Metropolis (1927)

            Van Gogh was to painting, as German Expressionism was to film. Defined by cinematography so distinctive it became its own genre, German Expressionism made its debut in the early 1920s and changed the world of cinema forever. Heavily influenced by artists such as Van Gogh himself (Darsa), German Expressionism seemed to mimic the bright contrast, flat shapes, and jagged brushstrokes found in his paintings. Similar to the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movement of the fine art world, which was a revolution sparked by the rejection of conventional ways of painting, German expressionism was a revolution sparked by the rejection of Western conventions. When painters changed the way they applied paint to a canvas, they discovered how to twist reality into a deeper depiction of meaning and emotion. With a palate composed of light, and a canvas made of celluloid, German Expressionists began to twist film from capturing reality, to revealing psychology. With a country still reeling from the gruesome horrors and bloody aftermath of WWI, a culture deeply intertwined with fairy tales describing mythical beasts and monsters, and a camera that filmed as Van Gogh could paint, German Expressionism was born. 

German Expressionism would go on to influence some of the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, including Alfred Hitchcock and Werner Herzog (Darsa). However, the most obvious example of German Expressionism influencing modern filmmakers comes in the form of Tim Burton. His movies seem to crawl right out of the original negatives of German Expressionist films themselves. For some reason though, if directly asked about the influence of German Expressionism within his films, Burton quickly diverts the conversation (“Tim Burton”). Nonetheless, the style of his films contains many distinctive aspects of German Expressionism through set design, costume, makeup, lighting, stories, and even framing. The parallels between the two are so obvious, the notion of this strange diversion causes me physical pain when comparing film stills of his, to film stills in The Cabinet of Doctor Cagliari (Leow). Through these filmmakers and beyond, German Expressionism continues to survive well past its original prime. Although the actual German Expressionist period was rather brief in comparison, one film in particular is often cited as not only being the most memorable of the movement, or one of the best of silent cinema in its entirety, but also as being one of the world’s most influential films. This was Metropolis, and it was one of the last German Expressionist films ever made. (Darsa)

Metropolis was ranked 12th in Empire Magazine’s The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema in 2010, was ranked 2nd in a list of the 100 greatest films of the Silent Era (Bennett), and the British Film Institute called Metropolis the 35th greatest film of all time (Christie). Metropolis was also selected by the Vatican in the "art" category of its list of 45 "great films." Despite such immense praise, the movie is not without its critics. H.G. Wells, the prolific author best known for his iconic science fiction works including War of the Worlds, regarded Metropolis with immense distaste. “I have recently seen the silliest film,” he wrote in the New York Times in 1927. “I do not believe it would be possible to make one sillier.” A possible reason behind his sharp critique lay in his suspicion that the writers of Metropolis had actually lifted the plot of the film from his novel When the Sleeper Wakes, first published in 1898 (Hutchinson).

Metropolis encountered many struggles before it obtained the praise it revels in today. Being one of the most expensive movies of the time, around $200 Million in today’s currency, the film nearly sent the studio that produced it into bankruptcy (“Metropolis Trivia”). The studio, UFA, needed financial help from Famous Players and Metro-Goldwyn, about four million dollars to complete the most elaborate and extravagant film in European history. UFA never recovered its investment in the film. As a result, the entire company was restructured, with a new, more conservative board of directors. Appalled at the film's Marxist politics, the new directors pulled it from theatres in the spring of 1927, but not before it had been cut, re-cut, and cut again due to the complaint of its lengthy run-time (“Metropolis Trivia”). Thought to be a lost film for several decades, when Metropolis was rediscovered it had been reduced to a little over 90 minutes. Currently, a nearly complete version of the film exists, 149 minutes long.

Despite its production and reception battles, Metropolis remained true to the distinctive style of German Expressionism. By associating it with a disturbing metaphor about life, the fable-like set design and surreal look of the underground factory was given an unpleasant amount of real-life applicability. Character makeup and meticulously detailed costumes actually reflected their individual psychological states. The cinematography, almost reminiscent of choreography, in the scene where Maria was trapped in the catacombs left a haunting image of a sexual assault, but it was only done with symbolism and a single torch light. Another element Metropolis brilliantly incorporated into its visual and figurative way of storytelling was the clever usage of perspective. In the film, when anyone entered Joh Fredersen’s headquarters, there is the illusion of a drastic size difference. The person seems, quite literally, small in comparison to Joh Frederson at his desk. This illusion (and subsequent depiction of power) is broken when the newcomer approaches the desk. At this, the human brain realizes that the props surrounding Fredersen are built larger than they should be in real life. This cinematic technique was later used by Orson Welles in Citizen Kane for the same visually symbolic message it produced. Before Citizen Kane, this concept was used in an architectural manner in real life by Adolf Hitler. He had his hallway and desk position designed in a way that would make people feel powerful, then small in comparison to him. From Hitler, the perspective illusion jumped back into film by way of Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator, which had a scene that specifically made fun of Hitler for using it.

Perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence that Hitler attempted to emulate the perspective illusion in Metropolis. Hitler was quite a big fan of Metropolis, actually. Because World War I left most of Germany in ruins and its people in poverty, the majority of Germany’s population were left only to stare enviously at the prosperous city of Berlin. The people of Berlin remained fairly well off, and most of the businesses were Jewish-owned or Jewish-operated, including Germany’s nationalized film industry, UFA studios. In the minds of Hitler and the bitter majority of Germany, the Jewish business owners in Berlin paralleled the upper class in the Metropolis while the horrid conditions of the workers were relative to everyone else living in Germany at the time. Hitler took this allusion quite seriously. He began to see himself as Freder, the mediator. His inner circle was also entranced by the film and it’s ‘hand, heart, and head’ theme, they considered it as a sort of social blueprint. Joseph Goebbels, one of Hitler's close associates, proclaimed, “The political bourgeoisie is about to leave the stage of history. In its place advance the oppressed producers of the head and hand, the forces of Labour, to begin their historical mission” (Roberts). Because Hitler was such a fan of Fritz Lang’s work, Goebbels actually met with Fritz Lang, and told him that he could be made ‘an honorary Aryan.’ When Lang pointed out he was Jewish, Goebbels replied with, "Mr. Lang, we decide who is Jewish and who is not." Lang left for Paris that very night (“Metropolis Trivia”). In the eyes of Hitler, Nazi Germany’s ‘Metropolis’ worked the same way. The scientists were the heads, Hitler was the mediator, and his followers were the hands. Together, they would rebuild Germany. In terms of science, Germany actually had a significant head start over the Manhattan Project (“German Atomic Bomb”). Germany was home to some of the best scientists in the world, had a strong industrial base, sufficient materials, and the interest of its military officers. In theory, Nazi Germany should have been the first to create a nuclear bomb. Fortunately, Hitler’s distrust of the head (scientists) who lived in fear of displeasing him, combined with the fact that Hitler wasn’t particularly good at being a mediator or having a heart, likely prevented nuclear annihilation. With this, the Nazi interpretation of Metropolis fell apart.

Despite the film’s strange, chaotic, and rather dark and disturbing background, it is forever immortalized because of its influence. Its breakthrough special effects such as the Schüfftan Process was a precursor to the bluescreen effects we use today. Maria’s iconic costume and the iconic skyline of the city has been payed tribute to by many of the pop artists of today from album covers, photoshoots, and set designs for performances (“The Occult Symbolism”). Her design is firmly implemented in the robot hall of fame (“Maria”). The Machine-Man also inspired the look for C-3PO in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, released in 1977 (“Metropolis Trivia”). The mechanical right hand of the inventor was later imitated in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb released in 1964 (“Metropolis Trivia”). Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were so impressed with Metropolis, they named their character's city after it. Metropolis was a ground-breaking film that had a profound impact on future generations (“Metropolis Trivia”). It’s hard to imagine a world without Metropolis, a film so deeply rooted in technology, politics, and pop culture all at once. On one hand, perhaps C3PO would look a bit different. On the other hand, perhaps Nazi Germany wouldn’t have come so close to world domination. Films are strange like that.

Works Cited

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