Set at around the year 2000 (Then a lifetime away in the future), a mammoth city is ruled by the super rich industrialist Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel) and, on the surface, appears to be the utopian dream with wealthy inhabitants living in palatial apartments set in colossal glass and concrete sphires. But underground it is a differnet story; armies of slaves working gruelling shifts to maintain the luxurious lifestyles of their masters.

The workers, a subhuman species of sluggish creatures are led by 'Saintly' Maria (Brigitte Helm), who urges them not to rebel but to wait patiently for the arrival of the 'Mediator'. Fredersen kidnaps Maria and orders mad scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klien-Rogge) to create a replica robot to take her place. His plan is doomed when the evil mechanical Maria incites the masssed workers to revolt and destroy everything in sight.

Taking sixteen months to film, and with a cast of 37,383 and costing over $2 million at 1920's prices everything about this epic German science fiction film, which was inspired by the Manhattan skyline,is gigantic.

Although Director Fritz Lang hated the ending of his film, it was an instant hit with Adolf hitler and Goebbels, who first saw it in a small German town. When they came to power in 1933 they asked Lang to make prestige picture for the Nazi Party. He packed his bags and left for Hollywood the same day.

On it's first release it was a box office flop and nearly bankrupted its financiars UFA, Germany's largest film production company.

Metropolis is now a monument to Fritz Lang's artistic vision and film craftsman ship, this version is the closest yet to the director's original version.

Special Features:
The Metropolis Case: From Art to Cinema, From Caligari to Metropolis, From Vienna to Berlin, The Making of Metropolis, Imaginary Architecture, Viewing Machines, Special Effects, Sound Pictures, The Unmaking, The Remaking, After Metropolis
The Restoration - Metropolis as an example of film restoration
Photo Galleries: 'The Making of Metropolis' with production stills; missing scenes, architectural sketches, costume designs, poster
Biographies - Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou, Erich Pommer, Karl Freund, Gunther Rittau, Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut, Gottfried Huppert, Brigitte Helm, Gustav Frohlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Alfred Abel, Heinrich George