Posted Wed Aug 25, 2010 at 12:10 PM PDT by Tom Landy
Fritz Lang's 1927 sci-fi classic is getting the Blu-ray treatment in November!
Kino Video has just announced 'The Complete Metropolis' for Blu-ray on November 16.
Kino International is proud to announce the DVD and long awaited first time ever Blu-ray release of the new restoration of Fritz Lang's 1927 science fiction masterpiece METROPOLIS, now with 25 minutes of lost footage and the original Gottfried Huppertz score. This new 147-minute version (being released as THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS), opened theatrically in April 2010, earning over $350,000 at the box office, and since it’s original restoration, has gone on to earn $1,000,000 in theatrical ticket sales!
When it was first screened in Berlin on January 10, 1927, the sci-fi epic ran an estimated 153 minutes. After its premiere engagement, in an effort to maximize the film's commercial potential, the film's distributors (UFA in Germany, Paramount in the U.S.) drastically shortened METROPOLIS, which had been a major disappointment at the German box office. By the time it debuted in the United States later that year, the film ran approximately 90 minutes (exact running times are difficult to determine because silent films were not always projected at a standardized speed).
METROPOLIS went on to become one of the cornerstones of science fiction cinema foreshadowing BLADE RUNNER and THE MATRIX to name just a few recent examples. Testament to its enduring popularity, the film has undergone restorations in 1984 and again in 1987. The 2001 restoration combined footage from four archives and ran at a triumphant 124 minutes. And at the time was widely believed that this would be the most complete version of Lang's film that contemporary audiences could ever hope to see. But, in the summer of 2008, the curator of the Buenos Aires Museo del Cine discovered a 16mm dupe negative that was considerably longer than any existing print. It included not merely a few additional snippets, but 25 minutes of "lost" footage (about a fifth of the film) that had not been seen since its 1927 debut in Berlin. The discovery of such a significant amount of material called for yet another restoration, carefully executed by Anke Wilkening of the Murnau Stiftung (Foundation) (the German institution that is the caretaker of virtually all pre 1945 German films), Martin Koerber, Film Department Curator of the Deutche Kinemateque and on the music side, by Frank Stoebel. Regarding the quality of the added footage Ms. Wilkening has said: "The work on the restoration teaches us once more that no restoration is ever definitive... Even if we are allowed for the first time to come as close to the first release as ever before, the new version will still remain an approach. The rediscovered sections which change the film's composition, and at the same time always be recognizable through their damages as those parts that had been lost for 80 years."
The Blu-ray will have 1080p video, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, and supplements will include: Original 1927 score by Gottfried Huppertz, performed by the Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, Berlin, conducted by Frank Strobel presented in DTS HD Master Audio 5.1; Voyage to Metropolis, a 50-minute documentary on the making and restoration of the film (presented in HD); Interview with Paula Felix-Didier, curator of the Museo del Cine, Buenos Aires, where the missing footage was discovered; and 2010 re-release trailer.
The release will come in Limited Edition Collectible 3-D Lenticuar Box Packaging.
Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is $39.95.
You can find the latest specs for 'The Complete Metropolis' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under November 16.
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