Soon after its premiere, the film Metropolis
was severely truncated and alterations were made.
From that time onward, more than a quarter of the film
was assumed to have been lost.
Then, in 2008, a virtually complete version of the film
was discovered in Buenos Aires. What had been preserved
was, however, a heavily damaged copy of the film
that had been printed to 16mm film stock,
lacking the full frame of the picture's original aspect ratio.
A considerable amount of the film reconstruction was able to be completed
and the correct sequence of its editing
established by means of this Argentinian material.
Spanish intertitles have been translated into German
with the aid of the censor-cards.
In order to display in their correct position on the image
the cropped elements taken from the 16mm negative,
the missing portion of the frame has been marked by black.
The intertitles appear with their original graphic treatment.
Those titles which appear in a different typeface (like the one used here)
have been added to summarise the content of still-missing scenes
as far as is necessary to facilitate
an adequate understanding of the storyline.
Shorter gaps are indicated by small segments of black leader.
This film was produced by Ufa and is distributed courtesy of Parufamet.
Direction: Fritz Lang. Scenario: Thea von Harbou.
Production Design: Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut, Karl Vollbrecht.
At the Camera: Karl Freund, Günther Rittau.
Music: Gottfried Huppertz. Sculptor: Walter Schultze-Mittendorf.
Metropolis, a novel by Thea von Harbou,
appeared in the publication Illustriertes Blatt, Frankfurt,
and in book form from August Scherl Verlag G.m.b.H.
The personages in the film:
Joh Fredersen - Alfred Abel
Freder, Joh Fredersen's son - Gustav Fröhlich
Rotwang, the inventor - Rudolf Klein-Rogge
The Thin Man - Fritz Rasp Josaphat - Theodor Loos
11811 - Erwin Biswanger
Grot, the guardian of the Heart-Machine - Heinrich George
The Creative Man The Machine-Man
Death The Seven Deadly Sins
Maria - Brigitte Helm
Epigraph:
THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN HEAD AND HANDS MUST BE THE HEART!
Shift change.
Deep beneath
the earth lay the
City of the Workers.
As deep beneath the earth as the City of the Workers lay,
so high above it towered the complex known as the "Sons' Club",
with its lecture halls and libraries, its theatres and stadiums.
Fathers, for whom every revolution of a mechanical wheel meant gold,
had bestowed upon their sons the wonder of the Eternal Gardens.
Which of you ladies shall today
have the honour of entertaining Master Freder, Joh Fredersen's son?
Look! These are your brothers!
Look - !
These are your brothers!
Who - was that?
But this was what happened to Freder -
the son of Joh Fredersen, the master of Metropolis -
as he sought out the girl:
To the new Tower of Babel - to my father - !
Why is it, Josaphat, that I learn of this explosion from my son, and not from you - !
Details - !
What were you looking for in the Machine-Halls, Freder?
I wanted to look into the faces of the people whose little children are my brothers, my sisters...
Your magnificent city, Father -
and you the brain of this city - and all of us within the light of this city... -
...and where are the people, Father, whose hands built your city - ?
Off where they belong...
...off where they belong...?
...in the Depths...?
And if those in the Depths one day rise against you?
The chief foreman of the Heart-Machine, Grot, - with an important message...
There were two more copies of those damnable plans, Herr Fredersen...
...in the pockets of two men who met with an accident today at the M-Machine...
How is it, Josaphat, that these plans were brought to me by Grot, rather than by you?
Apply to the G-Bank for your remaining wages...
Father, do you know what it means to be dismissed by you? -
It means: To be sent below! - Father - below! Into the Depths - !
Do you know what it means to be dismissed like that by Joh Fredersen?
Would you like to come with me, Josaphat?
Go home, Josaphat, and wait for me... I still have a long way to go tonight...
Into the Depths, - to my brothers...
From today on I wish to be kept precisely informed of my son's every move...
Brother...
...the Machine! There needs to be someone at the Machine!
There will be someone at the machine...
ME.
Listen to me... I want to trade my life with you...
Josaphat. 99th Block. House 7, 7th Floor.
Wait for me - both of you...
Josaphat. 99th Block. House 7, 7th Floor.
In the middle of Metropolis,
there stands a strange house that the centuries had overlooked.
The man who dwelled within was Rotwang, the inventor.
Hel
Born to bring me happiness and a benediction to all mankind.
Lost to Joh Fredersen. Died giving life to Freder, Joh Fredersen's son.
A mind like yours, Rotwang, should be able to forget...
Only one time in life did I forget something: that Hel was a woman - and you a man...
Let the dead lie, Rotwang... She's dead for you as she is for me...
For me she isn't dead, Joh Fredersen - for me she lives - !
Do you think the loss of a hand is too high a price for recreating Hel - ?!
Do you wish to see her - ?!
Now, Joh Fredersen - ?!
Isn't it worth losing a hand to have created the man of the future -
the Machine-Man - ?!
24 more hours of work -
and no man, Joh Fredersen, will be able to differentiate the Machine-Man from a mortal - !
The woman is mine, Joh Fredersen! Hel's son was yours!
And what brings you my way, Joh Fredersen?
I need your advice - as usual, when all my experts fail me...
Can you decipher for me these plans
that for months have been getting discovered in the pockets of my workers?
...at two... once my shift ends! She has summoned us again...
Father - ! Father - ! Will ten hours never come to an end - ??! !
- it's a blueprint of the two-thousand-year-old catacombs
deep below the lowest levels of your Metropolis...
I should like to glean what my workers are doing exactly in those catacombs...
Today I shall tell you
the legend of THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOWER OF BABEL...
The Legend of THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOWER OF BABEL
Come! Let us build a tower whose zenith shall reach unto the stars!
And at the tower's zenith we shall write:
Great is the world and its Maker! And great is Man!
...but those who had conceived of the Tower of Babel
could not build the Tower of Babel.
The task was too great. So they paid wages to outside hands...
But the hands that built the Tower of Babel knew nothing of the dream
of which the head that had conceived it had been fantasising.
The hymns of praise of one man became the curses of others.
The same language was spoken, but these men did not understand one another...
Great is the world and its Maker and great is Man
HEAD and HANDS require a Mediator.
THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN HEAD AND HANDS MUST BE THE HEART!
And where is our Mediator, Maria - ?
Wait for him! He will surely come!
We will wait, Maria...! But not for much longer - !
Oh Mediator, have you finally come...
You summoned me - here I am!
Rotwang, give the Machine-Man the likeness of this woman...
I shall sow discord between them and her!
I shall destroy their belief in this woman -
Leave me alone now, Joh Fredersen... You'll find the way back without me...
You fool! Now you shall also lose the last remaining thing you still had from Hel...
your son...
Until tomorrow, in the cathedral!
END OF THE PRELUDE
INTERMEZZO
Freder witnesses a monk at the pulpit who preaches:
"Verily, I say unto you: the days of which the Apocalypse speaks draw nigh!"
The monk's hand points to the Bible, in which it is written:
"And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten horns.
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,
having a golden cup in her hand.
And upon her forehead was a name written, a mystery:
BABYLON THE GREAT, the Mother of Abominations ofthe Earth.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood ofthe Saints."
You will annihilate Joh Fredersen - him and his city and his son - !
GLUTTONY
AVARICE
PRIDE
LUST
ENVY
ANGER
SLOTH
Had you come earlier, you wouldn't have frightened me...
I now beg of you: stay away from me and my beloved...!
Where is the one whose clothes you are wearing?
Josaphat. 99th Block. House 7, 7th Floor.
Would you please wake Georgy up?
He must lead me to the Workers' City at once...
No. 11811, get back to the Machine and forget that you ever left it - understood?
I have to have someone who's faithful to me, Josaphat, -
otherwise, how shall I attain the end-goal of my path - ?!
I must go on, Josaphat, - must now, on my own,
seek out the person to whom Georgy was supposed to lead me...
Tonight, Josaphat - tonight when I come back...
Josaphat. 99th Block. House 7, 7th Floor.
So, what price are you demanding for leaving this residence tonight?
You still don't seem to have grasped who sent me here...
CENTRAL BANK OF METROPOLIS
This man doesn't want his son to find you still here tonight!
In three hours' time I shall be calling for you!
Come! It is time to give the Man-Machine your face!
Where is Maria - ?!
She's with your father...
I'm telling you, she is with your father - !
"She is the most perfect and most obedient tool that a man has ever possessed!
Tonight you shall see how she holds up before the eyes ofthe upper hundred.
You shall see her dance, and if only one single person recognises the machine in her,
I will call myself a bungler who never succeeded at anything!
C. Rotwang"
"C. A. Rotwang requests Herr Joh Fredersen to be his guest this evening."
I want you to go to those in the Depths in order to annihilate the work of your prototype!
"C. A. Rotwang requests Herr Joh Fredersen to be his guest this evening."
Verily, I say unto you: the days of which the Apocalypse speaks draw nigh...!
All Seven Deadly Sins, on her behalf - !
Death overtakes the City - !
END OF THE INTERMEZZO
The Revelation of St. John Avalun Publishing, Hellerau
I escaped from the Thin Man wearing this attire...
But for ten days your father's bloodhound has been making the Workers' City unsafe...
The only thing keeping the workers in check
is their expectation for the Mediator promised unto them...
Even stranger things have been happening, Freder...
On that evening when you fell ill...
...once the best of friends... because of that woman...
...the other man... on that same evening...
...the Eternal Gardens lie abandoned... but night after night in Yoshiwara...
And this woman, at whose feet all sins are heaped...
...is also called Maria...
That same woman that those in the Depths regard as a saint - ?!
Many now go to the City of the Dead,
to a woman they have judged to be as true as gold.
The Mediator is not likely to miss that occasion...
Whatever happens tonight:
it is my express order to allow the workers to do as they please...
Joh Fredersen wants to let those in the Depths use force and do wrong
so that he can claim the right to use force against them...
When you spoke to your poor brothers, you talked about peace, Maria...
today a mouthpiece of Joh Fredersen incites them to rebel against him...
She will destroy their belief in the Mediator!
You know I've always talked about peace... but your Mediator hasn't come...
You've waited long enough! Your time has come - !
...but I've tricked Joh Fredersen!
Your clone does not obey his will - only mine alone!
Who is the living fodder for the machines for Metropolis - ?!
Who smears the machine-joints with their own marrow - ?!
Who feeds the machines with their own flesh - ?!
Let the machines starve, you fools - ! Finish them off - ! !
Do them in - these machines - ! !
You aren't Maria - ! ! !
YOU ARE NOT MARIA - !
Maria talks of peace, not murder - ! This is not Maria - ! !
Joh Fredersen's son - ! !
Do him in, the dog, in his white silken hide - ! ! !
Get your women, your sons, out of the Workers' City!
Let no-one stay behind! Death to the machines - ! ! !
In the attic of his home,
Rotwang displays for Maria his ever-growing intoxication
with his triumph over Fredersen:
" - and twice over did I trick Joh Fredersen - !
For I concealed from him that his son wants to be the Mediator of your brothers -
and is in love with you - !"
Maria isn't the only one listening to Rotwang.
On the other side of the attic's window, Joh Fredersen was eavesdropping...
Joh Fredersen breaks into Rotwang's attic. He wrestles with his old rival and overtakes him.
Maria is free.
...faithful after all...
Come, Freder! We still have to go through the Workers' City.
Women and men, let no-one miss out on today - !
Death to the machines - ! !
Not one man - not one woman has stayed behind - !
Leave the machines - ! Let them race to their death - !
To the Heart-Machine - !
DANGER
Open the gates!
You have to open the gates!
If the Heart-Machine perishes,
nothing in the Machine-District will be left standing - ! !
Have you lost your minds - ??
If the Heart-Machine perishes, the entire Workers' City will be laid to waste - ! !
Where are your fathers, your mothers?
Do you have any idea that your son is amongst the workers?!
Yes - you! You're Maria - !
To the air shafts - quickly! Quickly! The reservoirs have burst! The city is drowning - !
We'll take the children to the Sons' Club!
Why are all the lights out?
I need to know - ! Where is my son?! ! !
Tomorrow thousands will ask in fury and desperation:
Joh Fredersen, where is my son - ?!
Where are your children??!
The city is drowned, the shafts are totally flooded - ! !
Who bade you attack the machines, without which you're finished, you idiots - ??!
It's the witch's fault - !
We'll be looking on as the world goes to the devil - !
Find the witch; this is all her fault - ! Strike her dead - ! !
Now I'm going to take you home, my Hel - !
The witch - ! the witch - ! There she is - ! there she is - !
Where are our children, you witch, you - ??!
Burn the witch. - To the stake with her! ! !
To the stake with her - ! !
Hel - ! My Hel - ! !
Your children... saved - ! ! !
Head and hands want to join together, but they don't have the heart to do it...
Oh Mediator, show them the way to one another...
THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN HEAD AND HANDS MUST BE THE HEART!
Restoration: F. W. Murnau Stiftung, Wiesbaden jointly with Deutsche Kinemathek -
Museum für Film und Fernsehen, Berlin
in co-operation with Museo del Cine Pablo C. Ducros Hicken, Buenos Aires
Supported by:
Contributors of material and guidance:
Special Thanks:
Reconstruction and synchronisation
of the original music by Gottfried Huppertz:
Frank Strobel
Instrumentation of the missing parts of the score:
Marco Jovic
Musical notation:
Jörg Peltzer
Edition on behalf of ZDF/ARTE:
Europäische Filmphilharmonie - Die Film Philharmonie GmbH
Performed by the: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
an ensemble of the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH
Musical direction:
Frank Strobel
Music production:
Nina Goslar, ZDF/ARTE
Stefan Lang, Deutschlandradio Kultur