Metropolis - The Complete Restoration

Opens Friday 9/17!
at Amherst Cinema

Seldom has the rediscovery of a cache of lost footage ignited widespread curiosity as did the announcement, in July 2008, that an essentially complete copy of Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS had been found.  Now, fully restored, re-edited and with 25 mins. of footage unseen since 1927, we now present this beloved masterpiece in its entirety.

Due to limited print availablility, this will be a Blue-ray presentation.

In the somewhat distant future, the city of Metropolis, with its huge towers and vast wealth, is a playground to a ruling class living in luxury and decadence. They, and the city, are sustained by a much larger population of workers who labor as virtual slaves in the machine halls, moving from their miserable, tenement-like homes to their grim, back-breaking ten-hour shifts and back again. The hero, Freder (Gustav Froehlich) -- son of Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel), master of Metropolis -- is oblivious to the plight of the workers until one day he encounters a beautiful subterranean dweller named Maria and meets a small group of children from the workers' city far below.  They are sad, hungry, and wretched looking, and he is haunted by their needy eyes.  He follows Maria back down to the depths of the city and witnesses a horrible accident and explosion in the machine halls where the men toil in misery. Haunted by what he has seen, he tries to confront his father, only to find that the man he loves and respects believes that it is right for the workers to live the way they do, while he and his elite frolic in luxury.  The seeds of revolution are born.

Director Fritz Lang, 143 mins.  NR, 1927 silent with original score by Gottfried Huppertz