It hasn't escaped my attention that the two main films I've
talked about on this blog are both German films concerning crimes against
children, both with single-word titles beginning with the letter M (or even
being the letter M, in the former case). So, in the name of continuing this
combo, let’s talk about another German film with a one-word title beginning
with M. Although it’s not about paedophilia this time. Sorry.
The film in question is Metropolis,
Fritz Lang’s science fiction classic of 1927, often credited as the grandfather
of sci-fi films, inspiring some of the greats of the genre, including Star Wars and Blade Runner. Now, regular followers of this blog (if such creatures
exist) might find this film and director ring a few bells. Well, that would be
because Mr Lang is the director of M,
which he made in order to recuperate his popularity after Metropolis flopped, as previously mentioned. Despite its initial
poor performance though, Metropolis has
gone on to become a classic piece of cinema, inspiring countless others.
The main thing I want to discuss here today is not my
thoughts and feelings on the film itself, but instead Metropolis’s troubled history. It’s no secret that Metropolis is not a complete film; with
its premier cut coming in at around 210 minutes, the most complete versions
available today only have a mere 153 minutes of runtime, meaning nearly an hour
of footage remains lost. Before the film even starts, a brief title reads as
follows;
‘All that survive of
the original “Metropolis” are an incomplete original negative and copies of
shortened and re-edited release prints. Over a quarter of the film has to be
considered lost.
The present version,
which combines all of the surviving elements, attempts to recreate the film as
it was shown at its premiere.'
It’s truly a heart breaking title card, and seeing it never
fails to pluck away at my heart strings, but the worst part is that Metropolis has it pretty well off. For a
film as long as it was, in the times when movie censorship was relentless and
with such a disappointing initial gross, Metropolis
is lucky to have so much of its runtime still intact, so that we can still
watch and enjoy it today. But other silent films aren't so lucky. It’s said
that around 90% of all silent films ever made are currently lost.
Just going to let that sink in for a second.
Back in the day, of course, no one was bothered with film
preservation. Films were mostly spectacle at the time; with the illusion of
motion being the USP, rather than the storytelling. A bit like nowadays. Huh,
now that’s a cyclical narrative if ever I saw one. Anyway, once a film had made
its initial cinema run, the tape was often simply overwritten by a new film,
since tape was expensive back then. Not to mention the infamous flammability of
the old film, made from Nitrocellulose, meaning that many films, if stored in
warehouses, could be wiped out hundreds at a time if a fire was started.
The industry was young; they didn't know any better at the
time, and similarly, film was a relatively unexplored medium. All the standard
conventions in films we’re so familiar with today had to have started
somewhere, and chances are this silent era was at least partly responsible. Le Voyage Dans La Lune inspired our love
for Science-Fiction cinema, Un Chien
Andalou sparked the experimental and risqué films I spoke of last time, and
Nosferatu can be considered one of
the many grandfathers of Horror films.
So think, with all the silent films we currently have, and
how they've influenced the film industry as we know it, what about the others?
The films that were lost, overwritten, burned?
If these films were destroyed before the right people saw
them and took inspiration from them, potentially entire threads of film history
could have been prevented from existing. Entire genres, technologies,
franchises, even directors may cease to be.
Take me, for example. My writing of this blog, my knowledge
of the industry, my obsession and love for films, all spiralled from my
earliest memory; watching Star Wars
Episode V: The Empire Strike Back as a three year old child, a film that,
along with the rest of its trilogy, was inspired by Metropolis. If Metropolis was
destroyed before George Lucas ever saw it, Star
Wars may never have been, and I would be a completely different person; my
life changed beyond recognition, and I know I wouldn't be alone on that. Not to
mention, all the other directors who were inspired by Star Wars would never have made the films they made, and you can
start to see how big an effect this would have had.
Just consider for a moment that your favourite film may not
exist. What if there was a certain silent film, made back in the 20's, destroyed
in a fire, which one day would have become your favourite film, or perhaps inspired
your favourite film? Except it never did, because the film was destroyed before
you could get to it. Just sit and think about how different the history of
film, nay, the history of humanity could have been if that 90% wasn't lost.
To quote Lang himself, “Why are you so interested in a
picture which no longer exists?" Because that’s exactly what has happened,
maybe not quite with Metropolis, but
with others such as London After Midnight,
the original Cleopatra, and The Fall of a Nation to name a few, they
have simply ceased to exist, via our own carelessness in preserving arguably
the most powerful and compelling form of art.
Some heavy stuff there, but I hope I've made you think. Who
knows, maybe this post will inspire you. Maybe you will make a film, based on
the subject of this post. Maybe your film will go on to inspire countless
others to make their own films.
Maybe you’ll do what these films never got the chance to.
No comments:
Post a Comment