Metropolis

 Year of Release:  1927

Director:  Fritz Lang

Screenplay:  Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang, based on the novel Metropolis by Thea von Harbou

Starring:  Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge

Running Time:  153 minutes (original cut)

Genre:  Science-fiction

In the futuristic city of Metropolis the elite live and play in towering skyscrapers, while the workers toil in underground cities operating the vast machines that keep Metropolis running.  One day, Freder (Fröhlich), the son of the city's ruler Joh Fredersen (Abel), glimpses the saintly Maria (Helm), a teacher from the underground city who is also a spiritual leader to the workers.  Tracking her down to the subterranean caverns, Freder is shocked by the horrible conditions in which the workers live and work.  He becomes inspired by Maria's teaching of a Mediator who will unite the people above ground with those below ground.  Meanwhile Joh Fredersen is concerned about Maria's influence among the workers, and enlists the aid of scientist Rotwang (Klein-Rogge) to construct an evil robot duplicate of Maria.

  This is one of the most iconic films ever made.  It's really the first epic science-fiction film, and it's images echo not only throughout the science-fiction genre, but throughout the whole of pop culture.  Even today, it's influence can be seen in movies, comics, music videos and TV shows.  It's full of memorable images and sequences, from the futuristic city, and the design of the robot.  There is also the hallucinatory imagery of the Moloch sequence, the Tower of Babel, and Death and the Seven Deadly Sins.  The performances are strong, with Brigitte Helm in the dual role of Maria and her evil mechanical duplicate, and Rudolf Klein-Rogge as mad scientist Rotwang.  There is also a strong performance by Fritz Rasp, as the sinister Thin Man, whose scenes are cut from many versions of the film, but are reinstated in the 2010 restoration). While elements have dated, sometimes humorously (biplanes floating among the city towers), it remains, even today, an overpowering visual experience.  The story may be simplistic, but the message of the disparity between rich and poor is as pertinent now as it was in 1927.  The film is available in many different versions of various lengths, including a 83 minute long colourised version released in 1984 with a rock score by Giorgio Moroder and songs by Freddy Mercury, Bonnie Tyler and Adam Ant among others.  The most complete version is probably the 2010 restored version which runs to 148 minutes.

Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Brigitte Helm in Metropolis

Destiny

Year of Release:  1921
Director:  Fritz Lang
Screenplay:  Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou
Starring:  Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, Bernhard Goetzke, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Genre:  Fantasy, romance
Running Time:  99 minutes

In this silent German film, a young couple (Dagover and Janssen) on a journey encounter the personification of Death (Goetzke), who takes the life of the man.  Heartbroken, the woman finds her way into Death's realm to plead for the life of her beloved.  Touched by her plight, Death presents her with three tales of love and death:  One set in an ancient Middle Eastern city, the other in Renaissance-era Venice and the third in ancient China.  If the woman can change the tragic outcome of just one of the episodes, Death will release her lover. 

This is an early and unjustly neglected film from acclaimed director Fritz Lang.  The film's original German title translates as The Weary Death:  A German Folk Song in Six Verses, and it is like a folk story, with a dream-like, expressionist look and, for the time, innovative special effects.  The three love stories all have a distinctive flavour to them, they all have a unique look beyond the lavish costumes and production design.  Looked at today, the fact that the characters are all played by white people in heavy make-up is problematic, albeit standard for the time.  The story was inspired by Indian mythology.  The film depicts Death as a gaunt, pale man in a wide-brimmed hat, a strangely sympathetic character who is tired of his endless task, and being cursed and despised by the living (Lang claimed that his concept of Death came from a fever-dream he had as a child).  None of the other characters are as memorable are as well-imagined as Death.  Even today, the film is visually striking and endlessly imaginative, although not without it's problems.  There is humour in the movie, but it takes itself seriously and invites it's audience to take it seriously and some level to believe in it's dark magic. 

Bernhard Goetzke as Death in Destiny