Where to watch Metropolis (1927)
Metropolis is available to stream in CA on Hoopla and Tubi TV.
In a futuristic city divided between wealthy rulers above ground and exhausted workers below, a privileged young man encounters the harsh reality sustaining his world. After meeting a compassionate prophet who foresees a mediator, he becomes drawn into the growing conflict between the two classes.
Cast: Brigitte Helm, Gustav Fröhlich, Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Theodor Loos, Fritz Rasp, Erwin Biswanger, Heinrich George, Fritz Alberti, Grete Berger, Olly Boeheim, Heinrich Gotho
Stream | CA
Trivia & production notes
- Thea von Harbou wrote the novel Metropolis specifically to adapt it into a film, then collaborated with her husband Fritz Lang on the screenplay.
- The original screenplay included an ending where Freder flew to the stars, which was later repurposed as the plot for Lang's film Woman in the Moon.
- Brigitte Helm made her feature film debut in Metropolis after Lang discovered her on the set of Die Nibelungen and gave her a screen test.
- Gustav Fröhlich was initially hired as an extra on Metropolis before Thea von Harbou recommended him to Lang for the lead role.
- Filming of the flooded workers' city scene required Brigitte Helm and 500 children from Berlin's poorest districts to work in a pool of water that Fritz Lang deliberately kept cold for 14 days.
- Fritz Lang insisted on using real fire to burn the false Maria at the stake, which caused Brigitte Helm's dress to catch fire during filming.
- Helm fainted during the android transformation scene because she was clamped in a wooden apparatus for so long that she couldn't breathe properly.
- Principal photography lasted 17 months with 310 shooting days and 60 shooting nights, finally wrapping on October 30, 1926.
- The film's budget ballooned from 1.5 million Reichsmarks to 5.3 million Reichsmarks by the time shooting finished, more than three times the original estimate.
- Producer Erich Pommer was fired during production of Metropolis.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article Metropolis (1927 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.
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