Missing Metropolis footage found in Argentina

Published on Thursday 3 July 2008 22:11

HISTORIANS had doubted they would ever find the missing parts of Metropolis – until three reels of the science fiction film made in Germany a long time ago, were discovered in a country far, far away.

Two film fans in Argentina uncovered the footage in a small museum earlier this year – over 80 years after Fritz Lang's dystopian classic first began to shed scenes.

With its cold, monumental vision of mechanised society, Metropolis forged a template for science fiction cinema and its influence has been cited on films from Blade Runner to Fahrenheit 451 and Star Wars.

"We were overjoyed when we heard about the find," said Helmut Possmann, the head of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung foundation, which owns the rights to the film. "We no longer believed we'd see this."

Metropolis, which depicts a tumultuous class struggle in a vast, urban society, was the first film to be entered into Unesco's Memory of the World Register – which aims to preserve cultural achievements of outstanding significance.

Released in 1927 and set a century later, the silent film was not a commercial success and nearly ruined the studio behind it – according to some estimates, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.

Soon after its premiere, the film was heavily cut to make it more accessible, and several versions emerged. Efforts were made to restore it, but roughly a quarter of the film was believed to have been lost.