BOOTLEG FILES 926: “Metropolis 2027” (Fritz Lang’s 1927 science fiction classic, updated with color and a dialogue track).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A fan film made without the clearance of the rights owners of the original classic.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nein.
The other day, I received an email from a person named Garrett Guynn, who reminded me that I wrote a Bootleg Files review in September 2019 of “MetropolisRemix,” which took Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent black-and-white classic and reimagined it as a color film with spoken dialogue. Mr. Guynn included a link to my review, which was helpful because I had no memory of his film. And when I reread my review, I could only vaguely recall the production.
My review of “MetropolisRemix” was not supportive of the endeavor, and I was rather surprised that Mr. Guynn did not send me a negative message. Instead, he informed me that he updated his work with changes that addressed many of the problems I had with his 2019 production. I was very surprised and more than a little embarrassed – my review was strictly a statement of opinion and I sincerely hoped that Mr. Guynn didn’t think my observations required him to devote time, energy and (I assume) money to redo the work strictly because I wasn’t bowled over by his first offering.
“I’m reaching out because I’ve released a materially revised cut that directly addresses the core issues you flagged (especially the soundtrack and dubbing), and I’d genuinely welcome your take on whether the new version improves things—or simply fails in new ways,” Mr. Guynn wrote to me.
Well, I took at the new offering, which is now on YouTube as “Metropolis 2027.” And it is with great pleasure that I can declare “Metropolis 2027” is first great online video of this year.
For starters, the colorization is a vast improvement over the 2019 version, which looked like a two-color Technicolor film from the late silent era. In “Metropolis 2027,” the colors are more vibrant and contemporary, and many of the sequences look astonishing with these digital hues – especially the Babel segment and in the transformation of the robot into the Evil Maria. This version’s colorization also downplays the garish visual touches that were not so obvious in the black-and-white version, most notably the very heavy eye make-up worn by Gustav Fröhlich’s Freder and Rudolf Klein-Rogge’s Rotwang. This version was also upscaled to 4K with what Mr. Guynn referred to as a “selective restoration applied to the rougher ‘found footage’ segments.”
“Metropolis 2027” also has a wonderfully robust soundtrack that perfectly matches the on-screen action. In his email to me, Mr. Guynn promised the “overall sound is pulled back to let performances and score carry emotional beats” while the music track was “re-scored to follow scenes more precisely, with themes pulled from the original score.” And, damn, it works brilliantly. The music soundtrack is one of the best accompaniments to a silent film that I’ve heard.
As for the use of dialogue to replace the intertitles of the original silent version, I am still not entirely convinced that this was the best idea. That being said, I do not see it interfering with one’s enjoyment of the film – and if Giorgio Moroder could attach an 80s rock soundtrack to “Metropolis,” there is no reason why Garrett Guynn cannot give voices to Lang’s characters.
The original “Metropolis” is under a quirky copyright regimen – the film is in the public domain in the United States, but it is copyright protected in its native Germany and in the other European Union nations until 2046. Thus, this can be only be seen online as a fan film offering.
I strongly recommend that you take the time to enjoy “Metropolis 2027,” and I so grateful that Mr. Guynn alerted me to his updated work. This work is nothing short of a triumph of imagination and artistic perseverance. Bravo, Mr. Guynn!
IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.
Listen to Phil Hall’s award-winning podcast “The Online Movie Show with Phil Hall” on SoundCloud and his radio show “Nutmeg Chatter” on WAPJ-FM in Torrington, Connecticut, with a new episode every Sunday. You can also follow his book reviews at The Epoch Times.