METROPOLIS Directed by Fritz Lang 1927

Basics German expressionist epic science-fiction film Written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou Starred Brigitte Helm, Gustav Fröhlich, Alfred Abel and Rudolf Klein-Rogge. First feature-length science fiction film Made in Germany during the Weimar Period, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia. The story follows the attempts of Freder, the wealthy son of the city's ruler, and Maria, whose background is not fully explained in the film, to overcome the vast gulf separating the classes of their city. Metropolis began filming at the Babelsberg Studios in 1925, at a cost of approximately five million Reichsmarks. Released 10 January 1927.

Influences Fritz Lang: “The film was born irst sight of the skyscrapers in New York in October 1924. . . the buildings seemed to be a vertical sail, scintillating and very light, a luxurious backdrop, suspended in the dark sky to dazzle, distract and hypnotize.” Bauhaus: a school in Germany founded by Walter Gropius founded on the idea of reimagining the material world to reflect the unity of the arts; the importance of design through mass production (1919-33) Biblical sources for major set pieces Construction of the Tower of Babel (1563) Pieter Brueghel the Elder

Fritz Lang December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976 The Master of Darkness M (1931), precursor to film noir 1932: Lang started filming The Testament of Dr. Mabuse 1934 – Lang leaves Germany 1939 – Lang becomes a Naturalized Citizen of the United States 21 films over the next 21 years The Big Heat (1953) The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960) Adolf Hitler came to power in January 1933, and by March 30, the new regime banned it as an incitement to public disorder. Testament is sometimes deemed an anti-Nazi film as Lang had put phrases used by the Nazis into the mouth of the title character.

UFA - Universum Film AG Ufa: Universum Film-AG, legendary German film studio founded on 18 December 1917. Sponsored by the government and War Ministry, major industries and financial institutions. The principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945. 1933 – Studio began complying with the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, which essentially controlled the content of UFA films through political threat. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels on a visit to the UFA studios in January 1935. On the left, film producer Günther Stapenhorst.

The End of WWI WWI ends in 1918 January: 400,000 Berlin workers go on strike Influenza Pandemic Lasting Consequences of War: Parlamentarization and Democratization Persistence of Economic Structures and power of old elites Dolchstoßlegende – myth of the “stab in the back” Split of the workers movement: SPD-KPD Strong right wing forces Germany as a revisionist power (advocating a policy of revision or modification.) Revanchism (Retaliation) and hate over the loss of the Rhine Valley Economy: Inflation and reparations, loss of industrial territory

The Weimar Republic 1919-1933 November Revolution 3 November: Sailors’ Mutinies 6 November Räte movements 7-8 November: Revolutionaries in Bavaria Spartacist Uprisising: 6-15 January 1919 General strike Rosa Luxemburg: co-founded the anti-war Spartacus League which eventually became the Communist Party of Germany Even though she considered the uprising a mistake, she was captured, shot and her body was thrown in the Landwehr Canal in Berlin. Civil War 1919-1920 Political Violence endemic: 354 murders by the right, 22 by the left Right belief that they can achieve something great by killing someone on the left – specifically leftist leaders which sets their movement back, no one left to look up to-be inspired by Courts prejudiced in favor of the right and the wealthy/elite November Revolution was a civil conflict in the German Empire at the end of the First World War that resulted in the replacement of Germany's Imperial government with a republic. The revolutionary period lasted from November 1918 until the establishment in August 1919 of a republic that later became known as the Weimar Republic. Spartacist (or January) Revolution was a general strike (and the armed battles accompanying it) in Germany from 4 to 15 January 1919. Germany was in the middle of a post-war revolution, and two of the perceived paths forward were either social democracy or a council/soviet republic similar to the one which had been established by the Bolshevik Party in Russia. The uprising was primarily a power struggle between the moderate Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) led by Friedrich Ebert, and the more radical communists of the Communist Party of Germany, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who had previously founded and led the Spartacist League (Spartakusbund). Philipp Scheidemann proclaiming the republic in front of the Reichstag Berlin, 9.11.1918, DHM, Berlin

Rosa Luxemburg 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919 Feminist Icon Polish Jew; Revolutionary Immigrated to Germany in 1898 Controversial figure: Critique of Eduard Bernstein’s Evolutionary Socialism Entusiastic support for the 1905 Russian Revolution Denounced the Great Wear Organized worker’s strikes and movmvents throughout Germany Broke with the German Social Democratic Party during the November Revolution Murdered by the Freikorps in 1919

The Potsdammerplatz by night Six-day bicycle races Patrons of the Eldorado, Berlin’s notorious transvestite bar Marlene Dietrich as the cabaret singer Lola Lola

Monument for the March Dead in Weimar Walter Gropius Dedicated to the memory of nine workers who died resisting the Kapp Putsch Walter Gropius monument to the March Dead; in Metropolis in the middle of the Worker’s scene – what does it refer to? What does it say in the film? Metropolis Monument Pay attention in the film: To what does it refer? What might the director have intended by referencing it?

What is a Title Card? Frames of printed text shown at various points throughout the film. Title cards had three primary purposes: Titles and Credits Background information (also called expository information) about a character or a setting to clarify the action or to provide commentary about a character. To present dialogue, spoken by one or more of the characters.

How to “Read” a Silent Film Explicit Information Implicit Information Clear, direct statements Example: It is raining. Indirect statements that allow interpretation Example: A person comes inside carrying a dripping umbrella. Learn to read between the lines.

Not So Silent Films Silent films were so popular in the 1920s that the majority of musicians in America found work in movie theaters. All this would change in the 1930s when filmmaking technology developed the recorded soundtrack. Fotoplayer: an organ developed by the filmmaking industry to accompany silent films. Along with being a traditional organ, the fotoplayer included „traps” that held a variety of percusion instruments including cymbals, bells, horns and whistles. This allowed the operator to create sound effects to match the action in the movie. In the 1920s, filmmaking technology to synchronize a soundtrack with the images playing on the screen did not exist. That doesn’t mean, however, that silent films were truly silent. Often movie theaters hired musicians to play music to accompany the images on the screen. In large cities, very often the theater hired an ensemble (or group) of musicians to play during the screening of the film. How did they know what to play? Sometimes the movie studio that distributed the films also provided sheet music for the local musicians. The music matched the moving images in tone and tempo. For example, if a scene was sentimental and sweet, the music would be soft and slow. If a character was being chased, then the music was livelier and the tempo, fast-paced. In this way, music influenced how the audience reacted to the screened images. Music helped to tell the story.