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Posted: |
Jan 31, 2001 - 7:26 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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No, I don't know why it says "Hollywood Classics" on the poster below....
Another one of those films to which I cannot add any new comments, really.
This is perhaps the utmost representative (along with THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI) of the German expressionism of the 20's. It is chockful of symbolic nuances. Politically charged, of course, with clearly visible marxist ideas and underlining the growing fascist sentiment of the time through choreography, lighting (black/white dichotomy) and the theatrical, gothic setting. However, it is hard to focus on these things continuosly because of the eloquence of the story. As such, it is firmly molded in the aristotelian tradition with which it wishes to break.
Can get a bit dated at times, of course, such as the scene where John Fredersen stumbles upon Robot-Maria in the clutches of his father. His over-the-top, melodramatic reaction combined with visual blinks and flashes - as if the world is coming down on him - is bound to surrect a smile or two today, but was all part of the expressionist ideal of acting: Clarity (perhaps we would have called it "stereotyping" today)! Which is also the reason for the physical make-up (e.g. blackly-framed, piercing eyes).
The grand set-pieces and F/X are still impressive, and I was delighted to notice the uncanny similarity between the administrative building of METROPOLIS and the police station in BLADE RUNNER (one of many films that owe a lot to Fritz Lang's vision, of course). Can't believe I didn't spot this in previous viewings (maybe because this was the first time I've seen it on the big screen).
Luckily, this was not the Moroder version, so the film was in continuos black/white and not harrased by those silly green and brown screens. Speaking of Moroder, this brings me to...
...the music.
This particular screening was accompanied by a pianist in the front of the screen. A pianist, obviously, completely unaware of the esthetics of film composition. The jazzy avantgarde score that he played (don't know if it was his or someone else's) not only slowed the pace down immensely and was completely out-of-synch with the visual action and editing. It also added NOTHING...absolutely NOTHING...to the emotional response of the film. Quite the contrary, these aural monstrosities made the entire film experience deteriorate into some sort of curiousity rather than a fullblown virginal experience of the film on celluloid. I was thinking of confronting the pianist with these issues after the screening, but decided not to in fear of sounding "khaky"(sp.?) or elitist. To tell you the truth, I would much rather have heard Moroder's 80's, mechanical music for the factory scenes than the pling-plong outrage that the pianist provided.
This film literally SCREAMED (that's a mouthful seeing as it's a silent movie) for a more traditional, romantic and thematically rich approach that could go well with what Lang intended and expected - a physical experience.
In either case, I was wondering if anyone else has any views on this film, and I also wanted to ask what METROPOLIS score out there that you would recommend (seeing as everything from hardrock bands to Bonnie Tyler to regular orchestral composers have had a shot at it)? Did the esteemed silent movie-composer Carl Davis, for example, ever do anything for this?
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I watched a screening of Metropolis last year in the Vienna Konzerthaus (concert house), with a life performance of a score by a Martin Matalon. The music was very atonal and relied heavily on electronics, judging from it's sound, it could have been from Elliot Goldenthal or Don Davis, BUT: it didn't have anything at all to do with the film!The music didn't seem to be synchronized in any way to the visuals - except for a handful of scenes, which then worked very well. But the large part of the score often played AGAINST the visuals, being very intense when nothing at all happened and "dropping" when the visuals got more intense. For example, there was some sort of "shock moment" in the film; the music had a loud brass blast a couple of seconds BEFORE and was nearly completely silent when the visuals would have needed it. Still, it was interesting to see how important the music is. During a long dramatic sequence near the end of the film (when the city is flooded), there was NO music (although exactly this scene would have needed it). And only a couple of seconds after the silence started, several people in the audience were already chuckling.
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An orchestra AND electronics (even surround electronics, but I sat at the very right of the concert hall, so I didn't really get the full surround effect).As I said, the "sound" was a bit like that of a very atonal Goldenthal score, but it was nowhere near Goldenthal's brilliancy. A FITTING all-synth score would have been ten times better, for example. NP: Moby Dick (Christopher Gordon)
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Posted: |
Feb 1, 2001 - 9:16 AM
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By: |
H. Rocco
(Member)
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I first saw METROPOLIS at a screening at the old Thalia theater in Manhattan. There was a solo pianist who did a very good job, as I remember. (I wanted a chance to see it before the Moroder version came out. Never have seen the Moroder.)I'm afraid I've always found this movie HORRIBLY overrated -- spectacular to look at in places, but the script, let's face it, is pretty bad, and much of the movie is just plain boring. Never mind "dated," I can't believe that audiences at the time were impressed by anything more than the physical scale and ambition of the piece. I'm reliably told I would like Fritz Lang's DR. MABUSE movies a lot better. The most offensive live performance to a silent film I've ever endured was the 1998 Phillip Johnston jazz-fusion score to the Japanese film A PAGE OF MADNESS. It had NOTHING to do with what was going on, and was damned distracting.
[This message has been edited by H. Rocco (edited 01 February 2001).]
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Posted: |
Feb 1, 2001 - 10:10 AM
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By: |
SjONGBIrD
(Member)
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I've seen an old video of METROPOLIS with a very old scratchy organ pipe track -- I also saw the re-constructed film with MORODER's
score when it opened in ('85?).
I'm a fan of Giorgio's sound (love CAT PEOPLE and MIDNIGHT EXPRESS - which Art Bell {radio talk host} has commandeered over the years as his shows theme music.
I found the Moroder score very effective and - at the least - perhaps - brough in a new - young audience!
[This message has been edited by SjONGBIrD (edited 01 February 2001).]
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Posted: |
Feb 5, 2001 - 7:04 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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I'm suprised to hear that you found the movie boring, Rocco. Surely, it contains several features that are considered clichée today and is also totally out-of-synch with what we consider "realistic" acting (causing difficulties in identification).But it has always been my opinion that one has to have an OPEN MIND when seeing these old films and watching them ON THEIR OWN TERMS (not comparing them with, say, recent sci fi flicks). Additionally, this film is not labeled great so much because of its story, as it is because of its symbolism etc. The set-pieces are only meant as a backdrop for a certain style/message - not as a realistic landscape.
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