Metropolis!
Last night I saw Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS, with live symphony accompaniment. The print featured a TON of footage I’ve never seen before, including the race in the stadium right at the beginning. There were a lot of new subtitles too, which were all in German, and some of which, unfortunately, I didn’t understand. I found that the first third or so of the film, which had been my favorite part, dragged, and I wasn’t sure if this was because of the extra footage, or because of the music, which was formless, clanky and atonal. The second two-thirds of the movie was tauter, more dramatic and more involving than I had remembered. The music that accompanied this was more traditional symphonic music, and I wonder if that made a difference in my enjoyment of that portion.