Metropolis (1927, Germ.)

In Fritz Lang's science-fiction classic - a stylized, visually-compelling, melodramatic silent film set in the dystopic, 21st century city of Metropolis - it was a dialectical treatise on man vs. machine and class struggle. It featured inspired, expressionistic scenes of a futuristic (year 2026), mechanized city with soaring skyscrapers and landscapes (using miniature models).

Austrian director Fritz Lang's German Expressionistic masterpiece helped to develop the science-fiction genre, with innovative imagery from cinematographer Karl Freund, art design by Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut, and Karl Vollbrecht, and set design by Edgar Ulmer. It was the last of Lang's silent films. In the allegorical tale written by Lang's wife Thea Von Harbou (from her own novel), the luxurious, futuristic, Art Deco city of 2026 - an industrial world with skyscrapers and bridges, was divided or stratified into an upper, elite, privileged class of powerful industrialists and a subterranean, nameless, oppressed and exploited, ant-like worker/slave class.

It mixed many sources in its eclectic delivery: Biblical Old Testament references (e.g., The Tower of Babel, Moloch), the skyline of Manhattan (inspired by Lang's 1924 visit), H.G. Wells' 1895 novel The Time Machine, Art Deco designs of the 1920s, the angular sets, labyrinthine passages, and bold lighting of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, Germ.), Norse mythology, the Lon Chaney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) (in its final scene), and more. It has had a lasting influence on numerous films and other derivative works:

• the city of Metropolis appeared with an opening montage - superimpositions of a gigantic machine of pumping machine pistons, flywheels, a rotating crankshaft, and an off-center disk - all parts thrusting, moving, pounding and turning; the 24 hour clocks in Metropolis have been redesigned, with only 10 hours on their dial; the work shift was divided into day and night of 10 hours each, in the 20-hour day

Gears of City's Underground Machines Pumping and Spinning

The Society's Redesigned 10-Hour Clock

The Tired Workers Return to Their Underground Workers' City

• in one of the film's most celebrated images, two parallel corridors contained two groups or battalions of uniformed workers (in dark worksuits) who were lined up in rows of six; the sullen workers (on the left) leaving the subterranean machine area after their shift were exhausted, marching in unison only half as fast as the new shift of fresh entering employees (on the right); a cage-elevator took the finished day's shift of slave-workers down to their underground living quarters in the Workers' City - the cage sank from view; there was a major contrast between the leisure class above ground and the underground workers, with the giant machines, and their slum dwellings
• in the early "Eternal Gardens" Sequence, Freder (Gustav Frohlich), the young, pampered, (motherless) son of a ruling, aristocratic capitalist - the autocratic master of Metropolis, frolicked with young ladies (wearing sheer and braless blouses) in a athletic Stadium arena and in a grotto - he chased one young lady with a backless tight black top around a circular fountain, and when he caught her, he bent her backwards and pressed towards her for a kiss
• the frivolous scene was interrupted by the opening of doors from the medieval underground, to the gates of the futuristic garden above ground; emerging into the open air as a vision and apparition, the beautiful ethereal young nurse Maria (Brigitte Helm) appeared with a group of waif-like, hungry worker children that she cared for; she had brought them to a forbidden artificial grotto of the ruling class, where she told them: ("Look! These are your brothers!...Look- - ! These are your brothers!"); Freder became distracted by the virginal, motherly figure, and was entranced and profoundly impacted by her; as Maria was escorted out of the gardens, Freder clutched his breast with adoration, and for the first time saw the frivolous wastefulness of life in the upper city and the pleasure garden
• Freder voluntarily searched for Maria in the depths of the workers' realm, where he came upon the underground Machine Hall where the proletariat toiled and suffered a miserable life; he had entered a part of the factory where a giant machine (termed the M-Machine or Moloch Machine) with a monstrous crankshaft rotating at its center was manned by twelve workers (six workers on each side) attending to dials, blinking lights and other controls; thrown to the ground, Freder hallucinated that the machine's center had become the Moloch creature with eyes, nose, Sphinx-like front paws, and a gaping maw into which the masses of workers, now stripped and shaved bald, were fed

The Metropolis Machines	Six Workers On Each Side
One of the Exhausted Workers	Freder Hallucinating that the Machine Was a Moloch Creature

• when Freder came to his senses, he ordered to be taken to see his father - he was driven on an elevated highway through Metropolis, full of fantastical towering skyscrapers, airplanes, traffic on the city's crowded streets, skycars, bridges and arching or suspended expressways
• in the executive office of his cold, controlling and callous ruling father, Master Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel) ignored his son Freder's concerns after witnessing the machine explosion; unmoved, he coldly disregarded the pleas of his son about the suffering of the hordes of workers; afterwards, the autocratic Fredersen learned from Grot (Heinrich George) - the bearded chief foreman and guardian of the Heart Machine that there were problems with the workers (he had confiscated sketches of the underground catacombs); Fredersen blamed the problems on his faithful assistant Josaphat (Joseph) (Theodor Loos) and abruptly fired him; then, the suspicious Fredersen summoned the Thin Man or Slim (Fritz Rasp), a hired thug and henchman, to follow and spy upon his son

Freder's Ruling Father, Master Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel)	Freder's Father Ignored His Son's Concerns About Workers
Fredersen's Fired Assistant Josaphat/Joseph (Theodor Loos)	Chief Worker-Foreman Grot (Heinrich George)

• after Freder went searching for Maria, he became appalled by the horrors of the working world and the waste of life; in the labyrinthine, underground work area, Freder made a monumental decision - he would switch places with one of the exhausted workers, number 11811 or Georgy (Erwin Biswanger) ("I want to trade lives with you!"); the man's tedious task during his ten hour shift was to maintain an electricity-routing device -- a large clock dial -- to match up lighted bulbs on the clock's rim with the two hands of the clock; the identity-switch didn't turn out as expected - the worker betrayed his promised directions and instead visited Metropolis' red-light entertainment district known as Yoshiwara's
• meanwhile, the city's wild-haired, demented, archetypal mad scientist, alchemist and inventor Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) was introduced in his home speaking to Fredersen; evidently, there was something of a love triangle between Hel, also a love interest of Rotwang, who married Fredersen but then died during Freder's birth; the embittered and raving inventor was obsessed with recreating Hel; in the process of constructing a robot in Hel's image, Rotwang lost his right hand; from behind a curtain, Rotwang revealed his creation to Fredersen; the android was instructed to stand up, slowly walk forward, and extend its hand toward Fredersen; Rotwang's goal was to turn his Machine-Man into a human; he exclaimed: "The woman is mine, Joh Fredersen! The son of Hel was yours!"

The Unveiling and Revelation of Rotwang's Android-Robot ("The Machine-Man") to Frederer - a Recreation of Their Lost Love Hel

• back toiling at the machine, Freder learned from another worker that at two o'clock (during his major shift change), there would be a secret meeting in the ancient subterranean, darkened catacombs ("She has summoned us again...")

Maria on Altar Preaching to Comrades About Their Mistreatment

• Freder was stunned to again see the wistful, Christ-like, angelic, light-haired young woman again, preaching from the altar to a raptured audience; he was not aware that his father and Rotwang were also watching Maria from another vantage point
• the wistful, Christ-like, angelic, light-haired young Maria stood on an altar decorated with tall crosses and lighted candles behind her, and preached to her raptured comrades about the tower-building in Babel and the mistreatment of slaves: ("Come, let us build us a tower whose top may reach unto the stars! And on top of the tower we will write the words: Great is the world and its Creator! And great is Man! ...but the minds that had conceived the Tower of Babel could not build it. The task was too great. So they hired hands for wages. But the hands that built the Tower of Babel knew nothing of the dream of the brain that had conceived it. BABEL One man's hymns of praise became other men's curses. People spoke the same language, but could not understand each other. HEAD and HANDS need a mediator! THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN HEAD AND HANDS MUST BE THE HEART!"); she urged her comrades to peacefully await their salvation "Wait for him! He will surely come!"
• as the assembly dispersed, Freder and Maria gazed toward each other, each clasping their left breast above their heart. She approached him and asked: "Oh mediator, have you finally come?" He affirmed his commitment: "You called me -- here I am!" - and they kissed; they planned to convene the next day in the cathedral
• after discovering the workers' clandestine meeting and before returning above ground, Freder's father Joh Fredersen conspired with Rotwang, and ordered him to create an evil, robotic Maria look-alike duplicate (explicitly created to replace a specific human), in order to manipulate his workers and preach riot and rebellion: ("Rotwang, give the Machine-Man the likeness of that girl. I shall sow discord between them and her! I shall destroy their belief in this woman --!"; after Fredersen departed, Rotwang accurately predicted that Joh's son Freder would be the workers' mediator against his own father
• Rotwang pursued the virtuous and compassionate union leader heroine Maria was pursued in the catacombs with his glaring flashlight; he kidnapped her and brought her to his alchemist laboratory, where his goal was to create an evil doppelganger of her in his laboratory; Rotwang had already created a robot perfect for the transformation
• disappointed that Maria didn't show the next day, Freder vowed to continue his search for her; meanwhile in his laboratory, the evil and traitorous Rotwang was diabolically plotting, with his Machine-Man, to displace Fredersen as his Master and to take power all for himself: "You will destroy Joh Fredersen - him and his city and his son"

The Iconic Robot-Transformation Scene: Kidnapped Maria Lying In a Clear Cylinder, Wearing a Helmet and Connected to the Machine-Man Robot by Wires
Electrification of the Head and Foot of the Cylinder	Electrical Rings Moving Up and Down on the Machine-Man Robot	The Transfer of Maria's Life and Likeness to the Robot
Heart and Circulatory System Activated	Robot's Head Takes On the Appearance of Maria's Face	Real Maria Losing Consciousness

• in the film's most celebrated robot-transformation sequence, Maria was entrapped, lying horizontally in a cylindrical clear chamber/capsule; she was connected by wires and a helmet to the vertically positioned Machine-Man viewed behind them
• luminous, glowing rings surrounded and moved vertically atop Rotwang's standing Machine-Man robot, as its circulatory system was energized with Maria's life force, and Maria's face dissolved onto the face of the Art-Deco styled, metal android - the real Maria lost consciousness as the robot likeness became flesh and blood; the mad scientist copied Maria's face, internal organs (heart and circulatory system) and body onto the metal surface of the robot; the stunning feminine, look-alike robot appeared in Maria's image; as the robot came to life, the real Maria lost consciousness
• in the next sequence, the newly-created robotic false Maria (also Helm) (with one eye closed) was in the office of Fredersen; he ordered the obedient android to discredit the real Maria, to incite unrest in the masses and to cause the destruction of the real Maria's work: "I want you to visit those in the depths, in order to destroy the work of the woman in whose image you were created!" Freder was confused when he discovered his father there being enticed by his own love interest; when he saw them about to embrace, he cried out: "Maria!"
• in an avant-garde montage sequence, young Freder broke down, signified by the background slowly going out of focus, and his image was replaced with spheres of white light, blurry counter-clockwise kaleidoscopic spinning and swirling of his vision (from his point of view), jagged starbursts (appearing like scratches on the film's negative), his unbalanced disorientation, a rotating superimposition of Maria's face, and a frightening sensation of falling; Freder collapsed and became dangerously ill
• in Yoshiwara's depraved nightclub, a group of wealthy, tuxedoed men (including Freder's father and Rotwang) watched as the false, evil robotic Maria rose on a stage platform and began her erotic, sexy, tempting performance of a semi-nude (with pasties on her breasts), hip-swiveling Salome-style dance ("the dance of the whore of Babylon") - the lecherous, staring, wide-eyed eyeballs of the lustful frenzied men in the audience were seen in a montage

Maria's Enticing Nightclub Dance at Yoshiwara's Before Lustful Men
Before Discarding Her Robe	Hip-Swiveling Dance	Lecherous Men
The False Maria	Lewd Poses	Multiple Images

• the false Maria's dancing incited the men, lured to her treachery and seductiveness at Yoshiwara's, to become mad, angry and aggressive toward each other; the only hope of the people was that a "mediator" could keep the workers in check and save the city before it was destroyed
• meanwhile, Rotwang kept the real Maria captive, telling her about Fredersen's ultimate plan to stir up rebellion among the workers, to have them abandon their machines, and then quell the workers with brutal force; Maria was devastated by news of the false Maria: "She will destroy their belief in a mediator!"; Rotwang revealed that he was double-crossing Fredersen: ("Your double does not obey his will - only mine!"); he also gloated that he had kept secret the fact that Freder loved her - the real Maria, and was her "mediator"; Rotwang didn't realize that Fredersen was eavesdropping on him

Freder to the Fake Maria: "YOU ARE NOT MARIA - !!!"

• at the same time, at the altar in the catacombs, the false fanatical and beserk robotic Maria preached a new message of protest and violent revolt to entice and prod the working class to rebel; Freder entered the catacombs and listened as she spoke and cried out: "You are not Maria -!!!"; when Freder was recognized, he fought off an attack; one of the workers exhorted everyone to abandon the underground workers' city; workers marched away en masse, as a ferocious, club-wielding mob, to destroy the machines in the Underground City
• after overhearing the words of the deceitful Rotwang, Fredersen broke into the scientist's attic and freed the real Maria; she raced to the city's town square to denounce the false Maria, but watched as the mob of workers followed the imposter, destroyed the Heart Machine (the power source for Metropolis), and flooded the entire underground workers' city; the rising waters imperiled the children who had not been evacuated, and the electrical lights went out all over the city

Destruction of the Machines Caused Flooding, Imperiling Workers' City and the Children

• Freder and the real Maria led the worker children out of danger; after being reprimanded for senseless, irresponsible actions that brought about the destruction of their own children, the workers (with Grot in the lead) were convinced to seek out "the witch" - the false Maria - who was located at Yoshiwara's with party-going revelers; the real Maria was mistakenly targeted by the mob, but escaped, as the false and wicked Maria was seized, dragged and hoisted onto a large pyre of wood by the workers, tied up to a column, and burned at the stake; momentarily, Freder thought that his Maria was being sacrificed, until he saw that after her flesh dissoved and burned away, her metallic robotic shape came into view

The False Robotic Maria Burned in Fiery Pyre

• at the same time, the real Maria was being pursued by the now-insane Rotwang in the cathedral; during a struggle between Freder and Rotwang on the rooftop, Rotwang lost his balance, tumbled backwards and fell to his death - Maria was saved and vindicated

Rotwang's Lethal Fall From Cathedral Rooftop

Frederer With His Son and Maria

Labor and Capital - United in Love

• in the satisfying conclusion, Fredersen was convinced to reconcile with the workers, after having seen his son battle against the evil Rotwang, and demonstrate his strong love for Maria; at the front entrance to the cathedral, Maria urged Freder to be the mediator between the workers (represented by Grot), and his ruling father/Master Fredersen - Capital and Labor united in Love