1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die- Metropolis

#33- Metropolis (1927)
Starring: Gustav Fröhlich, Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel
Directed by: Fritz Lang


Plot Summary: In the future, the Master of Metropolis is Joh Fredersen, a wealthy industrialist that rules over the city. His son, Freder, spends his time with the other children of the wealthy, until he sees a young woman named Maria. Determined to find her again, Freder makes his way to the machine rooms and sees the horrors that he had been sheltered from his entire life. Fredersen has been meeting with the inventor Rotwang, who loved a woman named Hel before she left him to marry Fredersen. Rotwang has been working on a robot that he plans to create in Maria's likeness and destroy Freder, as revenge for Hel dying while giving birth to Freder.


I thought it best to start my summer review series by reviewing at least one silent film, and there was only one I was really interested in covering. Since the overall theme is looking at the history of film, it would only make sense to review a film that changed the landscape of motion pictures and serves as one of the most important and innovative films for its genre. The film I'll be covering today is Metropolis, and the impact it had on science fiction. Because there are versions of this film in both English and German, and cuts of the movie that are missing original footage (deemed "lost"), I have decided to review the 2 hour cut in English, for the bare boned foundation of the film.

The film follows a handful of main characters that are pretty harmless within the film's narrative. Gustav Fröhlich plays the main protagonist, Freder, Brigitte Helm plays the object of Freder's affection, Maria, and Alfred Abel plays Freder's father, Joh Fredersen. There's only so many times you can say "they act really well with their faces and gestures," in terms of actors in silent films before it gets old, so that's all I'll say there. There are some intricate relationships between the main characters though, including Freder's love for Maria, and his strained relationship with his father. Joh Fredersen is also an intriguing character, having an imposing sense of power over other characters based on his reputation. But, even if these are the main characters of the film, they aren't the reasons moviegoers would initially want to check out this film. You hear about an innovative science fiction film, and its the environment created that attracts the viewer, not generic film characters that aren't considered to be related to the concepts of science fiction.

The most famous and marketable aspect of this film is the robot you see on all the posters and photos of the film, which is actually a robot duplicate of Maria, also played by Brigitte Helm. The actual robotic version of the creation, created by Rotwang, played by Rudolf Klein-Rogge, doesn't spend a whole lot of time on film, but remains a huge influence on film history. The most noticeable is the obvious influence on the design of C-3PO, making the creation one of the most iconic movie images in the science fiction genre. Add to the fact that Helm was actually in the costume for the film's production, a costume that was groundbreaking for detail in 1927, and you have a fascinating mixture of an actor's dedication and making a director's vision a reality through costuming and effects.

One of the most surprising elements of Metropolis is in its attention to props and sets. I'm not sure if it's a mentality I have about the early days of film, but I never expected the sets to be so grand and detailed. Nowadays, sets are easier to make thanks to larger budgets for construction and the use of CGI to create more difficult sets and backgrounds. But in 1927, that wasn't the case, and efforts made to make sure the sets look magnificent are greatly noticed and appreciated, as they played an integral role in making the world within the film look HUGE.

I believe the most commonly used phrase to describe Metropolis is to call it a film that was "groundbreaking for its time." For a film released nearly 90 years ago, it was a film far ahead of its time for production value. The film was so innovative that it inspired many filmmakers to create their own adventures in the science fiction genre, including Stanley Kubrik, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas. That's right, without Metropolis, there would be no Star Wars (digest that for a moment).


Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

It's easy to see the influence Metropolis had on film, thanks to its lavish sets and groundbreaking special effects. While some elements haven't aged the greatest, it's still a must watch for all fans of film at least once.

Comment below to share your thoughts on the movie or to discuss a topic that I left out of my review

Metropolis and movie images are copyrighted by UFA and Paramount Pictures