Merrick again...
This has already been referenced in Talkbacks, but for those who haven't heard, Kino (who released the 2002 restoration of the film (available HERE) just indicated that their previously announced Blu-Ray of METROPOLIS will now include all of the recovered/lost footage. It will be available on standard DVD as well.
It's not clear whether the discovered footage will be integrated directly into the film's narrative, or simple offered as supplemental material, although not offering a "complete" version of the film (new footage properly edited in) would be regarded by many as singularly lame - and I think Kino is too cool to half-ass something like this.
This news comes to us via a post from the fine folks over at The Digital Bits, which you can read HERE.
Also, an AICN reader named Aitam pointed us towards this YouTube video which features a ZDF TV (a German network) report on the recovered material. Needless to say, the piece is entirely in German...but the report does offer a few glimpses of the discovered material in motion, and gives us a sense of what the restoration team is up against with this one.
Merrick here...
I'm starting a second article about this because posting so much METROPOLIS material in one piece would make a single article too crowded & harder to follow.
By now, you may've read that the original edit of Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS, a significantly lengthier iteration lost for over 80 years, had been recovered in Buenos Aires. Find more details about this in our first article, HERE.
In yesterday's post, we mentioned that German publication ZEITmagazin would print an article about the film's recovery today. This happened. And, thanks to the wonderful Lorquaine, I've received a .pdf of the extensive write-up about the material's discovery.
The article is rather gargantuan, and in German. Some fine readers are working to translate & bring you many Geeky details about the original edit at this very moment. We also hope to have a few more pics from the recovered footage...which (by some estimates) may represent nearly a quarter of the film's original running time.
My hope is that this article will remain dynamic for a day or two as we drop in captions, bring you more details, and snag a few more images. So, be sure to check back & I'll make it as easy as possible to keep up.
For the moment, here are a few pics to tantalize you...glimpses of material lost for over eight decades.
These are from today's issue of ZEITmagazin, courtesy of Lorquaine.
A Talkbacker in the previous article wanted to see the sequence in which Joh Fredersen visits the Hel statue. Well, here's what it looks like (in sequence, descending):
Here are shots from two other recovered sequences; we're attempting to get captions & more photos in short order and will update appropriately.
ADDED 1:50 PM CST USA - From ZEITmagazin via Lorquaine.
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Finally, this from Lukeskywalter in Buenos Aires: media there says the recovered footage will be shown at some sort of press event TODAY.
Is anyone reading this article able to get into said event, and willing to send back a report for the masses? If so, THIS IS MY E-MAIL!!!
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