Lost footage of 1927 Film “Metropolis” surfaces in Argentina

 

Lost scenes from the legendary sci-fi film “Metropolis,” recently discovered in the archives of a Buenos Aires museum, were shown to journalists for the first time in decades.

A long-lost original cut of the 1927 silent film sat for 80 years in a private collection and then in the Museum of Cinema in Buenos Aires, where it was discovered in April with scratched images that hadn’t been seen before.

Museum director Paula Felix-Didier said theirs is the only copy of German director Fritz Lang’s complete film.

Martin Koerber, a curator at the Deutsche Kinemathek film museum in Berlin said:

“This is the version Fritz Lang intended”

Metropolis, written by Lang and his actress wife Thea von Harbou, depicts a 21st century world divided between a class of underworld workers and the “thinkers” above who control them.

Soon after its initial release at the height of Germany’s Weimar Republic, distributors cut Lang’s three-and-a-half-hour masterpiece into the shorter version since viewed by millions worldwide.

But a private collector carried an original version to Argentina in 1928, where it has stayed, Ms Felix-Didier said.

News of the find excited film enthusiasts worldwide.

Mike Mashon, head of the Moving Image section of the US Library of Congress said:

“This is a movie that millions and millions of people have seen since its release and yet, in many ways, we’ve never seen the true film”

Movie buffs are hoping the recovered footage - which likely contains key scenes and pivotal plot points - will solve several mysterious in the dystopian noir, long considered confusing and surreal due to the reformatting.

Although the film is badly scratched, the full-length version of the film will be released to the public after its restoration. [via The Guardian]

Metropolis photo gallery: