Yes, that’s right, ladies and gentlemen, a complete version of Fritz Lang’s classic science-fiction film has been discovered. Lang’s original cut of Metropolis, shown at its premiere in January 1927 through May 1927, was around 210 minutes in length. However theater owners around the world considered this too long and wanted the movie shortened considerably to around 90 minutes. Unfortunately, over the years the original cut of the movie was lost - presumably forever…

Well now there is good news for anyone interested in Metropolis, film archivists at the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires have recently discovered the lost footage on 16mm film negatives. How did it happen? Well, a copy of the “long” version was sent to Argentina in 1928 and soon after a film critic gained possession of the reels. In the 1960s the critic sold the reels to Argentina’s National Art Fund and in 1992 a copy of the reels entered the Museo del Cine collection. In January this year the Paula Félix-Didier became the curator of the Museo del Cine. The new curator’s ex-husband had heard from a manager of a cinema club how he had been surprised how long a screening of Metropolis took years before. Paula Félix-Didier and her ex-husband decided to check out the copy of Metropolis in the Museo del Cine archives - rediscovering the movie’s missing scenes.

Experts who have viewed the footage say that several of the missing scenes are essential in understanding the film. Also, as with many older films the elements are in need of restoration as the last eighty years have left the pictures scratched.

Be sure to check out the full story over at Zeit Online HERE or this article at the Fredrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung which also covers some of the previous restorations HERE.

Don’t forget to drop by Nightly.Net’s Science-Fiction forum to discuss the rediscovery, we hope to see you there!

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