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[Movie on] Complete, uncut copy of Metropolis found in Argentina!

elkataselkatas Registered User regular
edited July 2008 in Debate and/or Discourse
Lost scenes from German-Austrian director Fritz Lang's legendary silent film "Metropolis" have been discovered in Argentina, German weekly newspaper Die Zeit reported on Wednesday.

Paula Félix-Didier, head of film museum Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires, discovered an uncut version of the 1927 science fiction film when she looked into reports that a tape in the archive was unusually long. She travelled to Berlin with a copy of the film and met with experts who say they are certain it is the missing original-length version of Lang's masterpiece that reveals key plot scenes and an expansion of minor roles, Die Zeit said ahead of the publication of its Thursday edition.

"The film's original rhythm will be re-established," Martin Koerber, the man responsible for the current restoration of the film, told the paper.

Head of Berlin film museum Deutsche Kinemathek told the paper it was a "sensational discovery."

In 1927, Fritz Lang presented the film in Berlin after producing it in the city's Babelsberg Studios. At that time it was the most expensive film ever produced in Germany, but it was not well received by its German audience. A radically shorter version was subsequently edited in the US, after which historians believed the original version to have been lost.

According to Die Zeit's reconstruction of events, Buenos Aires film distributor Adolfo Z. Wilson brought a copy of the original version to Argentina in 1928. Film critic Peña Rodríguez later attained the film, which he sold in the 1960's to Argentina's national art fund. In 1992 copy then went to the Museo del Cine - where discoverer Félix-Didier took leadership this January.

DDP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)


Source: The Local
Screenshots from new footage

One word: Yay! :^:

Hypnotically inclined.
elkatas on

Posts

  • skyknytskyknyt Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2008
    This is amazing!

    skyknyt on
    Tycho wrote:
    [skyknyt's writing] is like come kind of code that, when comprehended, unfolds into madness in the mind of the reader.
    PSN: skyknyt, Steam: skyknyt, Blizz: skyknyt#1160
  • SpeedySwafSpeedySwaf Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Awesome, I love it when they discover "lost" material.

    Now we can argue if it's too long :wink:

    SpeedySwaf on
  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Oh my god spooge.

    Feral on
    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • BolthornBolthorn Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    This is great news.

    Now if someone could find a copy of London After Midnight in their attic I'd be all set.

    Bolthorn on
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    here's hoping the footage doesn't rot in a vault because nobody's quite sure who owns the copyright on it.

    Daedalus on
  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Daedalus wrote: »
    here's hoping the footage doesn't rot in a vault because nobody's quite sure who owns the copyright on it.

    Gawd so true.

    I'm sure the copyright issues have been worked out though, since the existing impartial cut has seen a DVD release.

    Feral on
    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited July 2008
    Metropolis is public domain.

    Jacobkosh on
  • StarcrossStarcross Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Amazing news, I just hope it's still in decent condition after all this time.

    Starcross on
  • Rabid_LlamaRabid_Llama Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I have never seen this but have always been intrigued by it.

    Is it any good?

    Rabid_Llama on
    /sig
    The+Rabid+Llama.png
  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited July 2008
    It's very good, especially if you can find one of the many cool scores that have been written for it (though of course, they won't work with this new version).

    Jacobkosh on
  • TreelootTreeloot Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    jacobkosh wrote: »
    Metropolis is public domain.

    Metropolis fell into the public domain for awhile, but its copyright was restored.

    Treeloot on
  • StarcrossStarcross Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Treeloot wrote: »

    Metropolis fell into the public domain for awhile, but its copyright was restored.

    I didn't know they could do that.

    Starcross on
  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Starcross wrote: »

    I didn't know they could do that.

    Advances in prosthetics and skin transplants in the last few years have been phenomenal. You'd be amazed at what they can restore now.

    In all seriousness, it was the 1998 Copyright Extension Act that did it, AKA the "Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act," AKA the "Mickey Mouse Hasn't Printed Enough Money For Disney Over the Last 70 Years We Need to Milk it For All It's Worth Copyright Extension Act."

    Feral on
    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Feral wrote: »

    Advances in prosthetics and skin transplants in the last few years have been phenomenal. You'd be amazed at what they can restore now.

    In all seriousness, it was the 1998 Copyright Extension Act that did it, AKA the "Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act," AKA the "Mickey Mouse Hasn't Printed Enough Money For Disney Over the Last 70 Years We Need to Milk it For All It's Worth Copyright Extension Act."

    Sonny Bono (R-Disney) and his wife Mary (R-Disney) wanted copyright to last forever, until they were told that that was unconstitutional, when they said it should last "forever minus one day".

    bastards.

    Daedalus on
  • GimGim a tall glass of water Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    First a copy of The Passion of Joan of Arc in a closet, now this. Wery interesting, indeed.

    This version runs something like 210+ minutes as I understand. I forget which version I saw, the slightly-less-than 2 hours version or the slightly-less-than 2 1/2 hour version. Either way, three and a half hours. I'm damn curious to see how Lang was able to keep the pacing up and what other madcap setpieces he designed.

    A fun wiki fact (because wiki facts are fun): "It was the most expensive silent film of the time, costing approximately 7 million Reichsmark (equivalent to around $200 million USD in 2005) to make."

    ---

    Also, it looks like someone is going to try and remake the film sometime in the next few years. I weep for their incompetence.

    Gim on
  • AmericanTransvestiteAmericanTransvestite Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I've been wanting to see this movie for so long and never did, I think I'll need to see it once this versions gets released though.

    AmericanTransvestite on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I think they should hand it over to Criterion to get cleaned up.

    DarkPrimus on
  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Wonderful stuff. Reading the notes on my Kino copy was depressing, and the apparent amount of lost footage from the reconstructed version was staggering.

    Zxerol on
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    There were two large cut areas: The background on the villain's wife that supposedly makes him much more understandable and the guy who takes on the rich character's life has a major subplot. Also virtually all of the footage from the "red light" district.

    nexuscrawler on
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