Metropolis Discussion

My Essay on Metropolis:

German Expressionist filmmakers focused on stylizing their mise-en-scène in a way to reject realism and express emotional reality. The filmmakers mirrored the Expressionist painting, theater and graphic design of the era.

While many directors of that time used distortion in their sets, sagging or leaning buildings. Fritz Lang’s did use this style occasionally but used more elongation and artistic symmetry with huge grand scale tall sets. I compare these shots from two of his films.

 This shot is from his earlier film Siegfried (Fritz Lang, 1924) has an elongated set and there is perfect symmetry of the steps and the princess standing in the middle with two maidens on the sides. Paralleling Metropolis’ narrative, when the princess stands in the doorway, it is a great dramatic moment. The enormous arguing crowds go silent respect and reverence. 

In Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) while there is distortion in the catacombs, the shot is very centered and symmetrical. Maria is in the middle of a candle lit altar and proportionally centered within the middle square blocks on the steps. The set is elongated with a tall ceiling. Most of the Metropolis had strong vertical lines with symmetry which is a style of Fritz Lang (Thompson and Bordwell p. 91). In this narrative as well, this is very dramatic moment with all the men in silence and reverence of Maria.   

The Kammerspiel films, in contrast, did not show dramatic moments as in the above Metropolis scene. In Backstairs (Leopold Jessner, 1921) there is a lot of thought and ponderance by the postman, but the climax of the clip we saw is him staring at the woman and giving her a piece of mail. The indoor sets also seem cramped and not as much of an important element as Expressionists

Casting by the hundreds was used mainly in German Spectacle films just before Expressionism. I found that Lang emulated Ernst Lubitsch use of hundreds of extras in mise-en-scène. In the spectacle film Madame DuBarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919) just before the storming of the Bastille, the scene is covered with revolutionaries in every space of the village.

Fritz Lang used a huge cavalry and court in Siegfried. The hundreds of workers in Metropolis, as well their matching dark clothing against lighter backdrops, made spectacular visual scenes.

Response from Brian Clark

Hello Ida,

You are very right about how symmetrical a lot of the shots are, I first noticed it with the buildings and later realized that the use of symmetry applied to other scenes as well. Metropolis had a lot going on when it came to spectacular visuals, the hundreds of workers added a sense of scale, for a city that size the idea would not have worked without a mass amount of people especially when the workers were rioting.

Response from Kevin Rojas

Hey Ida, 

That's a good point you made about how a lot of the scenes the shots or the camera angle were placed in symmetrical directions. Metropolis was one crazy film at the time it was released with all these special effects going on. I wonder how long this took to film this movie with the technology they had back then 

My response to Brian

Hello Brian,

I think it was important, as you did, to mention The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Weine, 1920)  which the text says "remained the most famous Expressionist film."  It showed distortions and "the style was used mainly for conveying character subjectivity."

I also appreciated the discussion of the dream sequence and how interesting it was shot. I remember this very similar shot in Secrets of a Soul (G. W. Pabst, 1926)  

Where the guys is dreaming and has these faces staring at him in his dream. 

I agree that the eye collage seems like it would be a hard edit to create. I don't know how they did that. 

Your Answers:

Results for item 1.

1

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What German director is associated with both the Expressionist and New Objectivity film movements?

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G.W. Pabst 

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Results for item 2.

2

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What film featured in the Module is about a hotel doorman who is demoted at work? The film also serves as an example of moving camera in the Module.

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The Last Laugh (F. W. Murnau, 1924)

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Results for item 3.

3

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What film is generally considered the first Expressionist film according to Thompson and Bordwell?

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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Weine, 1920)

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Results for item 4.

4

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Who is the character on the right in the following shot from Metropolis?

 

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Hel - Rotwang had been in love with her but she married Mr. Frederson. Rotwang created this robot of her.

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Results for item 5.

5

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Who is this character from Metropolis and where is she in the following shot from the film?

 

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This is Maria - she is in the catacombs talking to the workers

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