History Main / Metropolis

* AdaptationDecay: It's fairly understandable why the 1989 musical based on the film was not very successful. Whether [[BrianBlessed BRIAN BLESSED's]] role in it makes it better or worse is questionable.
* AdaptationDisplacement: The title of this page used to refer to ''OsamuTezukasMetropolis''.
** Also, just about every sci-fi film made in the past 80 years references this movie.
** Yep, there is a book. It was written by the director's wife at the time.
* AndTheFandomRejoiced: At the restoration.

* BetterOnDVD: Way better, especially now that this movie has been found ''nearly complete'' and has been released on DVD and Blu-Ray
** Although Georgio Moroder's CultClassic musical soundtrack version has not been released on DVD at all, prompting fans to KeepCirculatingTheTapes.

* BrokenBase: Opinions on the Moroder version are sharply divided, to say the least.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Rotwang's robot [[OneSceneWonder who only gets a couple minutes of screentime]] ''has become the film's unofficial symbol'' in pop culture. It's the only character shown on the film's most famous poster. {{Osamu Tezuka}}'s version was inspired by nothing other than that famous image. Of course, technically, the Maria Machine actually has a tonne of screentime, just not in that form.
** In the new restoration, the thin man.

* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: The movie substantially inverts the Tower of Babel story. Maria's retelling alters the facts and changes the moral. The hubrist is inverted (And on the pedestal these words appear: "Great is the world and its maker!") and retribution comes from paying too much attention to the idea and ignoring the workers. There is no confusion of tongues, but another clever inversion ("The praises of one became the curses of another. Although they spoke the same language, they could not understand one another's words"). The New Tower of Babel at the heart of the city is [[spoiler: absolutely untouched by the destruction and the divided classes are reunited.]]

* {{Macekre}}: if you compare the 1928 American release to the original film -- editing by chainsaw, and Channing Pollock boasting about having rewritten the whole thing.

* MisaimedFandom: Partly. AdolfHitler said ''Metropolis'' was one of his favorite films. The writer, Thea von Harbou, was a dedicated Nazi. The director, her husband Fritz Lang, divorced her and moved to Hollywood soon after the Nazi rise to power. The movie certainly doesn't have anything supporting the Nazi ideology, unless you take extreme liberties at interpreting the {{Aesop}}. It's directed against all forms of tyranny, from ruthless capitalism to mob rule.

* {{Narm}}/{{Anvilicious}}: The ending. Even Fritz Lang admitted he didn't like it in an interview he gave several decades later. In an essay that is available in the booklet of the Masters of Cinema DVD, Jonathan Rosenbaum has this to say: "one of the lamest endings of any great film I can think of".

* [[strike: SeinfeldIsUnfunny]] [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny Metropolis Is Unoriginal]]: This movie's tropes, characters, visual style, and special effects have been mimicked to the point of exhaustion. Ironically, on its release people criticized the plot for borrowing heavily from Victorian melodramas and other sci-fi stories; HGWells in particular [[http://erkelzaar.tsudao.com/reviews/H.G.Wells_on_Metropolis%201927.htm felt he'd been plagiarized]]. So some of it may be ''even older'' than people think.

* TearJerker: Maria's first appearance in the pleasure gardens, surrounded by ragged worker children; "''Look! These are your brothers!''" And, for some people, the ending.

* TowerOfBabel: referenced in-story.

* VindicatedByHistory: When it was first released it was a huge flop that nearly bankrupted Ufa, the studio that produced it. Now, it's considered the forerunner to ''all'' science fiction films ever. Including (and especially) StarWars.

* [[LuddWasRight Luddite]] [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized rebellion]] [[spoiler:stopped]] when [[{{Morlocks}} the workers]] realize they are [[{{Aesoptinum}} dependent on the machines]] for their lives

* [[GratuitousJapanese Gratuitous]] [[GratuitousEnglish foreign language]] signs advertising {{Mega Corp}}s

* ScienceFictionVersusFantasy: This is Rotwang's whole theme. Inside a giant future MegaCity is a little thatched cottage inside of which is a pentagrammed MadScientistLaboratory inside of which is a man dressed in robes with a robot hand. Robot Maria's transformation makes him practically a necromancer. In fact the whole film is both a pioneer of sci fi despite being very heavy on biblical imagery.

* [[LuddWasRight Luddite]] [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized rebellion]] [[spoiler:stopped]] when [[LaResistance the workers]] realize they are [[{{Aesoptinum}} dependent on the machines]] for their lives

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Moroder made the rock opera version after outbidding DavidBowie, among others, for the rights. God know what he...scratch that, probably even ''God'' doesn't know what Bowie would have done with ''Metropolis''.

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* MilkingTheGiantCow: Rotwang only loves one thing more than Hel, and that is wild gesticulation.

Up to 25% of the original footage was considered lost before turning up in a museum in Argentina in 2007. An upcoming release on BluRay disc, which had a brief theatrical release as well, restores the movie back to about 90-95 percent. This new version runs only about eight minutes short of the original 1927 German cut, as opposed to nearly an entire hour shorter in some versions. Unfortunately, two scenes still remained too badly damaged to restore, and were replaced by title cards. It made its big US debut at the Turner Classic Movies festival in 2009 and on television on Turner Classic Movies in November 2010. In 2010, this nearly complete version was released on DVD.

Up to 25% of the original footage was considered lost before turning up in a museum in Argentina in 2007. An upcoming release on BluRay disc, which had a brief theatrical release as well, restores the movie back to about 90-95 percent. This new version runs only about eight minutes short of the original 1927 German cut, as opposed to nearly an entire hour shorter in some versions. Unfortunately, two scenes still remained too badly damaged to restore, and were replaced by title cards.

Also notable is the 1984 color-tinted restoration by composer Georgio Moroder, which is [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes only available on VHS and LaserDisc]] due to its [[BrokenBase controversial]] [[TheEighties 80's]] [[NotableOriginalMusic pop soundtrack]]. In 2010, a completely intact version was finally restored and was released. It made its big US debut at the Turner Classic Movies festival in 2009 and on television on Turner Classic Movies in November 2010.

* FrankensteinsMonster in film (came out [[OlderThanTheyThink 4 years before]] ''{{Frankenstein}}'')

*** In particular, [[AmbiguousGender C-3PO looks a lot like the unfinished Maria robot]].

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Also notable is the 1984 color-tinted restoration by composer Georgio Moroder, which is [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes only available on VHS and LaserDisc]] due to its [[BrokenBase controversial]] [[TheEighties 80's]] [[NotableOriginalMusic pop soundtrack]].

Works it has inspired:

In 2010 a completely intact version was finally restored and was released. It made its big US debut at the Turner Classic Movies festival in 2009 and on television on Turner Classic Movies in November 2010.
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Loosely inspired the anime film and manga, ''[[Animated/{{Metropolis}} Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis]]''.

''BladeRunner'' in particular is considered a SpiritualSuccessor to this film.

Not to be confused with the city where {{Superman}} lives[[hottip:*:(although there was an Elseworlds one-shot that combined the two)]], or a big city in general.

* [[{{Zeerust}} The Future Will Be Art Deco]]

Not to be confused with the city where {{Superman}} lives, or a big city in general.

* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: Rotwang's house. With doors that open and close on their own, it's also a MobileMaze.
** Several reviewers also pointed out that it's noticably BiggerOnTheInside.