In the future (2026) , wealthy industrialists and the top employers control the city of Metropolis, while workers dwell underground and operate the great machines that power the city. Joh Federsen (Alfred Abel) is in command of it all and his son Freder (Gustav Frohlich) plays sports in a pleasure garden, when a young woman named Maria (Brigitte Helm) arrives with a group of workers’ children. He becomes fascinated with her and searches the lower levels to find her. A machine explodes, killing and injuring a number of workers, and Freder hallucinates that the machine is Moloch devouring the men. He goes to tell his father about it.
Grot (Heinrich George), the foreman of the Heart Machine team, brings Federson secret maps found on the dead workers. Federsen fires his assistant Josephat for not bringing the maps and news of the explosion himself. Seeing his fathers coldness to a loyal servant, Freder rebels by helping the workers. He returns to the machine halls and when a worker collapses with exhaustion, he takes his place.
Federsen brings the maps to Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), the inventor and wizard, for information. Rotwang was his rival for the affections of Hel, who left him for Federsen and died giving birth to Freder. Rotwang is building a robot in the image of Hel. The two men use the maps to explore the catacombs beneath Metropolis. They eavesdrop on a group of workers, including Freder. Maria speaks to them, prophesying the appearance of a mediator who will bring the workers and the ruling classes together. Freder believes he is that man and declares his love for Maria.
Fredersen orders Rotwang to put Maria’s face on the robot so they can discredit her but does not know that Rotwang plans to use the robot to destroy Metropolis, and Federsen and Freder with it. Rotwang kidnaps Maria, transfers her likeness to the robot and sends her to Federsen. Freder finds them together and falls into delirium. The false Maria creates chaos in Metropolis, stirring up dissent and driving men to murder.
Freder recovers and heads for the catacombs with Josephat. He finds the false Maria urging the workers to destroy the machines. The workers follow her, leaving their children at the mercy of the floods caused by damaging the machines. The real Maria escapes Rotwang’s house and saves the children with Freder and Josephat. Grot berates the workers for leaving their children behind. Believing the children dead, the workers capture the false Maria and burn her at the stake. Freder watches in horror until the flames reveal the robot. Rotwang is now delusional and believes Maria is his lost love Hel. He chases her to the roof of the cathedral, pursued by Freder. The men fight and Rotwang falls to his death. Freder indeed becomes the mediator, bringing Grot and Federsen together to shake hands.
The silent German Expressionist movie was directed by Fritz Lang, based on his wife Thea von Harbov’s 1925 novel, which she wrote at his behest. It was the first feature-length science-fiction film. It met a mixed reaction, called powerful and beautiful, but naive. The art direction was by Otto Hunt, Erich Kettelhut, and Karl Vollbrecht, mixing images from opera, Bauhaus, Cubist, and Futurist art, with a touch of Gothic. Cities in science-fiction films, like that of Blade Runner and Star Wars, are still influenced by Metropolis.
Attempts to restore the film have continued since the Seventies. In 1984, Giorgio Moroder released a short version with rock music by Freddie Mercury, Loverboy, Pat Benatar, and Adam Ant, and the film was tinted to help create different moods. In 2001, a reconstruction was shown at the Berlin Film Festival. In 2008, a damaged print of Fritz Lang’s original cut was found in Argentina, and more was discovered in New Zealand. A full restoration was shown in Berlin and Frankfurt in 2010.
Fritz Lang said the film was inspired by his first glimpse of New York City in 1924, though he had been working on the idea for a year. It was heavily influenced by Art Deco and Biblical scholarship, particularly the Tower of Babel story, and the false Maria as the Whore of Babylon. The decadent Yoshiwara Club is named after the red-light district of Tokyo. The events of the movie were supposed to take place in 2026, l00 years after the release of the movie. There were 37,000 extras hired. Superman’s adopted city was named for the film. The backgrounds of the shots of the city were dimly lit to create forced perspective, but the film-lab corrected for it and ruined the shots.
The actors were exhausted after dealing with real fires—Brigitte Helm’s costume was set on fire—and cold floods, but the street children hired got four meals a day and a warm bed, and they thought it was heaven. Special effects made good use of miniatures and mirrors. The robot was made from a plaster cast of Brigitte Helm and has influenced the design of robots ever since. C3PO appears to be a direct descendant. The large-orchestra score was inspired by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. It was recorded in full for the DVD released in 2003. Doctor Strangelove’s artificial hand was modelled on that of Rotwang. H.G. Wells hated the film so much that he wrote Things to Come (1936) as an alternative. It is one of Guillermo del Toro’s favorite films.
Originally, it was 153 minutes long. An edit rendered it largely incomprehensible. It was later accused of being communist propaganda and the Nazis edited it again, but Hitler and Goebbels admired it. Fritz Lang was horrified. They offered to make him an honorary Aryan. He immediately left Germany. It is now considered a great achievement in cinema. There is a decent Restored Authorized Edition on DVD at 124 minutes, with title cards to explain the still missing bits, and the original score recorded in surround sound by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. The images are surprisingly clear, compared to some I have seen.