Directed by Fritz Lang
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Kino Lorber)
The privileged son of the head of a futuristic city is moved by the mysterious appearance of a strange woman surrounded by poor children. His search for her leads to the underground, where hoards of workers are sacrificed to the machines which keep the above ground city running. He switches places with one of the workers to learn more about their way of life. He follows them deeper into the underground, where they worship a saint, Maria, the same girl he saw earlier, who portends of the coming of the "Mediator" who will save them from their hellish life. Meanwhile, his father consults with a mad scientist who has invented a "machine man" in the image of his dead wife. The scientist kidnaps Maria and transfers her "heart" to the machine. Maria's double returns to the underground and incites the workers to a violent revolution. Meanwhile the real Maria is held prisoner. It is up to Freder, The Mediator, to save the girl and negotiate peace between the two sides. The new "complete version" adds 25 minutes to the running time, most of it for a subplot about the "Thin Man" and his pursuit of the worker with which Freder exchanged places. It also extends scenes here and there, none of which are particularly necessary. In fact, I found the final action sequence gets a bit too long with the extra scenes and was restless for the resolution. As a result, I actually prefer the shorter cut that has been around for the last 80 years or so. My slightly lower rating for this viewing applies to the "Complete Metropolis" version.
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