Metropolis missing footage found!

1895-1999
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HarryGoldfarb
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Post by HarryGoldfarb »

I can't believe this. I just saw Metropolis a few weeks ago and I was overwhelmed by the size of the film, the imaginary behind it, the greatness achieved as a grand scale film, and the perfection of the simplicity in the symbolism in the story-telling. Ahead of its time? for sure... and while watching it I also felt kind of mystified by the fact it was made so long ago and managed to survive through all these years, standing as true piece of art. It's actually a milestone. AND also I felt sad with the introduction that explains the fact about the lost footage... How nice is this... Can't wait to see the whole film.
"If you place an object in a museum, does that make this object a piece of art?" - The Square (2017)
Big Magilla
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Post by Big Magilla »

From the digital Bits:

Do you want to hear something EXTREMELY cool, especially if you're a serious film fan? Film archivists at the Museo del Cine (Cinema Museum) in Buenos Aires have recently uncovered the lost footage from Fritz Lang's original 1927 version of Metropolis in 16mm negatives! You can read more on this news here at ZEIT Online and here as well. Apparently a copy of the long version of the film was set to Argentina in 1928 for a theatre screening. Shortly thereafter, a local film critic came into possession of the film reels and added them to his private collection. They were later sold to Argentina's National Art Fund, and were eventually donated to the Museo del Cine, where they were eventually rediscovered by the museum's curator this past January. The footage isn't apparently in the greatest shape, but it CAN be restored to the point where Lang's original vision can finally be appreciated by audiences in theatres and on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. As fans of the film are no doubt aware, some 20% of the footage from Lang's original version was considered lost until this discovery. This is just extremely cool news! You can read our review of Kino's previous (and outstanding, we might add) DVD release here. Let's hope Kino is able to include the new footage in their forthcoming Blu-ray edition due sometime in 2009. Special thanks to Bits reader David J. for bringing our attention to this! We can't WAIT to see it for ourselves.
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