Lost Scenes of Metropolis Discovered

Oh, nifty. Someone found the director's cut.

http://www.thelocal.de/12847/20080702/

Lost scenes from German-Austrian director Fritz Lang's legendary silent film "Metropolis" have been discovered in Argentina, German weekly newspaper Die Zeit reported on Wednesday.Paula Félix-Didier, head of film museum Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires, discovered an uncut version of the 1927 science fiction film when she looked into reports that a tape in the archive was unusually long. She travelled to Berlin with a copy of the film and met with experts who say they are certain it is the missing original-length version of Lang's masterpiece that reveals key plot scenes and an expansion of minor roles, Die Zeit said ahead of the publication of its Thursday edition.

"The film's original rhythm will be re-established," Martin Koerber, the man responsible for the current restoration of the film, told the paper.

Head of Berlin film museum Deutsche Kinemathek told the paper it was a "sensational discovery."

In 1927, Fritz Lang presented the film in Berlin after producing it in the city's Babelsburg Studios. At that time it was the most expensive film ever produced in Germany, but it was not well received by its German audience. A radically shorter version was subsequently edited in the US, after which historians believed the original version to have been lost.

According to Die Zeit's reconstruction of events, Buenos Aires film distributor Adolfo Z. Wilson brought a copy of the original version to Argentina in 1928. Film critic Peña Rodríguez later attained the film, which he sold in the 1960's to Argentina's national art fund. In 1992 copy then went to the Museo del Cine - where discoverer Félix-Didier took leadership this January.

Oh, nifty. Someone found the director's cut.

http://www.thelocal.de/12847/20080702/

Lost scenes from German-Austrian director Fritz Lang's legendary silent film "Metropolis" have been discovered in Argentina, German weekly newspaper Die Zeit reported on Wednesday.Paula Félix-Didier, head of film museum Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires, discovered an uncut version of the 1927 science fiction film when she looked into reports that a tape in the archive was unusually long. She travelled to Berlin with a copy of the film and met with experts who say they are certain it is the missing original-length version of Lang's masterpiece that reveals key plot scenes and an expansion of minor roles, Die Zeit said ahead of the publication of its Thursday edition.

"The film's original rhythm will be re-established," Martin Koerber, the man responsible for the current restoration of the film, told the paper.

Head of Berlin film museum Deutsche Kinemathek told the paper it was a "sensational discovery."

In 1927, Fritz Lang presented the film in Berlin after producing it in the city's Babelsburg Studios. At that time it was the most expensive film ever produced in Germany, but it was not well received by its German audience. A radically shorter version was subsequently edited in the US, after which historians believed the original version to have been lost.

According to Die Zeit's reconstruction of events, Buenos Aires film distributor Adolfo Z. Wilson brought a copy of the original version to Argentina in 1928. Film critic Peña Rodríguez later attained the film, which he sold in the 1960's to Argentina's national art fund. In 1992 copy then went to the Museo del Cine - where discoverer Félix-Didier took leadership this January.Oh wow Aries, thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. I can hardly wait to see it.

It's the sort of thing us old-movie buffs dream of. What next? Orson Welles's It's All True or the second half of Ambersons? Von Stroheim's Greed? All miracles gratefully received.

It's the sort of thing us old-movie buffs dream of. What next? Orson Welles's It's All True or the second half of Ambersons? Von Stroheim's Greed? All miracles gratefully received.and Theda Bara's Cleopatra Chaney's London After Midnight, there are oh so many lost movies.

Chaney's London After Midnight

As far as I'm concerned that is the Holy Grail of lost films....

As far as I'm concerned that is the Holy Grail of lost films....Here is a fascinating website and list.

Lost Films (http://www.silentera.com/lost/index.html)

Has anyone seen the reconstruction of London at Midnight that was done with stills a few years back?

Has anyone seen the reconstruction of London at Midnight that was done with stills a few years back? :eek:

I have it right now and am going to watch it tonight or tomorrow...I'll let you know how it is. I have The Lon Chaney Collection for a few weeks.

Contrary to what this reviews states, The Penalty (http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=235) is a complete film and is on DVD, I have seen it myself. If I may be so trite, it knocked my socks off.

The Lon Chaney Collection (http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/lonchaneycollection.php)

*edit*..I just watched. Hey it was pretty darn good, I wish like hell somebody would find a print of the darn thing. The sets and costumes and Lon Chaney's make-up were so great. It was a good mystery story. Cedric Gibbons was the set director, so it looked fantastic. They had quite an abundance of stills, they put the movie back together quite well. If you ever run across it, do check it out by all means.

London After Midnight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_After_Midnight_(film))

I'll just keep adding to this post, I just watched The Unknown and The Ace of Hearts. Lon Chaney was so fantastic. Do try to see these films sometime, it is worth the effort to find them.