Metropolis (PG)

Dir. Fritz Lang, Germany , 1927, 150 mins, Silent Film (German intertitles, with English subtitles)

Cast: Alfred Abel, Gustav Frölich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Fritz Rasp, Theodor Loos, Erwin Biswanger, Heinrich George, Brigitte Helm.

Reviewed by Rob ert Barry

It's been called the Holy Grail of film finds. Now, eighty-three years after its first performance in Berlin , audiences can finally see an almost complete version of Fritz Lang's dystopian masterpiece Metropolis . Thanks to the discovery in Buenos Aires of a 16mm dupe negative, a full twenty-five minutes have been added to the film, bringing it within just three minutes of its original running time; the longest version yet seen anyway outside Germany, and anywhere at all since the late 1920s. Even cut drastically for its American release - to a measly 90 minutes - the film was hugely popular, and almost inestimably influential. Nowadays, with the architecture of Chicago and even Canary Wharf looking uncannily similar to the gleaming skyscrapers of Lang's city of the future, Metropolis is more vital, more thrilling than ever.

So, what have we gained in the restoration? Well, perhaps most significantly - the plot! Aside from an unfashionably extensive length, one of the major problems perceived with the film upon its original release was its controversial theme of workers' revolt. As a result, conservative playwright Channing Pollock was brought in by the film's American distributors to obscure the very story itself, and so we have all grown accustomed to this idea of Metropolis as a kind of visual poem. Little did we know that encircling all those beautiful images was a gripping futuristic thriller about a rich capitalist who designs a man-machine to spread distrust and disunity amongst the workers - only for the robot to rebel against him and spread anarchy and destruction throughout the city.

The influence of Metropolis has spread well beyond the film world and into pop music, with just this year references to the film popping up in Lady Gaga videos and the title of Janelle Monae's album. As such it may seem strange that this is the first time since the original release that we've been privy to the film's original score. Over the years numerous different soundtracks have been added to the film - including a pop music version by Giorgio Moroder featuring Bonnie Tyler and Adam Ant. The score originally written for the film by Gottfriend Huppertz has never been used before simply because it was far too long and no-one could work out which bit went where. Fully restored with a new symphony orchestra recording (complete with coughs and the ruffle of pages being turned during slight gaps between scenes), we can finally enjoy it in all its glory.

After the best part of a century, this is a truly historic opportunity to finally view one of the cinema's great artworks (practically) as its director intended. And with cuts and lay-offs falling left, right and centre in new 'austerity' Britain , what better time to heed Lang's critique of alienated labour. Any attempt to build the future without the mediation of the heart between hand and brain can only result in your dreamed of Babel becoming a nightmarish Moloch.