4 out of 5

Director: Fritz Lang

As is the case with any reviews of classics Ive done… not so much for anyones sake but my own, to sort of mark the occasion. So: Metropolis. A film made a billion years ago (1927) that, as a film fan, Ive probably pretended to have seen – should have seen – but never did because its easier to rent horror movies. Thank you, streaming, for bringing this my way. So what to say? Well, silent films are interesting. Theres a whole class that required, oddly, a bit more from their audience… it has to be pantomimed for you to understand whats happening, but at the same time, so as to avoid flashing to text screens every other second, a little bit of *paying attention* is required to put it all together. And thats especially the case here, in Metropolis, which tosses its hat in years ahead of the game to predict sci-fi and political themes which would pop up in the decades to come. Honestly – the plot is a little murky. Giant machines, an aristocrat who seems to fall in love with a member of the lower class, overthrow of the system by this lower class… its all a little surreal. And reading the background the confusion is not surprising – this thing has been cut a hundred times, ranging from 80 something minutes to over two hours. That lack of stream-lining has a bit to do with the docking of a star, sorry (seriously, read the wikipedia plot summary – ALL OF THAT HAPPENED???), but you still cant believe what was achieved at this point via sets and story.