History Main / Metropolis

--> '''Joh''': I must know -- Where is my son?!!!\\
'''Thin Man''': [[spoiler: Tomorrow thousands throughout the city will cry out in fury and desperation, Joh Frederson, where is my son?!]]

* MissingEpisode: Missing ''movie'' for many years.

--> '''Joh''': Let the dead lie - She's as dead for me as she is for you.\\
'''Rotwang''': She isn't dead for me, Joh Frederson! For me she lives! [''gesticulates wildly'']

* NoWaterProofingInTheFuture: The plumbing systems are tragically intertwined with its electrical systems.

* NoOSHACompliance: Something of a plot point: The "M Machine" that Freder stumbles upon during his trek through the underground city overheats and explodes, killing everyone in its vicinity. The dead workers are casually hauled off and a new set comes in to take their place. Witnessing this scene is what makes Freder sympathetic to the workers' plight.
** Case of TruthInTelevision and JustifiedTrope: Safety-oriented machine design, safe operation rules and reimbursements for incidents are relatively modern concepts. Work conditions depicted in the movie were not so different from the work in early 20th century factories.

* RealitySubtext: Maybe. Fritz Lang's wife, Thea von Harbou, was originally married to actor Rudolf Klein-Rogge, but she had an affair with Lang and ultimate divorced Rogge. In the movie and in the original book, the woman Hel was married to Rotwang (played by Rogge) but eventually had an affair and married Joh Fredersen. As Harbou wrote the original screenplay and story, it's possible she wrote it as a parallel to her own life situation, so [[RealLifeWritesThePlot a lot gets made of this coincidence]]. But on the other hand, Lang and Rogge remained good friends and worked together until Lang left Germany, while Rogge also continued to work with Harbou on several other movies. Needless to say, [[YourMileageMayVary there's been debate]].
* RedRightHand: Rotwang. As he would say: What is one hand compared to creating a machine human?

* ShoutOut: OscarWilde's quote "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it" on the business card of Yoshiwara.

* StandardSnippet: The "Dies Irae" theme figures heavily in the original soundtrack by Gottfried Huppertz, as does a tweaked version of the Marseilles.

* TowerOfBabel: referenced, with significant alterations. 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.]]

'''Rotwang''': I only ever forgot one thing: that Hel was a woman and you a man! [''gesticulates wildly'']

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Rotwang, after Joh Fredersen beats the crap out of him.]]

** In an audio commentary it is suggested that this is intentionally done by the city's leaders, so they have better control over the lower classes. In reality, machines are supposed to make life easier and be able to function without humans.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Moroder made the rock opera version after outbidding DavidBowie, among others, for the rights. God knows what he...scratch that, probably even ''God'' doesn't know what Bowie would have done with ''Metropolis''.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: the whole film.
** RuleOfSymbolism, for the most part. You have crucifixion imagery, check, giant clock face, personified Seven Deadly Sins, personified Whore of Babylon, retelling of the Tower of Babel story, animated gargoyles, hidden church in catacombs, an inverted pentagram, talk about "brothers and sisters", the machine as Moloch...

* YouAreNumberSix: 11811

* VideoPhone: Made in 1927, this film is a likely candidate for being the UrExample.

* ConvectionSchmonvection: The smoke of the pyre alone should have killed Maria. [[spoiler:Justified in that it was the robot one.]]

* EyeTropes: In Yoshiwara, during Maria's dance, there's a montage of eyes watching her. As if they wanted to make an {{anvilicious}} {{aesop}} about MaleGaze.

* FridgeLogic: If the workers, presumably the vast majority of the population, live underground, who lives in all these huge skyscrapers?
** Rich people, in large apartment suites.

* HeyItsThatGuy: ''Der Schmale'' (the Thin One), who was almost completely removed in the Channing Pollock cut, was played by Fritz Rasp, who went on to play the villain in the childrens' film ''Emil und die Detektive'' (1931, screenplay co-written by [[BillyWilder Billie Wilder]]).
** Dr. Mabuse is a mad scientist!

* {{Homage}}: Too many to count. Among others:
** ''the'' Metropolis of ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' is named after this film.
** Then of course there's ''StarWars''...
*** In particular, [[AmbiguousGender C-3PO looks a lot like the unfinished Maria robot]]--even more so in the production sketches.
**** Also, compare Grand Moff Tarkin and Joh Fredersen. The similarities in appearance and behavior are beyond coincidence.
** ''BladeRunner'' has a familiar looking building, and a similar office, with automatic shades...
** ''Film/{{Batman}}'' the movie borrows the ending...
** ''{{Frankenstein}}'' uses Rotwang's lab...
** ''{{Dr Strangelove}}'' has Rotwang's prosthetic hand...
*** As does [[StarWars Darth Vader]]... [[spoiler: and his son, Luke]]
** In DCComics' ''AllStarSquadron'', the robot villainess Mekanique was not just based on the Maria robot- IT WAS THE SAME ROBOT, given time travel powers and sent into the past to make sure Rotwang's future would come to exist. And apparently she ''succeeded''. (Note this is PreCrisis stuff and may no longer be canonical.)
** The "Another Brick in The Wall Part II" sequence in the movie TheWall, with schoolchildren instead of workers.
** ''ChronoTrigger'' included a device also dubbed the Moloch Machine in reference to the famous scene.
** The {{Orichalcum}} Machine from ''IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'' looks strangely familiar.

** Lang's wife Thea von Harbou, who co-wrote the ''Metropolis'' script and had written the original novel, joined the Nazi Party in the early 1930s. The couple divorced not long after that. While Lang emigrated to America soon after the Nazi takeover, von Harbou remained in Germany and later scripted a Third Reich propaganda film.

* MadScientist with EinsteinHair

* Gonk: In a film where everyone looks uniform, Rotwang- the MadScientist with fuzzy hair, bulging eyes, and a hunchback figure- really stands out.

* The anime film and manga, ''[[Animated/{{Metropolis}} Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis]]''.

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]].

* ExplosiveInstrumentation

* RedRightHand

* TechnicolorScience: In a black and white film no less. Rotwang's lab when he is transforming his mechanical girl has milky white liquids, transparent liquids, and dark colored liquids all boiling and bubbling away in strangely shaped glass containers.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized
* TheThreeFacesOfEve: Maria - Mother, maiden and sex machine. The Oedipal themes come free with the package.
* TorchesAndPitchforks: Or rather wrenches and lanterns. [[spoiler:For the workers and upper classes respectively (although the latter did not initially intend anything destructive. But once they collide with the workers...)]].
* UnfortunateName: Oh, poor [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike Rotwang]]. A child with a name like that was doomed to become evil. (Needless to say it probably wasn't the case when the film was made, but today...)
*** Why? What's wrong with "Rotwang"? It doesn't sound too awkward for a German surname. But it does literally mean "Red-Cheek". Make of that what you will.
** Also having a character called Hel was too close to Hell for the liking of American censors, who removed all reference to her - along with several important plot-points.

* SpiritualSequel: This film was to the 20's what BladeRunner was to the 80's.

** RuleOfSymbolism, for the most part. You have crucifixion imagery, check, giant clock face, personified Seven Deadly Sins, personified Whore of Babylon, retelling of the Tower of Babel story, animated gargoyles, hidden church in catacombs, inverted pentagram...

<<|{{Film}}|>>

* {{Cyberpunk}}: Obviously lacking digital computers (which would qualify it to be {{Dieselpunk}}), the film includes every single defining element of what would be known as cyberpunk half a century later, right down to the Japanese. Arguably the UrExample, or an UnBuiltTrope.

* TropeMaker: Metropolis set almost all of the tropes that would later define the CyberPunk genre, more than a decade before digital computers were invented.

* CyberPunk (virtualy every trope that defines the genre can be found here)

* UnfortunateName: Oh, poor Rotwang. A child with a name like that was doomed to become evil. (Needless to say it probably wasn't the case when the film was made, but today...)

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The original reconstructed soundtrack by Gottfried Huppertz; [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epuUqdkO47w "Cage of Freedom"]] from the Moroder version

** rich people, in large apartment suites.

** Case of TruthInTelevision and JustifiedTrope Safety-oriented machine design, safe operation rules and reimbursements for incidents are relatively modern concepts. Work conditions depicted in the movie were not so different from the work in early XX-century factory.

* ReplacementGoldfish: Futura/Robotrix/Fake Hel/Fake Maria/Machine Man/etc.

[[caption-width-right:300:[-DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything?-] ]]

* MegaCity

* EvilHand (quite possibly [[ArtificialLimbs robotic hand]])
* Machines BeneathTheEarth that [[CollapsingLair are prone to catastrophic failure]]

* [[ClockTower Cathedral Climax]]

* [[LuddWasRight Human rebellion]] [[spoiler:stopped]] when [[{{Morlocks}} the workers]] realize they are [[{{Aesoptinum}} dependent on the machines]] for their lives
* [[{{Zeerust}} The Future Will Be]] [[RaygunGothic Art Deco]]
* GlovedFistOfDoom

* {{Cyberpunk}}: Obviously lacking digital computers, the film includes every single defining element of what would be known as cyberpunk half a century later, right down to the Japanese. Arguably the UrExample, or an UnBuiltTrope.

* TorchesAndPitchforks

** And what ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' is today? I mean, the most expensive movie ever made at the time, a control freak director (both of them do a great job), groundbreaking visual effects, [[{{Understatement}} a not so amazing script...]]

Aside from its progressive storytelling, it is also known for being heavily [[LostEpisode fragmented]], the results of both heavy Bowdlerization in its trip to foreign markets, and of poor preservation techniques back in the '30s.

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

* GratuitousJapanese: The apparently European city contains a nightclub unexplainedly called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiwara Yoshiwara]].

* NoWaterProofingInTheFuture: The plumbing systems are tragically entertwined with its electrical systems.

* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler:Intially shown to be Joh Fredersen]], though it turns out that [[spoiler:Rotwang was the real {{Chessmaster}} behind the near-destruction of Metropolis]]

Up to 25% of the original footage was considered lost before turning up in a museum in Argentina in 2007. The 2010 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 five 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. This nearly complete version was released on DVD in late 2010.

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 five 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. This nearly complete version was released on DVD in late 2010.

* SoundtrackDissonance / CrowningMusicOfAwesome / DethroningMusicOfSuck: Giorgio Moroder's version is a [[LoveItOrHateIt love it]] [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks or hate it]], [[CultClassic cult adaptation]]. Featuring [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epuUqdkO47w Jon Anderson]] (of {{Yes}}), PatBenatar, Adam Ant, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNEjSi9SVAU#t=2m45s "Destruction"]] by Loverboy, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLUo2UQxSts Bonnie Tyler]], [[{{Queen}} Freddie Mercury]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7CLLBZpT_Q Cycle V and Moroder himself]]. Yes. [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes Hard to find]].[[hottip:**: even on Youtube -- apparently FW Murnau Foundation is against it, [[SarcasmMode though they aren't against any other version appearing on Youtube]]...]]

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. This nearly complete version was released on DVD in late 2010.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: MostTriumphantExample? Every version was different for ''decades''.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic?: the whole film.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse?: Georgy ([[YouAreNumberSix 11811]]), the worker Freder takes the place of at the dial machine, after he goes into Yoshiwara. His story was expanded on in the footage that was later cut and, until recently, LostForever.