Where’s The Logic? The Metropolis Case

I’m mad as hell sometimes, you know that. One reason is, that the distribution and marketing world has more often than not little to do with logic. And I have a nice example for you, too. One of the greatest movie masterpieces, the 1927 sci-fi epic Metropolis, has recently seen a re-release premiere in Berlin. They screened the movie against the Brandenburg Gate and simulcast it on television. But let me go back a step further.

In 2001, a restored version of this movie was released worldwide, with a newly recorded soundtrack close to the original sheet music, after an expensive restoration process and much publicity. That version however was nevertheless missing many scenes, gaps which had been filled by text cards. At least that was as close to the 1927 premiere version as cineasts ever got, and not as awkward as the Georgio Moroder soundtrack version of the 1980s with Freddie Mercury. Which by the way is not the only music that has accompanied this film. In 2008 however, German magazine “Die Zeit” ran an exclusive story about Metropolis in their magazine insert (English excerpt): basically by accident, a previously unseen version had been discovered in a museum in Argentina with pretty much all the lost footage, a good 30 minutes of film, unfortunately in a very bad condition and in 16mm or so only. Still, the cineast world rejoiced. Everyone was hoping for the complete, restored (for real this time) version to come to home cinema, finally, so that the world can discover the masterpiece that is Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. A movie that had all the ideas, special effects and gimmickry that Blade Runner, The Matrix and all these contemporary sci-fi flicks have, but Metropolis had it in 1927, which puts the originality and creativity of today’s sci-fi movie makers into shameful perspective. Click here for the Wikipedia article, which is quite a nice overview of this movie’s history.

Fast forward to November 2010, the complete version of Metropolis is now hitting DVD and BluRay in the United States. Kino International, a specialized distributor that carries many arthouse films and German classics for mainly the North-American home video market, is releasing it. So why am I mad? I’ll tell you: This is a German movie, and just about the best one, and guess where no release is even announced yet? Germany. I am German, and I’d love to just recommend this to friends, or give it as a christmas gift to someone. But no. Maybe the previous DVD hasn’t sold enough copies yet, maybe the German distributors are unwilling or incapable of getting their hands on this complete version and it out on the market, or who knows what’s up. Until then, my dear American readers, take our our credit cards, click below and head to Amazon, be prepared to have your minds blown, and behold… Metropolis, just about the best and most amazing sci-fi movie ever made, period.

If you can’t see the items below in the widget, click here for the BluRay and here for the DVD (both Amazon.com)