World Television Premiere: Restored version of “Metropolis”

Great news for movie fans:

This November, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will present a groundbreaking achievement in filmmaking and film restoration with the world television premiere of the newly restored version of Fritz Lang’s 1927 science-fiction masterpiece Metropolis. This extraordinary new edition of the film, which had its North American theatrical premiere at the TCM Classic Festival in April, features 25 minutes of previously lost scenes, as well as the original Gottfried Huppertz score. Metropolis is slated to premiere on TCM Sunday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. (ET), one week before the release of DVD and Blu-ray Disc™ editions from Kino International. TCM’s presentation will be followed at 11 p.m. (ET) by Metropolis Refound (2010), a one-hour documentary about the discovery of new footage.

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The restoration of Metropolis began in summer 2008, when the curator of the Buenos Aires Museo del Cine discovered a 16mm negative of the film, including 25 minutes — one fifth of the entire film — that had not been seen since the 1927 Berlin premiere. Although it didn’t include all of Lang’s original version, it was the most complete print of the film ever found.

The discovery prompted a new restoration and reconstruction project, headed by Anke Wilkening of the Murnau Stiftung (Murnau Foundation), which serves as caretaker for virtually all pre-1945 German films, and Martin Koerber, film department curator of the Deutche Kinemateque. Acclaimed German conductor and arranger Frank Stoebel, who has worked extensively with music for silent films, adapted the Huppertz score.

The newly reconstructed, 147-minute version of Metropolis features extensive scenes that flesh out many of the supporting characters, fill in jarring gaps in the plot and provide additional back story. The restoration premiered on Feb. 12, 2010, at the Berlin Film Festival. It made its North American debut on April 25, 2010, in Hollywood as part of the first-ever TCM Classic Film Festival.

Here’s a trailer for the new version of the movie:

For more info, go here.

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