Metropolis Restored
If you haven't seen the trailer for the newly re-scored and re-mastered version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, it's still worth the download time.
I mentioned this a couple of months ago, and I mention it again because I see that the movie is still being shown, and an updated schedule is now available. Looks like it'll be in East Lansing here in Michigan in April, and I hope to make a special trip with a friend or two. Anyone else interested in going?
You gotta see that. You absolutely have to. If you miss it in the theater, get the DVD, which I hear is coming out soon.
I saw it when it went through Cambridge, Mass. It's a gorgeous print, and while parts of the movie are probably lost forever, they make a decent effort to fill you in on the missing parts of the story with title cards, something I haven't seen done in previous releases.
But the best thing of all is that finally _Metropolis_ can be seen with its premiere-night score, the only music that really goes with the movie. Surprise: it's an absolutely *brilliant* score, one of the best movie soundtracks I've ever heard! I had always thought of _Metropolis_ as a fascinating but overlong and slightly draggy movie, even in its modern cut-down form; but the score is the missing element that makes it absolutely riveting. The music on the trailer is part of it.
I just watched my Kino DVD last night. Mind you, here's a movie I've seen a good 5 times over the years. And yet I'd never really seen it-- so many things got through for the first time because I could actually see the movie, it wasn't just murk. Now I feel stupid for not going to see it in the theater, so you should!