</ref>
* In 2012, [[Dieter Moebius]] was invited to perform music to the film. For that purpose, he produced pre-arranged tracks and samples, combined with live improvisation. He died in 2015, but the project was completed and released in 2016, as ''Musik für Metropolis''.
* In 2014, the pianist/composer [[Dmytro Morykit]] created a new live piano score, which received a standing ovation from a sell-out audience at [[Wilton's Music Hall]] in London.<ref>{{cite web|title =Metropolis: live performance in Leamington of brand new music score|url = http://www.leamingtoncourier.co.uk/what-s-on/music/metropolis-live-performance-in-leamington-of-brand-new-music-score-1-6197605 | publisher= leamingtomcourier.co.uk|access-date =17 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150209025911/http://www.leamingtoncourier.co.uk/what-s-on/music/metropolis-live-performance-in-leamington-of-brand-new-music-score-1-6197605 |archive-date=9 February 2015}}</ref>
* Also in 2014, Spanish band Caspervek Trio premiered a new score at "La Galería Jazz" [[Vigo]], with further performances in [[Budapest]], [[Riga]] and [[Groningen]]. [[Metavari]] rescored ''Metropolis'' as a commission from Fort Wayne, Indiana's Cinema Center for Art House Theater Day 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fortwaynereader.com/story.php?uid=3081|title=Scoring The Silence|website=fortwaynereader.com|access-date=2 May 2017}}</ref> The score was released worldwide on One Way Static Records for [[Record Store Day]] 2017 and distributed in the United States by [[Light in the Attic Records]].<ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=https://www.onewaystatic.com/ows17|title=One Way Static|website=One Way Static|access-date=2 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823020708/https://www.onewaystatic.com/ows17|archive-date=23 August 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://lightintheattic.net/releases/3019-metropolis-an-original-re-score-by-metavari|title=Metavari – Metropolis (An Original Re-Score by Metavari) |website=Light In The Attic Records|access-date=2 May 2017|archive-date=5 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505023236/http://lightintheattic.net/releases/3019-metropolis-an-original-re-score-by-metavari|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* In 2015, the [[Dallas Chamber Symphony]] commissioned an original film score from composer [[Brian Satterwhite]] for the [[Giorgio Moroder]] version of ''Metropolis.'' It premiered during a concert screening at [[Moody Performance Hall]] on October 13, 2015 with [[Richard McKay]] conducting.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=D. |date=2015-10-14 |title=The Dallas Chamber Symphony Enhances Metropolis With New Score |url=https://www.dmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2015/10/the-dallas-chamber-symphony-enhances-metropolis-with-new-score/ |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=D Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>
* In 2017, [[Factory Floor]] performed their own soundtrack at the [[Science Museum, London|London Science Museum]] as part of their Robot Exhibition.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/factory-floor-fritz-lang-metropolis-science-museum|title=Factory Floor rescore Metropolis as a post-industrial noise experience at The Science Museum|work=The Line of Best Fit|access-date=16 October 2018|language=en}}</ref> An album was released of their composition for the film in October 2018 called ''Soundtrack to a Film''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.factmag.com/2018/08/13/factory-floor-announce-metropolis-soundtrack/|title=Factory Floor announce A Soundtrack For A Film, their score to Fritz Lang's Metropolis|date=13 August 2018|work=FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.|access-date=16 October 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>
* In February 2018, organist Brett Miller transcribed Gottfried Huppertz' original score as a benefit for [[JDRF]] live at the [[Trenton War Memorial]]. His performance was featured in March of that year in [[PBS]]'s ''State of the Arts.''<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=24 March 2019|title=Brett Miller Metropolis|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lra_PRM6BRc| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Lra_PRM6BRc| archive-date=11 December 2021 | url-status=live|access-date=|website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* In 2018, flautist Yael Acher "Kat" Modiano composed and performed a new score for a showing of the 2010 restoration at the [[United Palace]] in [[Upper Manhattan]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wild|first=Stephi|title=United Palace to Screen METROPOLIS With Live Score|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/United-Palace-to-Screen-METROPOLIS-With-Live-Score-20180220|access-date=29 December 2022|website=BroadwayWorld.com|language=en}}</ref>
* In 2019, organist [[Nils Henrik Asheim]] composed and performed live an experimental "extended organ" score for a showing of the 2010 restoration at [[Stavanger Konserthus]]. Heavy modification of the organ was used to create a futuristic soundscape for the film.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Metropolis - soundtrack for extended organ|url=https://www.nilshenrikasheim.no/organ/636-metropolis-soundtrack-for-extended-organ|access-date=29 December 2022|website=www.nilshenrikasheim.no|archive-date=3 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003211549/https://www.nilshenrikasheim.no/organ/636-metropolis-soundtrack-for-extended-organ|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Also in 2019, the [[Bach-Elgar Choir|Bach Elgar Choir]], under director Alexander Cann, presented a live soundtrack to the film, which included prepared improvised music as well as compositions by [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]], [[Charles Ives|Ives]], [[Arthur Honegger|Honegger]], Canadian composer [[Harry Freedman]], and excerpts from [[Gottfried Huppertz|Huppertz]]'s original soundtrack. The choir was joined by four instrumentalists (Chris Palmer, electric guitar, Evelyn Charlotte Joe, double bass, Connor Bennett, tenor saxophone, Krista Rhodes, keyboard).<ref>{{Cite news|title=Opinion {{!}} Hamilton Children's Choir echo as 2019's best|language=en|work=thespec.com|url=https://www.thespec.com/entertainment/2019/12/25/leonard-turnevicius-hamilton-children-s-choir-echo-as-2019-s-best.html|access-date=22 February 2021}}</ref>
* In 2022, a new original score by French-Brazilian composer Maximiano Cobra and performed by the Europa Philharmonia Orchestra was released. Cobra self-produced a 181 minute version of the film synched to his score using time remapping, and re-adapting the intertitles into English.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://maximiannocobra.net/en/news/new-a-upcoming-releases/metropolis-fritz-lang-new-version-cobra-2022-3-hours-new-english-intertitles-music-soundtrack-4k | title=Maximianno Cobra - METROPOLIS - Fritz Lang - New Version "Cobra - 2022" - 3 Hours - New English Intertitles & Music Soundtrack 4K }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://shakespearenetwork.net/media-room/media-menu/videos/shakespeare-s-dramatic-heritage/metropolis-fritz-lang-new-version-cobra-2022-3-hours-new-english-intertitles-music-soundtrack-4k | title=METROPOLIS - Fritz Lang - New Version - 3 Hours - New English Intertitles & Music Soundtrack 4K }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://tempuscollection.com/en/catalogue/4k-videos-downloads/item/metropolis-fritz-lang-new-version-2022-3-hours-new-english-intertitles-music-soundtrack-4k | title=METROPOLIS - Fritz Lang - New Version 2022 - 3 Hours - New English Intertitles & Music Soundtrack 4K and DCP }}</ref>

==Release and reception==
[[File:"Metropolis" (1927 film) (15418159339).jpg|thumb|Advertisement for the film from New Zealand with [[typo|misprint]]: (''Try to descibe'' [sic] ''it'')]]
''Metropolis'' was distributed by [[Parufamet]], a company formed in December 1925 by the American film studios [[Paramount Pictures]] and [[Metro Goldwyn Mayer]] to loan US$4 million to UFA.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.berliner-kurier.de/berlin/kiez---stadt/100-jahre-ufa-traum-ab--28423160|title=100 Jahre UFA Traum ab!|language=De|date=17 September 2017|publisher=[[Berliner Kurier]]}}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The film had its [[Film premiere|world premiere]] at the [[UFA-Palast am Zoo]] in Berlin on 10 January 1927, where the audience, including a critic from the ''[[Berliner Morgenpost]]'', reacted to several of the film's most spectacular scenes with "spontaneous applause".<ref name=Turner/> However, others have suggested the premiere was met with muted applause interspersed with boos and hisses.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=27}}

At the time of its German premiere, ''Metropolis'' had a length of 4,189 metres, which is approximately 153 minutes at 24 [[Frame rate|frames per second]] (fps).<ref name="Pena">{{cite web|last=Fernando Martín|first=Peña|title=Metropolis Found|url=http://www.fipresci.org/undercurrent/issue_0609/pena_metropolis.htm|work=fipresci|access-date=23 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016052747/http://www.fipresci.org/undercurrent/issue_0609/pena_metropolis.htm|archive-date=16 October 2014|year=2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> UFA's distribution deal with Paramount and MGM "entitled [them] to make any change [to films produced by UFA] they found appropriate to ensure profitability". Considering that ''Metropolis'' was too long and unwieldy, Parufamet commissioned American playwright [[Channing Pollock (writer)|Channing Pollock]] to write a simpler version of the film that could be assembled using the existing material. Pollock shortened the film dramatically, altered its inter-titles and removed all references to the character of Hel, because the name sounded too similar to the English word [[Hell]], thereby removing Rotwang's original motivation for creating his robot. Pollock said about the original film that it was "symbolism run such riot that people who saw it couldn't tell what the picture was about. ... I have given it my meaning." Lang's response to the re-editing of the film was to say "I love films, so I shall never go to America. Their experts have slashed my best film, ''Metropolis'', so cruelly that I dare not see it while I am in England."<ref name=bennett /> The Hel storyline would be partially restored in [[Giorgio Moroder]]'s 1984 version, and subsequent versions completely restored it.

[[File:Cine Dom Pedro II adv 01.jpg|thumb|right|Reprise announcement of Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' at Cine Pedro II, in [[Vale do Anhangabaú|Parque do Anhangabaú]] ([[São Paulo]], Brazil, 18 July 1930)]]

In Pollock's cut, the film ran for 3,170 metres, or approximately 116 minutes—although a contemporary review in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' of a showing in New York gave the running time as 107 minutes,<ref name=varrev2>{{Cite magazine|date=16 March 1927|page=16|first=Sime|last=Silverman|author-link=Sime Silverman|title=Film Reviews: Metropolis|url=https://archive.org/details/variety86-1927-03/page/n127/mode/1up|access-date=9 June 2024|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|language=en-US}}</ref> and another source lists it at 105 minutes.<ref name=encyc /> This version of ''Metropolis'' premiered in the United States in March 1927, and was released, in a slightly different and longer version (128 minutes)<ref name=encyc /> in the United Kingdom around the same time with different title cards.<ref name=bennett/><ref name=Pena/>

[[Alfred Hugenberg]], a [[German nationalism|German nationalist]] businessman, cancelled UFA's debt to Paramount and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after taking charge of the company in April 1927, and chose to halt distribution in German cinemas of ''Metropolis'' in its original form. Hugenberg had the film cut down to a length of 3,241 metres (about 118 minutes), broadly along the lines of Pollock's edit, removing the film's perceived "inappropriate" communist subtext and religious imagery. Hugenberg's cut of the film was released in German cinemas in August 1927. Later, after demands for more cuts by [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Nazi censors]], UFA distributed a still shorter version of the film (2,530 metres, 91 minutes) in 1936, and an English version of this cut was archived in the [[Museum of Modern Art]] (MoMA) film library in the 1930s. It was this version which was the basis of all versions of ''Metropolis'' until the later restorations. In 1986 it was recopied and returned to Germany to be the basis of the 1987 [[#Munich Archive version (1987)|Munich Archive restoration]].<ref name=bennett /><ref name=Pena/>

===Original reception===
Despite the film's later reputation, some contemporary critics panned it. ''Variety''{{'s}} first review of the film in Berlin considered the scenario to be weak and felt that the artistic work had been wasted on the manufactured story although did acknowledge that nothing had been filmed like it before and its effect was positively overwhelming and that there were some exceptional performances.<ref name=variety>{{Cite magazine|author=Variety Staff|date=23 February 1927|page=16|title=Film Reviews: Metropolis|url=https://variety.com/1926/film/reviews/metropolis-1200409844/|access-date=9 June 2024|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|language=en-US}}</ref> Critic [[Mordaunt Hall]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it a "technical marvel with feet of clay".<ref name=NYT/> A review by [[H. G. Wells]] dated 17 April 1927 accused it of "foolishness, cliché, platitude, and muddlement about mechanical progress and progress in general". He faulted ''Metropolis'' for its premise that automation created drudgery rather than relieving it, wondered who was buying the machines' output if not the workers, and found parts of the story derivative of Shelley's ''[[Frankenstein]]'', [[Karel Čapek]]'s ''[[R.U.R.]]'', and his own ''[[The Sleeper Awakes]]''.<ref name=wells>{{Cite book|last=H.g. Wells|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.172790|title=The Way The World Is Going}}</ref> Wells called ''Metropolis'' "quite the silliest film", but the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' called it "a weird and fascinating picture".<ref name=bennett />

In ''[[The New Yorker]]'' Oliver Claxton called ''Metropolis'' "unconvincing and overlong", faulting much of the plot as "laid on with a terrible Teutonic heaviness, and an unnecessary amount of philosophizing in the beginning" that made the film "as soulless as the city of its tale". He also called the acting "uninspired with the exception of Brigitte Helm". Nevertheless, Claxton wrote that "the setting, the use of people and their movement, and various bits of action stand out as extraordinary and make it nearly an obligatory picture."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Claxton |first=Oliver |date=12 March 1927 |title=The Current Cinema |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |location=New York |publisher=F-R Publishing Company | pages=80–81 }}</ref> Other critics considered the film a remarkable achievement that surpassed even its high expectations, praising its visual splendour and ambitious production values.{{sfn|Kaplan|1981|p=146}}

A month after their first review, ''Variety'' founder [[Sime Silverman]] reviewed the film in New York and considered the film to have mass appeal but called it "a weird story, visionary all of the time, without any degree of unusual imagination and offtimes monotonous".<ref name=varrev2/>

Nazi propagandist [[Joseph Goebbels]] was impressed with the film's message of social justice. In a 1928 speech, he said, "the political [[bourgeoisie]] is about to leave the stage of history. In its place advance the oppressed producers of the head and hand, the forces of Labor, to begin their historical mission".{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1997|p=25}} Shortly after the Nazis came to power, Goebbels told Lang that, on the basis of their seeing ''Metropolis'' together years before, Hitler had said that he wanted Lang to make Nazi films.{{sfn|Kracauer|1947|p=164}}

German cultural critic [[Siegfried Kracauer]] later wrote of ''Metropolis'', "The Americans relished its technical excellence; the English remained aloof; the French were stirred by a film which seemed to them a blend of [composer] Wagner and [armaments manufacturer] [[Krupp]], and on the whole an alarming sign of Germany's vitality."{{sfn|Kracauer|1947|p=150}}

Lang later expressed dissatisfaction with the film. In an interview with [[Peter Bogdanovich]] in ''Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors'', published in 1998, he expressed his reservations:

{{blockquote|quote=The main thesis was Mrs. Von Harbou's, but I am at least 50 percent responsible because I did it. I was not so politically minded in those days as I am now. You cannot make a social-conscious picture in which you say that the intermediary between the hand and the brain is the heart. I mean, that's a fairy tale—definitely. But I was very interested in machines. Anyway, I didn't like the picture—thought it was silly and stupid—then, when I saw the astronauts: what else are they but part of a machine? It's very hard to talk about pictures—should I say now that I like ''Metropolis'' because something I have seen in my imagination comes true, when I detested it after it was finished?<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bogdanovich |first1=Peter |title=Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with ... |date=2012 |publisher=Random House}}</ref>}}

In his profile of Lang, which introduced the interview, Bogdanovich suggested that Lang's distaste for his film also stemmed from the Nazi Party's fascination with it. Von Harbou became a member of the Party in 1933. She and Lang divorced the following year.{{sfn|McGilligan|1997|p=181}} Lang later moved to the United States to escape the Nazis, while Harbou stayed in Germany and continued to write state-approved films.

===Later acclaim===
According to [[Roger Ebert]], "''Metropolis'' is one of the great achievements of the silent era, a work so audacious in its vision and so angry in its message that it is, if anything, more powerful today than when it was made."{{sfn|Ebert|1985|p=209}} [[Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide]]'s entry on the film reads, "Heavy going at times but startling set design and special effects command attention throughout."<ref>[[Leonard Maltin|Maltin, Leonard]] ed. (2005) ''[[Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide|Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2005]]'' New York: Plume. p.914 {{isbn|0-452-28592-5}}</ref>

[[Colin Greenland]] reviewed ''Metropolis'' for ''[[Imagine (game magazine)|Imagine]]'' magazine, and stated that "It's a measure of the sheer power of Lang's vision that it survives this heavy-handed cosmetic modernizing quite intact. Inspired by his first sight of Manhattan, Metropolis is a dark dream of the city of 2026, where the idle rich live in penthouses and play in rooftop pleasure gardens while the faceless workers toil in the machine caverns far, far below."<ref name="Imagine23">{{cite journal | last = Greenland|first = Colin |author-link=Colin Greenland| title =Fantasy Media  | type = review | journal = [[Imagine (AD&D magazine)|Imagine]] | issue = 23| pages =47 | publisher = TSR Hobbies (UK), Ltd. |date=February 1985| issn = }}</ref>

The film has an approval rating of 97% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 126 reviews, with an average rating of 9.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A visually awe-inspiring science fiction classic from the silent era."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1013775_metropolis|title=Metropolis (1927)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media]]|access-date=14 September 2019}}</ref> In Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 98 out of 100 based on 14 critics, Indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{Citation|title=Metropolis (re-release)|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/metropolis-re-release|access-date=21 March 2021}}</ref> It also ranked 12th in ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]'' magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|title =The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema|url = https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/100-greatest-world-cinema-films/ | publisher=empireonline.com |access-date =17 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151123004145/http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/100-greatest-world-cinema-films/ |archive-date=23 November 2015}}</ref> The 2002 version was awarded the [[New York Film Critics Circle Awards]] "Special Award" for the restoration. In 2012, in correspondence with the ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' Poll, the [[British Film Institute]] called ''Metropolis'' the 35th-greatest film of all time.<ref name="bfi"/> In the 2022 version of the poll, ''Metropolis'' fell slightly to 67th place.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Greatest Films of All Time |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time |access-date=27 June 2023 |website=BFI |language=en}}</ref>

Lane Roth in ''[[Film Quarterly]]'' called it a "seminal film" because of its concerns with "profound impact technological progress has on man's social and spiritual progress" and concluded that "ascendancy of artifact over nature is depicted not as liberating man, but as subjugating and corrupting him".{{sfn|Roth|1978|p=342}} [[Martin Scorsese]] included it on a list of "39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.openculture.com/2014/10/scorseses-list-of-39-essential-foreign-films.html |title=Martin Scorsese Creates a List of 39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker |publisher=Open Culture |date=15 October 2014 |access-date=1 February 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207201938/http://www.openculture.com/2014/10/scorseses-list-of-39-essential-foreign-films.html |archive-date=7 February 2015 }}</ref>

Exploring the dramatic production background and historical importance of the film's complex political context in ''[[The American Conservative]]'', film historian Cristobal Catalan suggests "Metropolis is a passionate call, and equally a passionate caution, for social change".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/metropolis-at-90-youll-never-see-a-movie-like-this-again|title= Metropolis at 90|magazine= American Conservative|access-date= 20 November 2017}}</ref> [[Peter Bradshaw]] noted that the ''Maschinenmensch'' based on Maria is "a brilliant eroticisation and fetishisation of modern technology".<ref>{{cite news|author=Bradshaw, Peter|author-link=Peter Bradshaw|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/09/metropolis-restored-film-review|title= Metropolis|newspaper= [[The Guardian]]|date=9 September 2010|access-date= 18 February 2016}}</ref>

The film was included by the Vatican in [[Vatican's list of films|a list of important films]] compiled in 1995, under the category of "Art".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://old.usccb.org/movies/vaticanfilms.shtml |title=Vatican Best Films List |work=Official website of the [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops|U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]] |access-date=20 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422064928/http://old.usccb.org/movies/vaticanfilms.shtml |archive-date=22 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Restorations==
[[File:Metropolisnew.jpg|upright|thumb|Poster for the 2002 restored version, featuring the [[Maschinenmensch]]]]
The original premiere cut of ''Metropolis'' has been lost, and for decades the film could be seen only in heavily truncated edits that lacked nearly a quarter of the original length. This was the case even though cinematographer Karl Freund followed the usual practice of the time of securing three printable takes of each shot in order to create three camera negatives which could be edited for striking prints. Two of these negatives were destroyed when Paramount reedited the film for the US market and the UK market. UFA itself cut the third negative for the August 1927 release.<ref name=bennett /> But over the years, various elements of footage have been rediscovered.<ref>{{cite web|title=About Metropolis |url=http://www.alpha-omega.de/English/E_ReconstMetropolis.html |access-date=25 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809144056/http://www.alpha-omega.de/English/E_ReconstMetropolis.html |archive-date= 9 August 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

=== East German version (1972) ===
Between 1968 and 1972, the [[Staatliches Filmarchiv der DDR]], with the help of film archives from around the world, put together a version of ''Metropolis'' which restored some scenes and footage, but the effort was hobbled by a lack of a guide, such as an original script, to determine what, exactly, was in the original version.<ref name=bennett />

=== Giorgio Moroder version (1984) ===
In 1984, a new restoration and edit of the film, running 83 minutes, was made by Italian music producer [[Giorgio Moroder]], who paid $200,000 for the rights, outbidding his ''[[Cat People (1982 film)|Cat People]]'' collaborator [[David Bowie]].<ref name=bennett /><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/05/movies/a-silent-classic-gets-some-80-s-music.html |access-date=17 May 2020 |date=5 August 1984 |first=Annette |last=Insdorf |title=A Silent Classic Gets Some 80's Music}}</ref> Although Moroder initially intended only to create a new soundtrack, he was surprised by the lack of a definitive print, and expanded his project to a major reconstruction. Moroder's version, which was made in consultation with the [[Munich Film Archive]] and their archivist, [[Enno Patalas]],<ref name=bennett /> was tinted to emphasise the different moods and locations in the film. It also featured additional special effects, replaced [[intertitle]]s of character dialogue with subtitles and incorporated a soundtrack featuring songs Moroder composed, produced and recorded with popular artists such as [[Freddie Mercury]], [[Bonnie Tyler]], [[Pat Benatar]], [[Adam Ant]] and [[Jon Anderson]]. It was the first serious attempt made at restoring ''Metropolis'' to Lang's original vision, and until the restorations in 2001 and 2010, it was the most complete version of the film commercially available. The shorter run time was due to the extensive use of subtitles for spoken lines instead of title cards, a faster frame rate than the original, and the fact that large amounts of footage were still missing at the time.

Moroder's version of ''Metropolis'' generally received poor reviews. Moroder responded to the critics who lambasted his production for not being faithful to the original in ''The New York Times'': "I didn't touch the original because there is no original."<ref name=bennett /> The film was nominated for two [[Golden Raspberry Awards|Raspberry Awards]], Worst Original Song for Mercury’s "[[Love Kills (Freddie Mercury song)|Love Kills]]" and Worst Musical Score for Moroder.{{sfn|Wilson|2005|p=286}} However, Bonnie Tyler was nominated for [[Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance]] at the [[27th Grammy Awards]] for "Here She Comes".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/bonnie-tyler|title= 27th Grammy|date=23 February 1985|access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref>

In August 2011, after years of the Moroder version being unavailable on video in any format due to music licensing problems, it was announced that Kino International had managed to resolve the situation, and the film was to be released on [[Blu-ray]] and DVD in November. In addition, the film enjoyed a limited theatrical re-release.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/rock-version-silent-film-classic-227317 | work=The Hollywood Reporter | first=Borys | last=Kit | title=Rock Version of Silent Film Classic 'Metropolis' to Hit Theatres This Fall|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140130123708/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/rock-version-silent-film-classic-227317|archive-date=30 January 2014|date=24 August 2011}}</ref>

In 2012, the [[Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films]] gave ''Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis'' a [[Saturn Awards|Saturn Award]] for Best DVD/Blu-Ray Special Edition Release.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000004/2012/1?ref_=ttawd_ev_2|title= Saturn Award|website= [[IMDb]]|access-date=18 November 2019}}</ref>

====Soundtrack====
{{track listing
| extra_column = Producer(s)
| headline = 1984 soundtrack track listing
| title1 = [[Love Kills (Freddie Mercury song)|Love Kills]]
| note1 = [[Freddie Mercury]]
| writer1 = {{hlist|[[Giorgio Moroder]]|[[Freddie Mercury]]}}
| extra1 = {{hlist|Moroder|Mercury|[[Reinhold Mack]]}}
| length1 = 4:29
| title2 = Here's My Heart
| note2 = [[Pat Benatar]]
| writer2 = {{hlist|Moroder|[[Pete Bellotte]]}}
| extra2 = {{hlist|Moroder|[[Neil Giraldo]]}}
| length2 = 4:54
| title3 = Cage of Freedom
| note3 = [[Jon Anderson]]
| writer3 = {{hlist|Moroder|Bellotte}}
| extra3 = Moroder
| length3 = 4:40
| title4 = Blood from a Stone
| note4 = Cycle V – {{abbr|a.k.a.|also known as}} Frank Dimino
| writer4 = {{hlist|Moroder|Bellotte}}
| extra4 = Moroder
| length4 = 3:37
| title5 = The Legend of Babel
| note5 = Giorgio Moroder
| writer5 = Moroder
| extra5 = Moroder
| length5 = 3:55
| title6 = [[Here She Comes]]
| note6 = [[Bonnie Tyler]]
| writer6 = {{hlist|Moroder|Bellotte}}
| extra6 = Moroder
| length6 = 3:48
| title7 = Destruction
| note7 = [[Loverboy]]
| writer7 = {{hlist|Moroder|Bellotte}}
| extra7 = {{hlist|Moroder|Paul Dean}}
| length7 = 4:09
| title8 = On Your Own
| note8 = [[Billy Squier]]
| writer8 = {{hlist|Moroder|Squier}}
| extra8 = Moroder
| length8 = 4:09
| title9 = What's Going On
| note9 = [[Adam Ant]]
| writer9 = {{hlist|Moroder|Bellotte}}
| extra9 = Moroder
| length9 = 3:49
| title10 = Machines
| note10 = Giorgio Moroder
| writer10 = Moroder
| extra10 = Moroder
| length10 = 4:11
}}

====Charts====
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1984)
! scope="col"| Peak<br /> position
! scope="col"| Ref.
|-
!scope="row"| [[Kent Music Report|AUS]] Australia Kent Music Report
|align="center"|69
|<ref name=ST>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|authorlink=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|pages=282, 283}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|Eurocharts Top 100 [[European Top 100 Albums]]
|align="center"|31
|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Music-and-Media/80s/1984/M&M-1984-10-22.pdf |title= Music & Media|access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|Germany [[GfK Entertainment charts]]
|align="center"|50
|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/album-details-168 |title= Gfk Charts|access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"| Italy [[Billboard (magazine)|''Billboard'']] Hits of the World
|align="center"|13
|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1984/BB-1984-12-01.pdf |title= Billboard Hits of World|access-date=15 October 2021}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|Swiss Charts [[Swiss Hitparade]]
|align="center"|30
|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hitparade.ch/album/Soundtrack-_-Giorgio-Moroder/Metropolis-168 |title= Swiss Charts|access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|US [[Billboard (magazine)|''Billboard'']] Album Charts
|align="center"|110
|<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/soundtrack/chart-history/tlp/|title= Billboard|magazine= [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"| US Billboard Rock Albums
|align="center"|21
|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1984/BB-1984-09-01.pdf |title= Billboard Rock Albums & Top Tracks|access-date=15 October 2021}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|US [[Cash Box]] Top 200
|align="center"|112
|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Cash-Box/80s/1984/CB-1984-11-03.pdf |title= Cash Box|access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref>
|-
|}

=== Munich Archive version (1987) ===
The moderate commercial success of the Moroder version inspired Enno Patalas, the archivist of the Munich Film Archive, to make an exhaustive attempt to restore the movie in 1986. Starting from the version in the Museum of Modern Art collection,<ref>Codelli, Lorenzo (November 1984) "Entretien avec Enno Patalas, conservateur de la cinémathèque de Munich, sur Metropolis et quelques autres films de Fritz Lang" in ''Positif'' n.285, pp.15 sqq.</ref> this version took advantage of new acquisitions and newly discovered German censorship records of the original inter-titles, as well as the musical score and other materials from the estate of composer Gottfried Huppertz. The Munich restoration also utilized newly rediscovered still photographs to represent scenes that were still missing from the film. The Munich version was 9,840 feet, or 109 minutes long.<ref name=bennett />

=== ''Restored Authorized Edition'' (2001) ===
In 1998, [[Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung]] commissioned film preservationist Martin Koerber to create a "definitive" restoration of ''Metropolis'' by expanding on the Munich version. Previously unknown sections of the film were discovered in film museums and archives around the world, including a [[Nitrocellulose#Film|nitrate]] original camera negative from the [[German Federal Archives|Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv]], as well as nitrate prints from the [[George Eastman House]], the British Film Institute and the [[Cineteca Italiana]]. These original film elements, digitally cleaned and repaired to remove defects, were used to assemble the film. Newly written intertitles were used to explain missing scenes.<ref name=bennett/>

The 2001 restoration premiered on 15 February 2001 at the [[Berlin Film Festival]], with a new score by Bernd Schultheis, performed live by the [[Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin]].<ref name=bennett /> For theatrical and DVD release, it featured a new recording of Huppertz's original score performed by a 65-piece orchestra. The running time is 124 minutes at 24 fps, and it was released internationally on various DVD editions beginning in 2003.<ref name=DVDCompareDVD/>

=== ''The Complete Metropolis'' (2010) ===
On 1 July 2008, film experts in Berlin announced that a 16&nbsp;mm reduction negative of the original cut had been discovered in the archives of the [[Museo del Cine Pablo Ducros Hicken|Museo del Cine]] in Buenos Aires, Argentina.<ref>{{cite web|title =Metropolis: All New Restoration| url = http://www.kinolorber.com/metropolis/restoration.html| work =[[Kino Lorber]]| access-date =16 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151005093216/http://www.kinolorber.com/metropolis/restoration.html|archive-date=5 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title =Film: Long lost scenes from Fritz Lang's Metropolis found in Argentina| url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/jul/04/features.sciencefictionandfantasy| work =[[The Guardian]]| date = 4 July 2008| access-date =9 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151009203144/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/jul/04/features.sciencefictionandfantasy |archive-date=9 October 2015 }}</ref> The negative was a safety reduction made in the 1960s or 1970s from a 35&nbsp;mm positive of Lang's original version, which an Argentinian film distributor had obtained in advance of arranging theatrical engagements in South America. The safety reduction was intended to safeguard the contents in case the original's flammable nitrate film stock was destroyed.<ref name=bennett /> The negative was passed to a private collector, an art foundation and finally the Museo del Cine.

The print was investigated by the Argentinian film collector/historian and TV presenter {{ill|Fernando Martín Peña|es}}, along with Paula Felix-Didier, the head of the museum, after Peña heard an anecdote from a cinema club manager expressing surprise at the length of a print of ''Metropolis'' he had viewed.<ref name=bennett /><ref name="key">{{Cite news | title = Fritz Lang's ''Metropolis'': Key scenes rediscovered | work = [[Die Zeit]]| date = 2 July 2008| url = http://www.zeit.de/online/2008/27/metropolis-vorab-englisch |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140624195628/http://www.zeit.de/online/2008/27/metropolis-vorab-englisch|archive-date=24 June 2014|access-date=28 August 2009}}</ref> The print was indeed Lang's full original, with about 25 minutes of footage, around one-fifth of the film, that had not been seen since 1927.<ref name=bennett />

Under the auspices of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Berlin's [[Deutsche Kinemathek]] and Museo del Cine, a group of experts, including Anke Wilkening, Martin Koerber, and [[Frank Strobel]] began combining the newly discovered footage with the existing footage from the 2001 restoration. A major problem was that the Argentinian footage was in poor condition and had many scratches, streaks, and changes in brightness. The group was able to repair some of this damage using digital technology that had not yet been developed in 2001. The reconstruction of the film with the new footage was once again accompanied by the original music score, including Huppertz's handwritten notes, which acted as the key resource in determining the places in which the restored footage would go. Since the Argentinian print was a complete version of the original, some scenes from the 2001 restoration were put in different places than previously, and the tempo of the original editing was restored.<ref name=bennett />

In 2005, Australian historian and politician [[Michael Organ]] had examined a print of the film in the [[Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision|National Film Archive of New Zealand]]. Organ discovered that the print contained scenes missing from other copies of the film. After hearing of the discovery of the Argentine print of the film and the restoration project, Organ contacted the German restorers; the New Zealand print contained 11 missing scenes and featured some brief pieces of footage that were used to restore damaged sections of the Argentine print. It is believed that the New Zealand and Argentine prints were all sourced from the same master. The newly discovered footage was used in the restoration project.<ref name="Cinema's Holy Grail">{{Cite news | title = Cinema's Holy Grail | author = Pennells, Steve | newspaper = Sunday Star Times| location = New Zealand| date = 14 February 2010| page = C5}}</ref> The Argentine print was in poor condition and required considerable restoration before it was re-premiered in February 2010. Two short sequences, depicting a monk preaching and a fight between Rotwang and Fredersen, were damaged beyond repair. Title cards describing the action were inserted by the restorers to compensate. The Argentine print revealed new scenes that enriched the film's narrative complexity. The characters of Josaphat, the Thin Man, and 11811 appear throughout the film and the character Hel is reintroduced.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Tale of Two Cities: Metropolis Restored|url=http://www.filmcomment.com/article/a-tale-of-two-cities-metropolis-restored/|work=[[Film Comment]]|access-date=16 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216182103/http://www.filmcomment.com/article/a-tale-of-two-cities-metropolis-restored/ |archive-date=16 February 2016}}</ref>

The 2010 restoration was premiered on 12 February 2010 at the Berlin [[Friedrichstadt Palast|Friedrichstadtpalast]]. Huppertz's score was performed by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Frank Strobel, who also re-recorded it for theatrical and home video release. The performance was a gala screening as part of the 60th [[Berlin International Film Festival|Berlinale]] and had several simultaneous screenings. It was also shown on an outdoor screen at Berlin's [[Brandenburg Gate]], as well as at the [[Alte Oper]] in [[Frankfurt am Main]]. The Brandenburg Gate screening was also telecast live by the [[Arte]] network. The North American premiere took place at the 2010 [[Turner Classic Movies|TCM Classic Film Festival]] in [[Mann's Chinese Theatre]] in Los Angeles on 25 April 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/11/metropolis-fritz-lang-berlin|title=Metropolis, mother of sci-fi movies, reborn in Berlin|work=The Guardian|date=11 February 2010}}</ref><ref name=bennett/>The restoration has a running time of 148 minutes (or nearly 2.5 hours) and is released internationally on various DVD and Blu-ray editions beginning in 2010.<ref name=DVDCompareDVD/><ref name=DVDCompareBlu-ray/>

In 2024 restoration was again completed on the NUMBER9INE and Shadowland Projects NEUN METRO (METRO9) directly from the notes, early pre released publication articles including and original novel by author [[Thea von Harbou]]. By the early 1920s, von Harbou had become an established literary figure in Germany. Her transition into cinema came naturally as Germany’s burgeoning UFA (Universum Film AG) industry sought epic stories and high-concept narratives that could reflect the nation’s ambitions and anxieties following World War I. Meeting Fritz Lang, a dynamic and ambitious director with a background in painting and architecture. They married in 1922, beginning one of the most influential artistic collaborations in Weimar cinema. Together, they created some of the most monumental silent films of the era: "Dr. Mabuse the Gambler" (1922) – a psychological crime epic that explored themes of chaos and control."Die Nibelungen" (1924) – a two-part mythological saga, adapted by von Harbou from the Germanic epic."Metropolis" (1927) – their magnum opus, both a novel and a screenplay written by von Harbou. Von Harbou becoming the principal screenwriter for Lang’s productions, often acting as both creative muse and structural architect. Her detailed, moralistic writing style lent grandeur and gravitas to Lang’s visually expressive direction. 


Novel and Film Origins and Inspirations
Von Harbou began writing Metropolis in 1923, publishing it in serialized form in Illustriertes Blatt before its complete publication in 1925. The novel was completed before filming began. Though credited equally, von Harbou is the primary originator of the story and philosophical arc, while Lang envisioned and directed the visual spectacle. Key inspirations for Metropolis included: The Babel myth and Biblical eschatology German Avant grade and Expressionist Art and Philosophy, The class struggles of post-WWI Germany. Utopian and dystopian literature (Frankenstein, Erewhon, The Time Machine) Hindu philosophy and mystical archetypes (evident in the recurring mediator motif).

Von Harbou crafted Metropolis as a moral allegory: the tale of a technologically advanced but spiritually bankrupt society, where the elite lived in sky-high towers and the laboring masses toiled in subterranean machines. She embedded key themes: The division of labor and capital and the need for a spiritual mediator between the "head" (planners) and the "hands" (workers) Khristic mysticism, especially seen in the character Maria and her mechanical double, the anxieties of mechanization and the human soul under industrial capitalism

The famous line—“The mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart”—is von Harbou’s signature moral vision.
The restoration of the original von Harbou vision premiered on 29 September 2024 at various venues and public spaces on [[La Canebière]] offer a variety of pre viewing opportunities, orchestrated and filled with anticipation as the screens dim and METRO9 begins, with newly restored scenes seamlessly integrated into the original. The audience is captivated, leading to a standing ovation at the events conclusion. Interviews between the curators, restorers and prominent local reporters follow, capturing the electricity of the night. METRO9 a major event in the films restoration to it original vision by [[Thea vo Harbou]],  archival and public space blends [[classic cinema]] [[Art|artistry]] with modern [[technological]] [[innovation]]. [[METRO9]] [[FritzLang]] [[Film]][[Film restoration|Restoration]] [[Europe|European]] [[Premiere]] [[ArtplexeCanebière] [[Cannes]] [[festival]] O'le (Opera Electronica) score the neo post expressionist restoration performed by Case Trick <ref>{{cite web|title =METRO9: buzzslayers| url = https://www.buzzslayers.com/post/case-trick-returns-with-the-metro9-soundtrack}}</ref><br />, conducted and produced by Arthur, who also re-recorded it for theatrical and home entertainment <ref>{{cite web|title =METRO9: filmhub| url = https://app.filmhub.com/titles/ig9d-new8}}</ref><br /> release. Additional 2024 performances include the gala screening as part of the [[Berlin Kiez Film Festival]] and simultaneous screenings globally. Including, as well as at the [[FLIFF]] in [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]], Florida. <ref>{{cite web|https://fliff.com/events/metro9arebirthofmetropolis147minuteversion/}}</ref><br />. The North American premiere took place at the [foxtheatre|foxtheatreatchison]] in Atchison, Kansas on 21 March 2025.<ref>{{cite web|https://www.foxtheatreatchison.com/movie/metro9/}}</ref><br />, origin of sci-fi NEUN METRO. Reviving in vibrant color with operatic depth, this Post Neo Expressionist masterpiece honoring Thea von Harbou’s vision and Fritz Lang’s legacy. 

This masterfully restored version has a running time of 147 minutes and is released internationally on various DVD and Blu-ray editions beginning in 2025. <ref>{{cite web|title =METRO9: filmhub| url = https://app.filmhub.com/titles/ig9d-new8}}</ref><br />

==Copyright status==
The American copyright for ''Metropolis'' lapsed in 1953, which later led to a proliferation of versions being released on video. Along with other foreign-made works, the film's U.S. [[copyright]] was restored in 1996 by the [[Uruguay Round Agreements Act]];<ref>{{cite web|title =Golan v. Ashcroft: Compaint| url = http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/golanvashcroft/complaint.html
| publisher =cyber.law.harvard.edu | access-date =19 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030419112330/http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/golanvashcroft/complaint.html |archive-date=19 April 2003}}</ref> the constitutionality of this copyright extension was challenged, but was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012's ''[[Golan v. Holder]]''. This had the effect of restoring the copyright in the work as of 1 January 1996. 

Under current U.S. copyright law, ''Metropolis'' entered the public domain on 1 January 2023<!-- Please do NOT describe this as "rule of the shorter term"; the U.S. does NOT follow that rule, and its implicit use for URAA eligibility does not apply if the foreign term extends beyond 1996 as it does here. -->; the U.S. copyright limit for films of its age is 95 years from publication per the [[Copyright Term Extension Act]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Kreps |first=Daniel |date=1 January 2023 |title='Metropolis,' Sherlock Holmes Among the Works Entering the Public Domain |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/metropolis-sherlock-holmes-public-domain-day-2023-1234654562/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=2 January 2023}}</ref>

Under current EU copyright law, the film will remain under copyright in Germany and the rest of the [[European Union]] until the end of 2046, 70 years after Fritz Lang's death.{{notetag|'''§ 65 co-authors, cinematographic works, musical composition with words'''{{parabr}}

(2) In the case of film works and works similar to cinematographic works, copyright expires seventy years after the death of the last survivor of the following persons: the principal director, author of the screenplay, author of the dialogue, the composer of music for the cinematographic music.<ref>{{Cite web|title=§ 65 UrhG - Einzelnorm|url=http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/urhg/__65.html|access-date=29 December 2022|website=www.gesetze-im-internet.de}}</ref><br />
The people considered under this German law are director Fritz Lang (died 1976), writer Thea von Harbou (died 1954), and possibly score composer Gottfried Huppertz (died 1937).}}

==Adaptations==
* A 1989 musical theatre adaptation, ''[[Metropolis (musical)|Metropolis]]'', was performed on the [[West End theatre|West End]] in London and in Chicago. The play's music was written by [[Joseph Brooks (songwriter)|Joe Brooks]] and the lyrics by [[Dusty Hughes (playwright)|Dusty Hughes]].<ref>{{cite web|title ='Metropolis' Adaptation Opens Renovated Olympic Theatre|date = 14 October 1994 |url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/10/14/metropolis-adaptation-opens-renovated-olympic-theatre/ | publisher=[[Chicago Tribune]] |access-date =17 February 2016|url-status =live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140903202535/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-10-14/entertainment/9410140104_1_musical-collaboration-pegasus-players-satire |archive-date=3 September 2014 }}</ref>
* In December 2007, it was announced that producer Thomas Schühly (''[[Alexander (2004 film)|Alexander]]'', ''[[The Adventures of Baron Munchausen]]'') had obtained the remake rights to ''Metropolis''.<ref>{{Cite news| author = Meza, Ed | title = 'Metropolis' finds new life |newspaper=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] | date = 9 December 2007 | url = https://variety.com/2007/film/markets-festivals/metropolis-finds-new-life-1117977386/ | access-date=17 February 2016| url-status = live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160217161005/http://variety.com/2007/film/markets-festivals/metropolis-finds-new-life-1117977386/ |archive-date=17 February 2016}}</ref>
* In December 2016, it was announced that [[Sam Esmail]] would adapt the film into a television miniseries.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Littleton, Cynthia|title='Mr. Robot' Creator Sam Esmail Sets 'Metropolis,' 'Homecoming' Development Projects|newspaper=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=16 December 2016|url=https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/sam-esmail-metropolis-homecoming-development-1201944542/|access-date=16 December 2016}}</ref> In March 2022, [[Apple TV+]] gave the production a series order, with Esmail writing and directing the series and also serving as showrunner.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thewrap.com/mr-robot-sam-esmail-metropolis-appletv/|title='Mr Robot' Creator Sam Esmail's New Drama 'Metropolis' Gets Series Order at Apple TV+|last=Campione|first=Katie|date=1 March 2022|work=[[TheWrap]]|access-date=1 March 2022}}</ref> In February 2023, it was reported that [[Briana Middleton]] was cast in the lead role.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Andreeva |first1=Nellie |title='Metropolis': Briana Middleton To Star In Apple Series From Sam Esmail |url=https://deadline.com/2023/02/metropolis-briana-middleton-star-apple-series-sam-esmail-1235259939/ |website=Deadline Hollywood |access-date=15 February 2023 |date=14 February 2023}}</ref> In June 2023, the producers [[Universal Content Productions]] stated that the series would not be moving forward due to the [[2023 Writers Guild of America strike|WGA strike]] and rising development costs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Andreeva |first1=Nellie |title='Metropolis' TV Series Not Going Forward Amid Writers Strike & Mounting Pre-Production Costs |url=https://deadline.com/2023/06/metropolis-tv-series-dead-writers-strike-sam-esmail-ucp-apple-tv-plus-production-costs-1235419899/ |website=[[Deadline Hollywood]] |date=19 June 2023}}</ref>
* The [[Metropolis (manga)|''Metropolis'' manga]], sometimes referred to as ''Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis'' or ''Robotic Angel'', has parallels with the film. [[Mangaka]] [[Osamu Tezuka]] has said that he saw a single still image of the movie in a magazine at the time of creating his manga. The manga has been adapted into a 2001 [[anime]] [[Metropolis (2001 film)|feature film of the same name]]. The adaptation incorporated more elements of the 1927 film.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}


==In popular culture==
{{in popular culture|section|date=May 2024}}
Following are mentions of the film in popular culture:
* The cover of 1970s British rock band [[Be Bop Deluxe]]'s 1977 album ''[[Live! In the Air Age]]'' is a still from the film.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
* [[David Bowie]]'s 1974  album ''[[Diamond Dogs]]'' and its [[Diamond Dogs Tour|following tour]] were inspired by the film, with [[Amanda Lear]] recalling "He rented the film and ran it over and over again in his house. And that's where ''Diamond Dogs'' came from – the whole staging and album and everything, Bowie got from ''Metropolis''".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Russell |first=Calum |title=How Fritz Lang movie 'Metropolis' inspired a David Bowie album |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-fritz-lang-metropolis-inspired-a-david-bowie-album/ |work=[[Far Out (magazine)|Far Out]]}}</ref>
* The German electronic group [[Kraftwerk]]'s 1978 album ''[[The Man-Machine]]'' contains the song "Metropolis".{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
* The rock band [[Motörhead]]'s album ''[[Overkill (Motörhead album)|Overkill]]'' contains the song "Metropolis", which was written by [[Lemmy]], the band's lead singer and bassist, after he saw the film in 1979. It was written to fill space on the album which was short.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Malcolm |last1=Wall |first2=Mick |last2=Dome |date=14 October 2019 |title=The story behind Motorhead's Overkill |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/motorhead-1979-the-inside-story-of-overkill-and-bomber |access-date=29 December 2022 |website=loudersound |language=en}}</ref>
* When designing the character of [[C-3PO]] for ''[[Star Wars]]'', [[Ralph McQuarrie]] was inspired by the aesthetic of the [[Maschinenmensch]], the two bearing a striking resemblance to one another.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Allen |first=Joseph |date=7 November 2017 |title=Star Wars: 16 Things You Didn't Know About C-3PO |url=https://screenrant.com/c3po-star-wars-trivia-facts/ |access-date=29 December 2022 |website=Screen Rant |language=en-US}}</ref>
* The music video for [[Queen (band)|Queen]]'s 1984 song "[[Radio Ga Ga]]" uses imagery and clips from the movie.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Queen Promo Videos |url=http://www.ultimatequeen.co.uk/queen/videos/promo-videos.htm |access-date=24 July 2013 |publisher=Ultimatequeen.co.uk}}</ref> The four members of the band are inserted into clips, for example the face of [[Freddie Mercury]] is briefly superimposed over the robot's face. The video ends with the caption "Thanks to Metropolis". Mercury also contributed the song "[[Love Kills (Freddie Mercury song)|Love Kills]]" to the soundtrack of the Moroder version of the film, for which he received a [[Golden Raspberry Awards|Golden Raspberry Award]] nomination for [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song|Worst Original Song]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Daw |first=Stephen |date=15 November 2018 |title=5 Things You Didn't Know About Freddie Mercury's Solo Career |url=https://www.billboard.com/culture/pride/freddie-mercury-solo-career-things-you-didnt-know-8485190/ |access-date=29 December 2022 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}}</ref>
* [[Madonna]]'s 1989 music video "[[Express Yourself (Madonna song)|Express Yourself]]" pays homage to the film and Fritz Lang.<ref>{{Citation |last=Michael |first=Mick St. |title=Madonna 'Talking': Madonna in Her Own Words |page=89 |year=2004 |url=https://archive.org/details/madonnainherownw0000stmi |publisher=[[Omnibus Press]] |isbn=978-0-7119-7734-1 |url-access=registration}}</ref>
* [[Whitney Houston]]'s 1994 music video "[[Queen of the Night (song)|Queen of the Night]]" also pays homage to Lang's film, with Houston wearing a metallic costume inspired by Maria robot. Likewise, the 1992 blockbuster ''[[The Bodyguard (1992 film)|The Bodyguard]]'' also uses clips from the movie, when Houston was singing this song at a night club and they appear on a multi-screen in the background.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bradshaw |first=Peter |date=3 November 2022 |title=The Bodyguard review – Whitney Houston showstopper as resplendent as ever |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/nov/03/the-bodyguard-review-whitney-houston-showstopper-as-resplendent-as-ever |access-date=13 January 2024 |work=The Guardian |publisher=Theguardian.com}}</ref> 
* In 1998, American [[nu metal]] band [[System of a Down]] released a music video called "[[Sugar (System of a Down song)|Sugar]]", which features footage from ''Metropolis''.<ref>Araya, Bastián Cifuentes (22 April 2020) [https://www.nacionrock.com/videografia-rock-sugar-system-of-a-down/ "Videografía Rock: «Sugar» – System of a Down"] ''Nacion Rock''</ref>
* [[Janelle Monáe]] based both her concept albums on the original film, including her EP, ''[[Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase)]]'', released in mid-2007, and ''[[The ArchAndroid]]'', released in 2009. The latter also included an homage to ''Metropolis'' on its cover, with the film version of the Tower of Babel among the remainder of the city. The albums follow the adventures of Monáe's alter-ego and robot, Cindi Mayweather, as a messianic figure to the android community of ''Metropolis''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Metropolis, Suite 1: The Chase |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/metropolis-suite-i-the-chase-mw0000792387 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623092527/http://www.allmusic.com/album/metropolis-suite-i-the-chase-mw0000792387 |archive-date=23 June 2012 |access-date=17 February 2016 |publisher=All Music}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kot |first=Greg |title=Turn It Up: Janelle Monae, the interview: 'I identify with androids' |url=http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2010/05/janelle-monae-the-interview-i-identify-with-androids.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020021441/http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2010/05/janelle-monae-the-interview-i-identify-with-androids.html |archive-date=20 October 2013 |access-date=1 September 2014 |website=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref>
* Videos for songs by pop singer-songwriter [[Lady Gaga]] have made a series of references to Lang's film. Visual allusions to the film are noted most predominantly in the music videos for "[[Alejandro (song)|Alejandro]]" (2010), "[[Born This Way (song)|Born This Way]]" (2011), and "[[Applause (Lady Gaga song)|Applause]]" (2013).<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 August 2013 |title=Every Cultural Reference You Probably Didn't Catch In Lady Gaga's New Video |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/azafar/every-cultural-reference-you-probably-didnt-catch-in-lady-ga#.xnLKaWD5v7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824001235/http://www.buzzfeed.com/azafar/every-cultural-reference-you-probably-didnt-catch-in-lady-ga |archive-date=24 August 2013 |access-date=17 February 2016 |website=BuzzFeed}}</ref>
* The 2012 EP ''[[Metropolis Part I]]'' by the electronic music trio [[The M Machine]] is a conceptual work inspired by the film.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=http://www.the-m-machine.com/about/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116001216/http://www.the-m-machine.com/about/ |archive-date=16 November 2018 |access-date=15 November 2018 |website=The M Machine |language=en-US}}</ref>
* The Brazilian [[metal (music)|metal]] band [[Sepultura]] named their 2013 album ''[[The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart]]'' after a quote from the film.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Navas |first=Judy Cantor |date=24 September 2013 |title=Sepultura Talks 'Tricky' 'Mediator' Album, Tour Dates Announced |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin-notas/5721216/sepultura-talks-tricky-mediator-album-tour-dates-announced |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140830003238/http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin-notas/5721216/sepultura-talks-tricky-mediator-album-tour-dates-announced |archive-date=30 August 2014 |access-date=1 September 2014 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]}}</ref>
* ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' graphic novel ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Nemo Trilogy#Nemo: The Roses of Berlin|Nemo: The Roses of Berlin]]'' is set in Metropolis in 1941, in the midst of Adenoid Hynkel (from ''[[The Great Dictator]]'')'s Nazi-like regime.<ref>Lehoczky, Etelka (22 March 2014) [https://www.npr.org/2014/03/22/286266406/extraordinary-ladies-battle-across-berlin-in-roses "Extraordinary Ladies Battle Across Berlin In 'Roses'"] ''[[National Public Radio]]''</ref><ref>Nevins, Jeff [http://jessnevins.com/annotations/rosesofberlin.html "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Nemo: Roses of Berlin annotations"] ''League of Extraordinary Annotators''</ref><ref>Murphy, To, (2 April 2014) [https://www.brokenfrontier.com/nemo-roses-of-berlin-alan-moore-kevin-oneill-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen/ "Nemo: The Roses of Berlin – A Quick Scoot Through Fritz Lang's Metropolis Marks the Weakest Chapter in Moore and O'Neill's Epic"] ''Broken Frontiers''</ref><ref>Brown, Michael (23 March 2014) [https://comicbook.com/news/nemo-the-roses-of-berlin-a-mediocre-entry-in-an-extraordinary-universe/ "Nemo: The Roses of Berlin: A Mediocre Entry in an Extraordinary Universe"] ''[[ComicBook.com]]''</ref>
* Inspired by the movie, [[Peter Graham (composer)|Peter Graham]] wrote "Metropolis 1927" for brass band in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Metropolis 1927 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmQ3uLadM-w |website=YouTube| date=10 February 2017 }}</ref><ref>Staff [https://www.allmusic.com/album/peter-graham-metropolis-1927-mw0003200629/credits "Peter Graham: Metropolis 1927"] ''[[AllMusic]]''</ref><ref>Staff [https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.573968 "Graham: Metropolis 1927"] [[Naxos Records]] website</ref><ref>Staff [https://www.4barsrest.com/reviews/products/cd643.asp "CD review: Peter Graham: Metropolis 1927"] ''4barsrest''</ref>
* The 2014 music video "[[Digital Witness]]" by [[St. Vincent (musician)|St. Vincent]] in collaboration with Chino Moya presents "a surreal, pastel-hued future" in she is a stand-in for Maria.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Locker, Melissa |date=5 February 2014 |title=Music Video of the Week: St Vincent, 'Digital Witness' |url=https://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/05/st-vincent-digital-witness-video/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140206013823/http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/05/st-vincent-digital-witness-video/ |archive-date=6 February 2014 |access-date=17 February 2016 |url-status=live |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref>
* In the video game ''[[Layers of Fear 2]]'', parts of the chapter "Living Mannequins" take direct inspiration from the movie.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cz9ORYsr0w |title=Layers of Fear 2 {{!}} Full Game Longplay Walkthrough No Commentary |date=11 July 2019 |last=P.B. Horror Gaming |access-date=8 July 2024 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=28 May 2019 |title=Layers of Fear 2 Walkthrough and Guide: Living Mannequins |url=https://www.neoseeker.com/layers-of-fear-2/walkthrough/Act2-Living_Mannequins |access-date=8 July 2024 |website=neoseeker}}</ref>
* A lookalike of [[Hanson Robotics]] robot [[Sophia (robot)|Sophia]] was portrayed by drag queen Gigi Goode in the "Snatch Game" episode of the [[RuPaul's Drag Race season 12|twelfth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'']] (2020). Goode won the episode with her character "Maria the Robot", based heavily on Sophia and named after a robot featured in ''Metropolis''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Dylan B. |date=5 April 2020 |title=RuPaul's Drag Race recap: season 12, episode 6 – Snatch Game |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/apr/05/rupauls-drag-race-recap-season-12-episode-6-snatch-game |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123220510/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/apr/05/rupauls-drag-race-recap-season-12-episode-6-snatch-game |archive-date=23 November 2020 |access-date=11 May 2020 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2020 |title=The strong queens of RuPaul's Drag Race season 12 meet their match in "Snatch Game" |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-strong-queens-of-rupaul-s-drag-race-season-12-meet-1842667623 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123220500/https://tv.avclub.com/the-strong-queens-of-rupaul-s-drag-race-season-12-meet-1842667623 |archive-date=23 November 2020 |access-date=11 May 2020 |work=TV Club (AV Club) |language=en-us}}</ref>
* "Monsters in Metropolis", a 2021 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[List of Doctor Who audio plays by Big Finish|audio play]] released by [[Big Finish Productions]], features the [[Ninth Doctor]] battling a [[Cyberman]] on the set of the film and includes many references both to the film itself and its legacy.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Doctor Who's Ninth Doctor to face Cybermen for the first time |url=https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a35971352/doctor-who-christopher-eccleston-cyberman-episode-confirmed/ |access-date=20 January 2022 |work=Digital Spy}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|1920s|Film|Germany}}
* [[List of cult films]]
* [[List of dystopian films]]
* [[List of films featuring surveillance]]
* [[List of German films of 1919–1932]]
* [[List of most expensive non-English-language films]]
* [[List of rediscovered films]]
* [[List of incomplete or partially lost films]]
* [[1927 in science fiction]]
* [[List of films considered the best]]

==References==
'''Informational notes'''
{{notefoot}}
{{reflist|group=Notes}}

'''Citations'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
* {{cite book|last=Bukatman|first= Scott|author-link=Scott Bukatman|title=Blade Runner|publisher= BFI modern classics, British Film Institute|location =London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIBZAAAAMAAJ|date=1997|isbn= 0-85170-623-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Ebert|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Ebert|title=Roger Ebert's Movie Home Companion: 400 Films on Cassette, 1980-85|url=https://archive.org/details/rogerebertshomem00roge|url-access=registration|year=1985|publisher=Andrews, McMeel & Parker|isbn=978-0-8362-6209-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Eisner|first=Lotte|author-link=Lotte Eisner|title=Fritz Lang|publisher= Da Capo Press|location =Massachusetts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33RZAAAAMAAJ|date=1986|isbn=978-0-306-80271-3}}
* {{cite book|year=2003|editor1-last=Grant|editor1-first=Barry Keith|editor-link=Barry Keith Grant|title=Fritz Lang: Interviews|series=Conversations with Filmmakers Series|location=[[Jackson, Mississippi|Jackson]], Mississippi|publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]]| isbn=9781578065776}}
* {{cite book|last=Jensen|first= Paul M.|title=The cinema of Fritz Lang|year=1969|publisher=A. S. Barnes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UHQcAQAAIAAJ|location = New York|isbn=0302020020}}
* {{cite book|last=Kaplan|first= E. Ann |author-link=E. Ann Kaplan|title=Fritz Lang: A Guide to References and Resources|publisher= G.K. Hall & Co|location =Boston|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=znVZAAAAMAAJ |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-8161-8035-6}}
* {{cite book |first=Klaus |last=Kreimeier |title=The UFA Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company, 1918–1945 |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |url= https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_I1u5qMPO0RkC|year=1999 |isbn=0-520-22069-2}}
* {{cite book |first=Siegfried |last=Kracauer| author-link=Siegfried Kracauer |title=[[From Caligari to Hitler|From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of German Film]] |location=Princeton, New Jersey |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1947 |isbn=0-691-02505-3}}
* {{cite magazine|last1=Magid|first1=Annette M.|date=Summer 2006|title=Better than the Book: Fritz Lang's Interpretation of Thea von Harbou's ''Metropolis''|url=http://ler.letras.up.pt/uploads/ficheiros/1639.pdf|magazine=Spaces of Utopia|publisher=[[University of Porto|Universidade do Porto]]|issue=2|pages=129–149|access-date=16 October 2017|issn=1646-4729}}
* {{cite book|last=McGilligan|first=Patrick|author-link=Patrick McGilligan (biographer)|title=Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast |year=1997 |place=New York |publisher=St. Martin's Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EdH1GwAACAAJ|isbn=978-0-312-19454-3}}
* {{cite book|last = Michael | first = Mick St. | title = Madonna 'Talking': Madonna in Her Own Words| year = 2004| publisher = [[Omnibus Press]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MnD4nlDsyNEC| isbn = 1-84449-418-7}}
* {{cite book|last1=Minden|first1=Michael|last2=Bachmann|first2=Holger |title=Fritz Lang's Metropolis: Cinematic Visions of Technology and Fear|year=2002|publisher=Camden House|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyOO_HNw0KQC|location = New York |isbn=978-1-57113-146-1}}
* {{cite journal|journal = Popular Science| last = Mok| first = Michel | title = New Ideas Sweep Movie Studios | date = May 1930 | volume = 116 | issue = 5 | issn = 0161-7370 | publisher = Popular Science Publishing|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OigDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA143}}
* {{cite journal|last=Roth|first=Lane|year=1978|title="Metropolis", The Lights Fantastic: Semiotic Analysis of Lighting Codes in Relation to Character and Theme|volume=6|issue=4|jstor=43795693|journal=Film Quarterly|pages=342–346}}
* {{cite book|last1=Russell|first1=Tim|title=Fill 'er Up!: The Great American Gas Station|year=2007|publisher=Voyageur Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NDtMw5GDCS8C|location = Minneapolis |isbn=978-0-7603-2871-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Schoenbaum |author-link=David Schoenbaum|first=David |title=Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany 1933–1939 |publisher=WW Norton and Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1wNCSxrUlyMC|location=London |year=1997 |isbn=0-393-31554-1}}
* {{cite journal|last=Stoicea|first=Gabriela|year=2006|title=Re-Producing the Class and Gender Divide: Fritz Lang's Metropolis|volume=22|issue=|jstor=20688260|journal=Women in German Yearbook|pages=21–42|doi=10.1353/wgy.2006.0012|s2cid=143458810|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20688260}}
* {{cite book|last=White|first=Susan M.|title=The Cinema of Max Ophuls: Magisterial Vision and the Figure of Woman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GeadAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA348|year=1995|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-10113-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Wilson|first=John|title=The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst |year=2005|publisher=Grand Central Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bLpJHjGFNk8C|isbn=0-446-69334-0}}

'''Further reading'''
* {{cite book|last1=Hoesterey|first1=Ingeborg|title=Pastiche: Cultural Memory in Art, Film, Literature|year=2001|publisher=Indiana University Press|url=https://archive.org/details/pastichecultural00hoes|url-access=registration|location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-0-253-21445-4 |ref=none}}

==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Metropolis_(1927_film).ogg|date=25 October 2019}}
{{Commons category|Metropolis (film)}}
{{wikisource|Metropolis (film)}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|0017136|Metropolis}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/metropolis-am2761 ''Metropolis'' at AllMovie]
* {{TCMDb title|id=5892}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|1013775-metropolis|Metropolis}}
* {{Metacritic film|title=Metropolis}}
* [http://erkelzaar.tsudao.com/reviews/H.G.Wells_on_Metropolis%201927.htm ''Metropolis''] film review by [[H. G. Wells]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190404131313/https://www.uow.edu.au/%7Emorgan/metroa.htm ''Metropolis'' Archive (2011)] [[Michael Organ]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181212040004/http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/film/7076/metropolis ''Metropolis'' Archive movie stills and literature]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130524201223/http://pt.scribd.com/doc/99717073/Original-programme-for-the-British-premiere-of-Fritz-Lang%E2%80%99s-Metropolis-in-1927 ''Metropolis'' British premiere original programme (1927)]
* {{YouTube|Q5u_3ZYuI0Q|''Metropolis'' film}}
* [https://www.weimarcinema.org/page/metropolis-dossier ''Metropolis'' Dossier] on [https://www.weimarcinema.org/ WeimarCinema.org]

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{{Fritz Lang}}
{{Thea von Harbou}}
{{Giorgio Moroder}}
{{Modernism}}
}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Metropolis (1927 film)| ]]
[[Category:1927 films]]
[[Category:1927 science fiction films]]
[[Category:1920s dystopian films]]
[[Category:1920s German-language films]]
[[Category:1920s rediscovered films]]
[[Category:Alternative versions of films]]
[[Category:Films about androids]]
[[Category:Art Deco]]
[[Category:Babelsberg Studio films]]
[[Category:Fiction about prosthetics]]
[[Category:Films about amputees]]
[[Category:Films about cities]]
[[Category:Films about technological impact]]
[[Category:Films based on German novels]]
[[Category:Films based on science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Thea von Harbou]]
[[Category:Films directed by Fritz Lang]]
[[Category:Films of the Weimar Republic]]
[[Category:Films produced by Erich Pommer]]
[[Category:Films scored by Gottfried Huppertz]]
[[Category:Films scored by Giorgio Moroder]]
[[Category:Films set in the future]]
[[Category:Films shot in Berlin]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Fritz Lang]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Thea von Harbou]]
[[Category:German black-and-white films]]
[[Category:German dystopian films]]
[[Category:German Expressionist films]]
[[Category:German science fiction films]]
[[Category:German silent feature films]]
[[Category:Mad scientist films]]
[[Category:Megacities in fiction]]
[[Category:Memory of the World Register]]
[[Category:Moloch in literature and popular culture]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:Rediscovered German films]]
[[Category:Saturn Award–winning films]]
[[Category:Silent science fiction films]]
[[Category:Films about father–son relationships]]