Review By Brian Edwards, 4 out of 5
Metropolis is the first ever big science fiction film, a German film from the 1920s this is the mother of all modern cinematic science fiction, imagery from this film has been borrowed time and time again from sources as diverse as Star Wars (just look at C3PO) and the rock band Queen.
I must plead guilty to previously being exposed only to a copy of Metropolis that I found in a bargain bin for 1.99. It was the ‘recoloured’ version and had a Rock soundtrack, apart from this cinematic sacrilege I loved the film, a true epic whit a cast of over 30 thousand that told a good story in a form that was amazing for the time and is still shows creative mastery today.
This is the ultimate DVD release of this classic masterpiece. Not only has the film been restored (the restoration makes the film look like new, the Dr Who restoration team would love to be able to produce this quality of print on material that is 40 years old ?but sadly will probably never be able to).
The story is also completed to as near the original form as possible, the version that we are used to seeing is 30 minutes light. Unfortunately this version is still missing some filmed sequences the may now never be recovered, indeed the documentary on the restoration is equally fascinating to the main feature, these missing sequences have been replaced with still images and on screen text in keeping with this silent films dialogue.
The extras to this disc demonstrate how this movie is regarded as a piece of heritage and art as much as great works as the Mona Lisa. There is a collection of concept art that is absolutely amazing, documentaries and facts and figures about the film
This DVD is a service to Sci-fi, and should be a must have.
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