Metropolis (1927): trivia & fun facts

Fun facts

• On 22 May 1925, Metropolis began principal photography with an initial budget of 1.5 million ℛ︁ℳ︁.
• Gustav Fröhlich (Freder) had worked in vaudeville and was originally employed as an extra on Metropolis before Thea von Harbou recommended him to Lang.
• At the time of its German premiere, Metropolis had a length of 4,189 metres, which is approximately 153 minutes at 24 frames per second (fps).
• In the preface to the 1925 novel, Thea von Harbou states that the story takes place "at no particular place or time, neither in the present nor in the future."
• In February 2018, organist Brett Miller transcribed Gottfried Huppertz' original score as a benefit for JDRF live at the Trenton War Memorial.
• Later, after demands for more cuts by Nazi censors, UFA distributed a still shorter version of the film (2,530 metres, 91 minutes) in 1936, and an English version of this cut was archived in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) film library in the 1930s.
• In the 2022 version of the poll, Metropolis fell slightly to 67th place.
• Among the uncredited actors are Margarete Lanner, Helen von Münchofen, Olaf Storm, Georg John, Helene Weigel and Fritz Alberti.
• Lang would frequently demand numerous re-takes, and took two days to shoot a simple scene where Freder collapses at Maria's feet; by the time Lang was satisfied with the footage he had shot, actor Gustav Fröhlich found he could barely stand.
• This version of Metropolis premiered in the United States in March 1927, and was released, in a slightly different and longer version (128 minutes) in the United Kingdom around the same time with different title cards.
• Gottfried Huppertz composed the film's score for a large orchestra.
• The score was also produced in a salon orchestration, which was performed for the first time in the United States in August 2007 by the Bijou Orchestra under the direction of Leo Najar as part of a German Expressionist film festival in Bay City, Michigan.
• For that purpose, he produced pre-arranged tracks and samples, combined with live improvisation.
• Erich Pommer produced it in the Babelsberg Studio for Universum Film A.G. (UFA).
• Filming took place over 17 months in 1925–1926 at a cost of more than five million Reichsmarks, or the equivalent of about €21 million.

Source: Wikipedia

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