{"id":31946,"date":"2019-09-27T09:12:21","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T13:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=31946"},"modified":"2019-09-27T09:13:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T13:13:01","slug":"31946-bootleg-files-metropolisremix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/27\/31946-bootleg-files-metropolisremix\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: MetropolisRemix"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 702:<\/strong> \u201cMetropolisRemix\u201d (a new riff on the silent classic).<\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube.
\n
\nAMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> An unapologetic case of copyright infringement that will not be allowed into commercial release.
\n
\nCHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Not likely.<\/p>\n

In 1984, music composer and producer Giorgio Moroder unveiled his restoration of the 1927 Fritz Lang silent masterpiece \u201cMetropolis.\u201d Film preservationists were aghast at the liberties that Moroder took \u2013 color tinting and isolated color effects within monochromatic scenes, a faster frame projection, subtitles in the place of intertitles and a new rock score that didn\u2019t quite match the vibe of the classic production. However, audiences were mostly appreciative of this endeavor, and for a generation of moviegoers this marked the first time they experienced a silent film in a theatrical venue.
\n<\/p>\n

At the time, Moroder\u2019s version was the most complete version of \u201cMetropolis,\u201d which had been butchered in the editing process over the years. (Moroder inserted still photographs into sections where segments were long lost.) The 2008 discovery in Argentina of a 16mm version of the original uncut \u201cMetropolis\u201d made the Moroder version obsolete, and in 2010 Kino Lorber released \u201cThe Complete Metropolis\u201d on DVD and Blu-ray, with the original 1926 score created by Gottfried Huppertz added to the soundtrack to enhance the viewing experience.<\/p>\n

One might imagine that there would be no further tinkering with \u201cMetropolis,\u201d but in 2017 something called \u201cMetropolisRemix\u201d turned up on YouTube. This was \u201cThe Complete Metropolis\u201d with the intertitles removed, a new score added and dialogue dubbed on the soundtrack. That version generated approximately 27,000 views and mostly positive comments from YouTube viewers.<\/p>\n

On September 21, \u201cMetropolisRemix\u201d was re-released, this time adding colorization to the black-and-white film. When judged against this new version, Moroder restoration looks like the model of artistic fidelity.<\/p>\n

To be charitable, the newly colorized version of \u201cMetropolisRemix\u201d is the most recklessly bad idea for a film since \u201cAll This and World War II,\u201d the infamous 1976 nonsense that united Second World War newsreel footage with mostly unsatisfactory cover versions of Beatles music. By twisting a black-and-white silent film into a color film with spoken dialogue, \u201cMetropolisRemix\u201d tramples over an aesthetic vision from a distant era and tries to punch it up into something that would appeal to today\u2019s digital culture.<\/p>\n

Much of the problem involves the poverty of the soundtrack. Every sound is magnified a thousand-fold: the opening of a door, the closing of a gate, the clump of footsteps blares at ridiculously elevated levels. This is the noisiest silent film ever offered.<\/p>\n

As for the colorization, in fairness it should be noted that the digital hues were done tastefully and did not look like the Earl Scheib-quality paint jobs that Ted Turner splashed on the old flicks. In \u201cMetropolisRemix,\u201d the colors are closer in quality to the soft two-color Technicolor process used in the 1920s and early 1930s \u2013 if Lang had made the film in color, it might have resembled this. But there is a downside: adding color to the picture emphasizes some of the garish visual touches that were not so obvious in the black-and-white version, most notably the heavy make-up worn by Gustav Fr\u00f6hlich\u2019s Freder (he looks like a drag queen in this version, with ruby-red lips and a Kardashian\u2019s quantity of eye shadow). The color also calls attention to many of the stylized sets, albeit for the wrong reasons: what seemed stark and utilitarian in monochrome looks fake and cheesy when colors are splashed on.<\/p>\n

And the vocal dubbing? Well, it seems the inspiration for \u201cMetropolisRemix\u201d was the dubbed imports that American International Pictures used to dump in grindhouses and drive-ins during the 1960s: voices that don\u2019t match the actors\u2019 appearances, let alone their lip movements, and seem to come out of another movie experience. Sometimes the effect is painful \u2013 particularly the emotionless line readings when Freder seems crucified by the giant clock-like machine he is operating \u2013 but often it is unintentionally funny, especially the \u201cHogan\u2019s Heroes\u201d-level German accent given to the mad Rotwang.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the tinkering on \u201cMetropolisRemix\u201d doesn\u2019t destroy the film. But, at the same time, it doesn\u2019t improve it. To their credit, the creators of this endeavor \u2013 Garrett Guynn and Andrew John Holt \u2013 acknowledge their effort is a \u201cfan modernization.\u201d But, at the same time, Guynn and Holt claim their work \u201ccontains samples\u201d from the Kino Lorber release, when it actually rips off the full presentation. Music from \u201cThe Matrix\u201d and \u201cLegacy\u201d are also \u201csampled\u201d for the score.<\/p>\n

This new \u201cMetropolisRemix\u201d accumulated more than 34,000 views on YouTube<\/a> within four days from its posting, which is admirable considering its popularity is strictly word of mouth. But in this case, word of mouth is doing fans of \u201cMetropolis\u201d a disservice. After all, silent movies are a distinctive art form of a bygone era and grafting unnecessary improvements to these treasures is an act of defacement and not a tribute.<\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

Listen to \u201cThe Online Movie Show with Phil Hall\u201d<\/a> on SoundCloud.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 702: \u201cMetropolisRemix\u201d (a new riff on the silent classic). LAST SEEN: On YouTube. AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None. REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: An unapologetic case of copyright infringement that will not be allowed into commercial release. CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely. In 1984, music composer and producer Giorgio Moroder unveiled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":31947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513],"tags":[2310,345,2311,2308,2309,944],"class_list":["post-31946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bootleg-files","tag-colorized","tag-fan-film","tag-fritz-lang","tag-metropolis","tag-metropolisremix","tag-silent-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31946"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31949,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31946\/revisions\/31949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}