To be read as a continuation of Part 1; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2025/03/lets-all-go-to-movies.html
I should now write about a movie that most certainly wasn't nominated at The Oscars 2025. However it was very influential at both The Oscars 2025 and The Oscars 2024. It's possibly one of the most influential movies ever made.
Metropolis (1927): This movie was made during what's sometimes referred to as; "The Roaring Twenties." The World had just emerged from the tribulations of The First World War (1914-1918) and The Spanish Flu Pandemic (1918-1920) meaning that people were finally able to let loose the near decade of partying and celebration that had been building up. The US city of Los Angeles in particular was booming. Not least due to the success of the new Movie Industry, centred around the L.A neighbourhood of Hollywood.
However The Roaring Twenties was really only something which happened in America. For the rest of the World the 1920's were a very miserable time. It came in the middle of The End of the European Colonial Era. The end of the European Colonial Era began in earnest with the outbreak of The First World War and continued through to the end of The Second World War (1939-1945).
The downfall of The Russian Empire and its withdrawal from The First World War came in 1917 with the Communist Russian Revolution (1917). The German Empire met with a similar fate and The First World War came to an end when the exhausted and, literally, starving German population rose up in revolution and overthrew the German Monarchy. Establishing The Weimar Republic (1918-1933) on November 9th 1918 (9/11/1918). Two days later the newly formed Weimar Republic signed an Armistice with the Allied or Entente Powers of The French Empire, The British Empire and the US. At 11:00 on November 11th 1918 (11/11/1918).
The 1918 Armistice led to The Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920) and the signing of The Treaty of Versailles (1919). That treaty set out to punish The Weimar Republic for the aggression of The German Empire. Forcing it to disarm and cede territory. Both territory that The Entente Powers had seized and parts of The German Empire which now wanted to be independent nation states. The Treaty of Versailles also required The Weimar Republic to pay extensive reparations to The Entente Powers for the damage The German Empire had done to them during The First World War. A war which was really just the European Colonial Powers trying to grab bits of territory off each other.
The Weimar Republic came into being because The First World War economically destroyed The German Empire. It was starving people rioting in the streets over scarce scraps of bread which grew into the revolution that overthrew the German Monarchy. There was very little ideology involved. Just huge anger. Not only did The Weimar Republic have to repay all the debts The German Empire had built up fighting The First World War it also had to pay the reparations of The Treaty of Versailles.
So after the end of The First World War the German economy actually got much worse. Entering into a period of Hyperinflation. Where a loaf of bread cost 160 marks in 1922 by 1923 the cost had risen to 200bn marks. In 1922 one US dollar would buy 320 marks. By 1923 one US dollar would buy 4.2tn marks.
Although never as bad as in The Weimar Republic similar economic annihilation was affecting all of Europe. Despite being one of the victors of The First World War Britain experienced a full-blown Economic Depression (1920-1921). It's often said that The Roaring Twenties came to an end with The Wall Street Crash (1929) and The Great Depression (1929-1945). The Great Depression actually marked a period of slight economic recovery in Europe.
At the start of the 20th Century China was in seemingly terminal decline. Under the Qing Dynasty it had become nothing more than a patchwork of fiefdoms controlled by Foreign Colonial Powers. The most famous probably being The Shanghai International Settlement (1863-1943) which saw the Chinese city of Shanghai being run by Britain and America under British laws.
In 1899 Chinese anger against the Foreign Colonialists grew to the point that a militia was raised to fight and, hopefully, expel them. United Righteous and Harmonious Fists (Yiheguan). In 1900 the Yiheguan marched on and laid siege to the Chinese capital, Beijing, where the Foreign Colonialists where headquartered. This saw the Qing Dynasty, finally, side with the Yiheguan against the Foreign Colonialists.
The Yiheguan were a secret society united by the practice of a sect of Asian Animist belief systems. Part of that religious practice involved training in Martial Arts. So the Foreign Colonialists dismissed the Yiheguan as; "The Boxers" and their uprising as; "The Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901)."
The Foreign Colonialists formed an official alliance to invade China and end The Boxer Rebellion - the; "Eight Nation Alliance." The Eight Nation Alliance's crushing of The Boxer Rebellion led to China being forced to sign The Boxer Protocol (1901). This saw China having to pay reparations for damage done during The Boxer Rebellion and cede control of even more of its territory to the Foreign Colonialists.
In 1911 a network of militias similar to the Yiheguan rebelled and overthrew the Qing Dynasty. The 1911 Revolution or Toilsome Pig Revolution. The idea of The 1911 Revolution was to establish China as a Republic and then to negotiate the return of its territory from the Foreign Colonialists. However it was backed by similar organised crime; "Triad" secret societies from Imperial Japan as a way to block the expansion of The Russian Empire further into China.
Obviously the European Colonial Powers quickly became all consumed by The First World War. So their interest in China declined. Three members of the Eight Nation Alliance actually ceased to exist during The First World War. The Russian Empire in particular ceased to exist in 1917. So following the 1911 Revolution not much actually changed in China. It continued to be a patchwork of fiefdoms run by shrinking Foreign Colonialist powers and growing organised crime groups like the Yiheguan.
By the 1920's Russia had emerged from the end of The Russian Empire and established itself as The Communist Soviet Union (USSR). It then set about spreading Communism Worldwide. Including by backing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 1925 the Chinese Communist Party allied itself with the Fascist Kuomintang (KMT) to extend the control of the government of the Republic of China, established by The 1911 Revolution, throughout all of China.
From 1926 onwards the KMT and the CCP had a big falling out. Eventually seeing them go to war with each other The Chinese Civil War (1927-1949). Seeing Russian influence in China growing again Imperial Japan invaded China in 1937, The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), which became part of The Second World War.
Metropolis is a Communist warning about growing anger and rising Fascism in The Weimar Republic and the wider World. As Communist propaganda it, obviously, sees Communism as the solution to both the anger and Fascism.
Metropolis issues this warning by telling a tale of two cities. Inspired by the 1859 novel by Charles Dickens; "A Tale Of Two Cities" which is set amongst the rising anger which led to The French Revolution (1789-1799).
The first city in Metropolis is The Surface City. A sleek, modern, wealthy utopia which is home to; "The Top 10,000." What these days would be referred to as; "The 1%." The extremely wealthy and their children. The second city in Metropolis is The Worker's City. An underground industrial dystopia where the workers, the 99%, toil at the machines which make the 1% wealthy. Never getting to experience the daylight and fresh air of the Surface City.
The movie begins with us being introduced to Freder Fredersen, played by Gustav Fröhlich, one of the spoiled children of the Top 10,000. In fact Freder Fredersen is the most privileged of the Nepo Babies. His father is Joh Fredersen, played by Alfred Abel, the master or ruler of Metropolis.
When we first meet Freder Fredersen he and his fellow Nepo Babies are engaged in sports. Running against each other in a foot race in what looks like a vast, ornate Olympic stadium. Booming Los Angeles was awarded The 1932 Summer Olympics back in 1923 when there were no other bidders. While the rest of the World was trying to decide whether it could afford to attend the Olympics LA was busy unveiling its vast and vastly expensive Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
When they're not engaged in idle pursuits Freder Fredersen and the other Nepo Babies while away their time in an ornate and luxurious; "Pleasure Garden." There young women compete for the affections of the eligible bachelors. Rather like the sort of Victorian speed-dating shown in modern TV shows such as; "Bridgerton." Although I don't think the filmmakers would be at all upset if you were to mistake these women of easy leisure for prostitutes.
Suddenly the fun of the Pleasure Garden is disrupted when the doors open and Freder and the Nepo Babies are confronted by dozens of grubby children. The children of the Worker's City. Amongst the children is Maria, played by Brigitte Helm, who has produced the children of the Worker's City to show Freder and the Nepo Babies their brothers and sisters.
Communism is a political theory devised by two journalists during the time of The German Empire, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Primarily in The Communist Manifesto (1848). They observe that The Industrial Revolution has seen society divided into two classes. The Bourgeoisie - the Capitalists, those who own the means of production - and The Proletariat - the Workers, those who actually make the things which make the Bourgeoisie rich. However "Proletariat" doesn't actually mean; "Workers." It's actually Latin for; "Producer of Offspring," a; "Parent" essentially.
So in this scene where Maria produces the children, the offspring, Maria is being established as the Proletariat - the voice of the workers.
Security guards at the Pleasure Garden quickly come to usher Maria and the offspring she's produced away, slamming the doors behind her. However Freder seems so enamoured by Maria and the offspring she has helped produce he decides to follow them. Rushing from the Surface City to the Worker's City, in the hope of joining Maria and the children she helped produce.
Entering the Worker's City Freder encounters not Maria but The Heart Machine, apparently the most important machine in all of Metropolis. He then witnesses a terrible industrial accident in which the Heart Machine explodes, killing and badly injuring many workers. However the Top 10,000 have ordered that production must not stop. So more workers are brought in to keep the Heart Machine running, stepping over the bodies of their dead and gravely injured colleagues.
Such is the shock of this sight that it causes Freder to hallucinate. He sees the Heart Machine as a living, breathing monster feasting on the Human sacrifice of the workers. This is a reference to Maloch a god from the Jewish Bible. From a time when Judaism was a polytheistic religion. Jews had relationships with many different gods, at the same time. Maloch is a god that requires Human sacrifice. Although more recent interpretations see him as an allegory for the practice of Human sacrifice.
During this time many Jews were held in slavery in Egypt. Eventually escaping, under the leadership of Moses, in The Exodus. Returning to Israel long before the European Colonisers of the Peleset first arrived. In many depictions Maloch resembles an Egyptian Sphinx. Such as The Great Sphinx of Giza, which many Jewish slaves were sacrificed to build. Alongside The Pyramids of Giza. This is particularly true of the way Maloch is depicted in Metropolis. It is the movie's first of many warnings about the growing anger and rising Fascism in The Weimar Republic being particularly directed towards Jews.
Freder is so shocked by the industrial accident that as soon as he recovers from his hallucination he rushes to his Father to demand answers. It is here we meet Joh Fredersen for the first time. He is at work in a vast tower in the centre of the Surface City, watching numbers rise and fall on a vast, futuristic, electronic screen on the wall. As office workers around him monitor telegraph ticker messages, fill in documents and pass them around between each other. Joh Fredersen is the American Financier, the most successful Capitalist. Standing in a Merchant Bank, surveying the trading floor of the Wall Street Stock Exchange.
Joh Fredersen feigns shock and outrage when his son brings him news of the explosion. The type of industrial accident that only Freder Fredersen doesn't know is a daily occurrence within the Worker's City. Joh Fredersen then directs his anger towards his assistant Josaphat, played by Theodor Loos. Demanding to know why he is hearing about accident from Freder, not Josaphat. Joh Fredersen then fires Josaphat, telling him to collect the last of his wages from the bank.
This sends Josaphat into a deep despair. He knows that to be dismissed by Joh Fredersen means being cast out from his nice life as an office worker in the Surface City and sent down to become a manual worker in the Worker's City. Where workers are fed into machines like Human sacrifices. As he leaves Joh Fredersen's office Josaphat is about to commit suicide, pulling out a pistol and holding it to his head.
However Freder chases him and stops him. Consoling him and getting Josaphat to give him his address so they can meet up that night. So deep is Freder's affection for Josaphat, so tight the embrace, this is the first of the movie's many clues. That perhaps Freder is not attracted to Maria as a woman, but as a means of production for offspring.
Freder then rushes back into the Worker's City. Rather than finding Maria and the offspring she helped produce he finds another great machine. This machine resembles a clock face. The worker must position the hands of the clock so they correspond with lights that illuminate around the bezel.
It is one of many differences between the Surface City and the Worker's City. In the Surface City all the clocks and watches are normal, numbered from 1 to 12. However in the Worker's City all the clocks and watches measure time in 10 hours, displaying only numbers 1 to 10. At the start and end of each 10 hour period a whistle blows throughout the Worker's City and the workers change shifts.
This is a reference to The Eight-Hour Day Movement. Which was one of the earliest demands from worker's rights, before Trade Unions became a thing. The Industrial Revolution saw workers leave farm work and start working in factories. Farm work was determined by daylight, you would work when it was light and stop when it got dark. Factory work was all day and all night. Shifts were often 10 hours long and sometimes as long as 16 hours. The Eight-Hour Day Movement demanded that the 24 hour day be divided into three; 8 hours for working, 8 hours for sleeping and 8 hours for recreation. Spain was the first European nation to adopt the 8 hour day in 1919.
Unable to keep up with the physically demanding 10 hour day the worker at this machine collapses in exhaustion. Freder rushes over and tenderly cradles him in his arms. Played by Erwin Biswanger the worker is actually named Georgy, although the Top 10,000 who control the machines know him only by a number, 11811. Freder then tells Georgy that he wants to swap places with him. So they switch clothes and Georgy heads to the Surface City where he has arranged to join Freder and Josaphat for the date night they've got planned for later. While Freder takes up Georgy's place at the machine.
So deep is Freder's affection for Georgy, so tight his embrace of the beautiful blonde haired man. That this provides the movie's second of a great many clues. Freder really isn't attracted to Maria. Merely her ability to help produce children.
At around 18:20 on 20/3/25 (UK date) apparently we've all got to down tools for another three days now.
Edited at around 17:30 on 24/3/25 (UK date) to tidy the above and copy & paste;
Dressed in Freder's clothes Georgy visits the Surface City for the very first time. He gets into Freder's chauffeur driven limousine and instructs the driver to take him to Josaphat's address. While in the limousine Georgy finds, in the pockets of Freder's clothes, more money than he has even seen in his life. A Drag Queen also hands him a flyer to a nightclub. So Georgy instructs the driver to take him to the nightclub instead.
The Roaring Twenties were really only something which happened in America. However there was still a tiny percentage of rich people in Europe at the time. Mainly the children of the people who sold all the weapons and owned all the debt which had fuelled The First World War. They spent their time partying away in nightclubs and Cabaret clubs.
During the time of The Weimar Republic Germany was really the gay capital of the World. Although Greek in origin the term; "Homosexuality" was actually invented in Germany in the mid-19th Century. The first gay-rights organisation was founded in Germany in 1897. The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitte/WhK) which campaigned for the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) people through the slogan; "Per scientiam ad justiam" (Through science to justice).
The constitution adopted by The Weimar Republic placed huge emphasis on the right to a private life. It also forbade the establishment of a state religion. Similar to the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Making it impossible to interfere with someone's private life, such as their sexuality, on the grounds that it was Sinful. In 1923 Courts ruled that depictions of homosexuality were not, in themselves, obscene. Meaning that they could only be censored in the same way that depictions of heterosexuality could be censored. If the specific sexual act being portrayed was so graphic and erotic that it outraged Public Morals.
During The First World War prostitution was not only legal in The German Empire it was state run. The German military employed prostitutes and operated brothels to provide sexual services to German troops. So it was something that everyone was aware of and most had firsthand experience of. Meaning that when it came to depictions of heterosexual sex acts there were very few Public Morals left to outrage.
At this time all of Europe had a bit of an obsession with Asia. The East, the Orient. Much of the Far-East, such as China, was under the control of the European Colonial Powers. While The Ottoman Empire (1453-1922) had sided with The German Empire during The First World War leading to its collapse. Opening up its exotic colonies to Europeans for the first time. Strictly speaking; "The Middle-East" is actually; "West Asia."
Many European artists and intellectuals were particularly fascinated by the story of Salome. She is part of the story of the life of one of Jesus Christ's disciples, John The Baptist. A Jewish princess Salome was the adoptive daughter of King Herod II. She performed a dance for him that is said to be so erotically charged that he immediately fell in love/lust with her and offered to give her anything she wanted. What Salome wanted was the head of John The Baptist. Served to her on a silver platter. The dance which Salome performed later became described as; "The Dance of the Seven Veils." Although that's not a term ever used in the original story in the New Testament of the Bible.
Particularly in Germany people seemed particularly interested in the play; "Salomé" written by gay icon Oscar Wilde in 1893. The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee was formed around four days after Oscar Wilde's release from imprisonment for homosexuality in 1897. Oscar Wilde's version of Salome was adapted into a 1923 Hollywood movie; "Salomé" directed by Alla Nazimova who was openly bisexual. Hollywood legend has it that, in tribute to Oscar Wilde, all of the cast and crew of Nazimova's Salomé were gay or bisexual.
Salome inspired performances were marked by full nudity and sexual content. This was the era of Mata Hari. The Dutch woman, Margaretha Zelle, who divorced her husband in the Dutch East Indies Colony (Indonesia) to become a Salome inspired Cabaret performer in Europe. During The First World War she was executed by France for spying for The German Empire. If that hadn't had happened then, no doubt, her career would have continued into the 1920's.
The revolution which brought The Weimar Republic into being was one that was fuelled by anger rather than any specific ideology. However there were certainly a lot of Communists active in Germany at the time. Communists viewed ideas such a monogamy and marriage to be Bourgeois concepts designed to prevent revolution and the creation of the Communist utopia. One of the; "Chains" The Communist Manifesto refers to.
So the Cabaret and nightclub scene of The Weimar Republic was a swirl of polyamory, orgies, pansexuality, gender-fluidity and nudity. One of the most famous celebrities of the era was Anita Berber, an openly bisexual woman who performed nude on stage and dressed as a man in public. Performing dances with names such as; "Cocaine" and; "Morphium" she was an alcoholic and drug addict who died at the age of 29.
The word most often used to describe the Cabaret and nightclub culture in The Weimar Republic is; "Decadent." Meaning; "In a State of (moral) Decline and Collapse." It was immortalised in the 1930 German movie; "The Blue Angel" which portrays a professor's transition into a Cabaret clown and his decadentia into madness. It helped launched the career of Marlene Dietrich in America. She went onto become a Las Vegas' Cabaret performer infamous for her Mata Hari-style nude-effect bodystocking dresses.
At this point in the movie the Cabaret/nightclub is not shown. However it is named as; "Yoshiwara." A name borrowed from a famous prostitution district in Tokyo in Edo Period Japan. This invokes the European obsession with the Orient at the time along with The Shanghai International Settlement, as a decadent pleasure garden for the idle European elite. While also touching on the growing tensions between the Soviet backed Chinese Communist Party and the Fascist KMT, backed by Imperial Japan.
While this is going on Joh Fredersen summons The Thin Man, played by Fritz Rasp. His head of security, his spy, his Pinkerton. Joh Fredersen instructs The Thin Man to put Freder Fredersen under surveillance, spying on him wherever he goes. Initially The Thin Man is confused, following Georgy rather than Freder.
Joh Fredersen is also visited by Grot, played by Heinrich George, the guardian or foreman of The Heart Machine. Grot shows Joh Fredersen these strange drawings he has found in the clothes of the workers killed in the earlier industrial accident. In an effort to find out what these strange drawings mean Joh Fredersen summons Rotwang, played Rudolf Klein-Rogge, the inventor, the mad scientist who designed and created Metropolis.
Before Joh Fredersen can ask Rotwang about the drawings Rotwang insists on showing him his latest invention. The Machine Man. A sort of Artificial Intelligence (AI) drone/robot which can have grafted onto it the physical likeness and personality of any Human. Rotwang has invented Machine Man as a way to bring Hel Fredersen back to life.
As far as I can tell both Rotwang and Joh Fredersen were in love with Hel before Hel chose Joh Fredersen and married him, dying while giving birth to Freder Fredersen.
At least I think that's what happened. Metropolis is a silent movie. So there is no dialogue to help tell the story. Only the occasional inter-title card flashed up on screen. All the story-telling has to be done through the actor's physical actions, almost like Mime. At this point everyone was still super impressed that they were able to get a series of photographs to appear to move by quickly spooling them in front of a bright light. No-one yet really had any idea what they were supposed to be doing to tell a story in these moving photographs.
Eventually Rotwang explains to Joh Fredersen that the drawings are maps to the catacombs deep beneath the Worker's City. Essentially; "The City of the Dead." "The City of the Angels." "Los Angeles." Rotwang and Joh Fredersen then set out to see what these maps are leading to in the catacombs.
Meanwhile Freder is still working at the clock machine. Struggling to keep up with the physical exertion. At one point he cries out for his Father, begging to know when the 10 hours will end! A clear demand for Germany to adopt the Eight-Hour Day Movement. Reaching into his pocket for a cloth to wipe away the sweat Freder discovers one of these maps. Recognising it another worker tells Freder that there is going to be another meeting at the end of shift.
At the end of the 10 hour shift Freder joins the other workers in the catacombs for this mysterious meeting. While Rotwang and Joh Fredersen spy on it through a hole in the wall. They all discover Maria to be leading the workers in what closely resembles a Christian Church service, a mass.
Maria has already been established as the proletariat, the producer of offspring, the Mother. Her name is the Latin version of; "Mary." So she is intended to be The Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ.
The type of Christian Church service Maria is conducting is supposed to invoke The Angelus Temple in the Echo Park neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Considered America's first Megachurch it was established by the female preacher Aimee Semple McPherson. Known as Sister Aimee she built her Megachurch by embracing a new technology of the time - Long-wave Radio. This allowed her to preach to millions of people across America. Along with allowing her sermons to be recorded and played to millions of people outside of America. She even faked her own kidnapping in 1926 to drum up publicity.
Along with the reference to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Joh Fredersen as the American Financier this reference to Aimee Semple McPherson in The Place of Angels was all to get America to notice The Weimar Republic. An optimist would hope that was so the American Capitalists who owned by of the debt of The First World War would help relieve the pressure of the rising anger and Fascism in Europe. While a realist might think that it was just this group of struggling filmmakers hoping to be noticed by booming Hollywood and rescued by the wealthy studio bosses.
The lesson or sermon Maria preaches in her service is of The Tower of Babel from the Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, book of Genesis. The intellectuals, the "heads" of a society decide to build a great tower. However they are unable to build it themselves so they have to employ workers the; "hands" of society. Where the heads of society see a great project of salvation the hands are only able for see themselves toiling and dying in the dust. So seeming unable to speak the same language a conflict emerges between the heads and the hands and society collapses.
Maria explains that this conflict could have been avoided if only society had a; "heart." A mediator to translate between the head and the hands. At which point a heavenly light bathes Freder as he finds himself, apparently anointed by God, to be that mediator. The Messiah, the all important leader of society.
The thing is that this isn't even close to the story of The Tower of Babel. Sometimes referred to as The Tower of Babylon the story is an origin myth for how all the different Races and languages of the World came into being.
Initially there was only one Race and only one language. It decided to challenge the authority of God by building a tower which would reach all the way into Heaven and at the top write a message, essentially, telling God to p*ss off. To stop this from happening God cursed Humans by making them start talking in many different languages so they could no longer understand each other. The tower collapsed and Humans divided to create all the different Races and nations. Racism being a form of enslavement intended to prevent Humans reaching the utopia of Heaven.
One possible reason for this mistelling is that it allows the story to be shown in the form of slaves toiling away in an Egyptian-like desert landscape. Building these huge monuments in the style of Pyramids or the Great Sphinx of Giza. Another warning that the rising anger in Europe is being particularly targeted towards the Jews, the Hebrew Slaves.
Another possible explanation is that Communism is an aggressively Atheist ideology. It is almost a religion in itself so it sees all other religions as a threat to its authority. It views religion as another of the Bourgeois chains that the worker's must lose on the path to true revolution and utopia. In her widely broadcast sermons Aimee Semple McPherson often portrayed the fight against Communism as an apocalyptic battle for the soul of humanity. So this mistelling was supposed to be seen as the Christian Church lying about the story of The Tower of Babel.
A similar trick to the one John Hobbes used in; "Leviathan." There he argued for an all powerful Sovereign, anointed by God, which had full control of education, the Church's teachings. Yet he invoked the Hebrew Bible version of Leviathan to show how the teachings of God had been changed by Humans as a form of social control.
Mainly for its own propaganda purposes Communism likes to portray religion as a particular Bourgeois chain holding back these newly named homosexuals. With its obsession with monogamy, opposite sex marriage and the production of offspring.
So the cool kids of Communism would find this scene to be deeply mocking, possibly even quite hurtful. As Freder abandons his boyfriends and true purpose to fall under the spell of Mother Mary and the cult of the production of offspring. We may even be touching on one person's specific heartbreak here. The scene is made all the more hurtful when Freder and Maria engage in a particularly chaste, forced kiss and agree to meet in the Cathedral the following day. Presumably for their wedding.
Although for Capitalist, rather than Communist, reasons the watching Joh Fredersen is also outraged by the sight of Freder falling under the spell of the cult of the Proletariat. So he orders Rotwang to graft the personality and physical likeness of Maria onto Machine Man to provide a sort of AI sex robot for Freder instead.
Rotwang is quietly enraged by Joh Fredersen's order. As he had sacrificed his own hand to build Machine Man in order to graft onto it the personality and physical likeness of Hel. To provide himself with an AI sex robot of his great unrequited love. However Rotwang dutifully carries out the order. Kidnapping Maria and grafting her physical likeness and personality onto Machine Man.
With Maria being kidnapped by Rotwang she is unable to meet Freder in the Cathedral the next day. Leaving him searching the Cathedral for her. There he encounters statues portraying The Seven Deadly Sins. Clearly establishing this as a Catholic Christian Cathedral.
Protestant Christianity began in Germany, Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses on Indulgences. Literally as a protest against the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. Particularly its use as Sin as a form of Taxation. So the big difference that emerged between Catholic Christianity and Protestant Christianity was that where Catholics used the Covenant of Works Protestants adopted the Covenant of Grace. It didn't matter how you behaved, how many of God's rules you broke. The fact you believed in God was enough to get you into Heaven. No tax owed.
So while the concept of Sin does exist within Protestant Christianity it doesn't carry anywhere near as much importance as it does within Catholic Christianity. Protestants also particularly objected to the veneration of Saints, through the paying of more tax, so they also have much less importance in Protestant Christianity. When Oliver Cromwell turned Britain into a Puritan Protestant Christian Republic he made the celebration of Christmas illegal. The celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ was seen as too much of a distraction from the dour work of serving God. You can imagine what the Puritans views on the veneration or celebration of the Virgin Mary, as Jesus' mere Mother, were like.
Like the majority of Germany and America at the time Aimee Semple McPherson was a Protestant Christian. So the idea of clearly establishing that the movie is focusing on Catholic Christianity seems like a deliberate attempt by the Communists not to alienate their audience. Attempting to pretend that they are joining Protestant Christians in their hatred of Catholic Christians. Rather than attacking all of Christianity as a Bourgeois chain.
Unable to find Maria at the Cathedral Freder finally arrives at Josaphat's home. There we discover that Josaphat is not married and has no children. Josaphat is the archetypal Bourgeois, closeted homosexual. Quietly living alone in his life of luxury. Freder is heartbroken to discover that Georgy has decided not to join their little Ménage-à-trois (house of three). There is then a very emotionally intense scene in which Freder wrestles with his desire to stay with Josaphat or pursue, what he has decided is, his destiny with Maria. Josaphat and Freder actually come very close to kissing. Surely something the censor would allow, given that it allowed the very chaste kiss between Freder and Maria.
Freder decides to abandon his boyfriend and pursue Maria. As this happens Georgy is shown leaving the Yoshiwara Cabaret/nightclub where he finds The Thin Man waiting for him, in Freder's limousine. Realising he has been following the wrong man The Thin Man angrily orders Georgy to return to the Worker's City and rushes to Josaphat's address in pursuit of Freder.
The Thin Man discovers Josaphat alone in his apartment. However upon finding Georgy's hat he realises that Freder has been there, despite Josaphat's denials. The Thin Man then offers Josaphat increasing amounts of money to get him to leave town and never see Freder again. Eventually he offers him a cheque which makes clear he is representing Joh Fredersen, the master of Metropolis. When Josaphat still refuses to leave town and Freder The Thin Man beats him up. To the point you wonder if he has been killed.
A reference to the homophobia of the Capitalists. The lengths they will go to to keep even their own children in the Bourgeois chains of monogamy, opposite sex marriage and the production of offspring.
By this point Rotwang has successfully grafted Maria's personality and physical likeness onto Machine Man and delivered it to Joh Fredersen. However Rotwang has not fulfilled Joh Fredersen's order to create an AI DeepFake Maria which will follow Joh Fredersen's instructions. Instead Rotwang has created an AI DeepFake Maria which will follow Rotwang's instructions to destroy Metropolis. Revenge for Joh Fredersen denying Rotwang even an AI sex robot version of his great unrequited love, Hel.
Sarcastically Rotwang delivers DeepFake Maria to Joh Fredersen with a letter. Informing him that he has created a machine that will serve Joh Fredersen with integrity and honour. What is interesting is that in this letter, which is shown onscreen, Rotwang has expressed integrity and honour by using the word; "Mensch." This means integrity and honour, however it is a Yiddish word. In Europe at the time Yiddish was seen as the Jewish Language. It's use here, particularly on a piece of paper, being a reference to the Golem of Jewish folklore. Particularly The Golem of Prague story which was so influential on Sci-Fi/Fantasy stories at the time. While also serving as a further warning that the rising anger was being particularly directed towards the Jews.
This is something that Thierry Mugler seems to have particularly focused on in the creation of his 1996 dress inspired by the Machine Man character from Metropolis. Choosing to call it; "Machinenmensch" rather than simply; "Machine Man." The term Machinenmensch is never used in the movie.
At around 18:25 on 24/3/25 (UK date) I hope to finish this tomorrow.
Edited at around 18:15 on 25/3/25 (UK date) to tidy all of the above and copy & paste;
After creating DeepFake Maria Rotwang keeps actual Maria prisoner in his house. Passing by Freder hears her cries for help and attempts to rescue her. Only to be overcome at the sight of DeepFake Maria in action.
Within the Worker's City DeepFake Maria has taken over Maria's sermons in the catacombs. While Maria preached of patience and faith that a mediator or saviour will one day come DeepFake Maria preaches a message of hate and the need for urgent, violent action. In her wild-eyed, almost maniacal mannerisms Brigitte Helm is very reminiscent of Adolf Hitler. Someone who was already politically active and well known within Germany at the time.
In 1921 Adolf Hitler became leader of what would become the Nazi Party. In order to boost party membership Hitler began holding rallies and giving impassioned speeches in Beer Halls. These were large, almost concert sized, venues where people would gather to drink and socialise. The people who attended Beer Halls were the ordinary people, the workers. The people who had no interest in Germany's decadent Cabaret/nightclubs.
In October 1922 Italian Fascist Benito Mussolini staged his March On Rome. In which his paramilitary forces marched on the Italian capital and overthrew the Italian government. Establishing Italy as a Fascist state and Benito Mussolini as its leader. In November 1923 Adolf Hitler saw this as the path to power in Germany so launched his own attempts to overthrow, first, the State government in Bavaria and then the German national government.
This November 1923 Beer Hall Putsch as it became known was a total failure. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party only succeeded in overthrowing the government in just the Bavarian city of Munich for about a day. However it was an event dramatic enough that it made news headlines not just throughout Germany but internationally. Adolf Hitler was arrested and put on trial for High Treason. He used the trial as a way to further spread his message, giving impassioned speeches about how his actions were needed to save Germany from the Jews, the Communists and the shame of the Treaty of Versailles.
Ultimately Adolf Hitler was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. However a very sympathetic Court sentenced him to Festungshaft (Fortress Confinement) which is a sort of minimum security, open, prison reserved for those the Court thinks have acted with honourable but misguided motives. Essentially declaring to the nation that Germany needed to be protected from the Jews, the Communists and the shame of The Treaty of Versailles. It was only Adolf Hitler's tactics that were wrong.
It was while in prison that Adolf Hitler wrote his manifesto; Mein Kampf. Despite being sentenced to five years in prison Adolf Hitler was released after just eight months. Allowing him to promote the release of both volumes of Mein Kampf, in 1925 and 1926, with rallies and impassioned, slightly deranged, speeches. Adolf Hitler also attempted to boost his and the Nazi Party's public profile but getting the Nazi Party to launch attacks leading to street battles and riots with the Rot Front (Red Front), a paramilitary wing of the German Communist Party (KPD).
When DeepFake Maria is not in the Worker's City delivering Hitler-esque rants she is in the Surface City. Appearing at the Yoshiwara Cabaret/nightclub performing near nude, erotically charged Salome-style dances. Something Joh Fredersen thinks will keep the Top 10,000 entertained and compliant, distracted from the anger growing within the Worker's City. The filmmaker's complaint at their contemporaries continued ignorance at the rising anger and Fascism within The Weimar Republic.
Freder Fredersen is so overcome by the twin sights of DeepFake Maria that he again slips into hallucination. Seeing himself back in the Cathedral watching the statues of The Seven Deadly Sins come to life and advance. He also sees The Thin Man as a priest, preaching the story of the Whore of Babylon from the New Testament Book of Revelations. With the relevant page of Martin Luther's mass produced Bible translation shown on screen. The image that a German audience would instantly recognise.
The Whore of Babylon is not an actual woman, let alone a prostitute. It's an allegory inspired by the Old Testament books of the Prophets, Isaiah etc. If a nation, represented by its capital city, has dishonoured God, through Sin then it is likened to a woman who has prostituted herself, become a whore, and must be punished. The most typical punishment being rape. Meaning the nation's forcible penetration and invasion by a foreign army that, through punishment, will restore it to God.
This is something which was very relevant to the situation The Weimar Republic found itself in. Prior to The First World War the Alsace region of what is now France was part of The German Empire. Under The Treaty of Versailles The Weimar Republic had to cede the Alsace Region to France. While the Rhineland region of Germany was occupied by French and Belgian troops.
Both Germany's loss of the Alsace Region and Rhineland could certainly be likened to the Biblical metaphor of rape and violation. When Adolf Hitler came to power he invoked this language with one of his earliest causes; "The Rhineland Bastards." The illegitimate mixed-race children Fathered by French troops from its African colonies. No doubt the radical Feminists of the time, not just the lesbians, would have had much to say about the male being the all powerful and the female being the property that must be punished for daring to express her own desires.
It is through his hallucination of the Whore of Babylon that Freder sees Rotwang's true plan. Joh Fredersen thinks that DeepFake Maria will keep the Top 10,000 distracted from the growing anger within the Worker's City. However DeepFake Maria follows Rotwang's instructions, not Joh Fredersen. Rotwang is using DeepFake Maria to take revenge on Joh Fredersen by whipping the Top 10,000 into such a frenzy of lust that they will help destroy Metropolis. A city that will bring about its own destruction through its Sinful ways.
So severe is Freder's hallucination that it causes him to lose consciousness for ten whole days. He finally awakens in Josaphat's apartment. Apparently The Thin Man neither killed him nor forced him to leave Metropolis.
Josaphat tells Freder of the terrible decline of the Nepo Babies in the Surface City under DeepFake Maria's spell. Gone are the happy days spent in noble pursuits the Pleasure Garden. Instead now everyone spends all of their time in the Yoshiwara Cabaret/nightclub. Where their lust for DeepFake Maria has given rise to other deadly sins such as pride, greed, envy and wrath. With fights and murders happening every day. The Bourgeois, closeted bachelor Josaphat's memories of the happy days in the Pleasure Garden are illustrated by a first person perspective of a Fencing sword-fight with a handsome young man. A censor-baiting reference to two gay men playing with each other's penises.
Freder is almost too caught up in his own sorrow to listen to Josaphat's story. Asking himself how he can go on without someone who is loyal and faithful. This could be seen as Freder not realising that the Maria he has witnessed preaching hate and dancing erotically is DeepFake Maria. It could also be seen as a reference to how Rotwang has tricked Joh Fredersen, creating a DeepFake Maria who is loyal and faithful to Rotwang. However it also seems very reminiscent to Freder's upset when Georgy decided not to join Freder and Josaphat's little Ménage-à-trois.
Freder again abandons Josaphat choosing to pursue the cult of the production of offspring. Rushing down to the Worker's City to fulfil his destiny as the mediator. Concerned that he's still not in his right mind the ever dutiful Josaphat follows him.
Unfortunately for everyone this is the day that Joh Fredersen thinks his plan will come to fruition. His head of security, The Thin Man, brings him news of more violence and unrest within the Worker's City. Having fuelled this unrest with DeepFake Maria Joh Fredersen tells The Thin Man that whatever the residents of the Worker's City do that night the security forces are to stand-by and let it happen.
We are then shown Rotwang explaining to his captive, actual Maria, that Joh Fredersen's plan is to allow the residents of the Worker's City to commit a small, yet violent outrage. He can then use their violence as an excuse for a violent crackdown against them. A reference to Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch and warning to the German Communist Party (KPD) not to fall into Adolf Hitler's trap of attacking them in the streets to use their reaction to prove to the public how dangerous they are.
Rotwang takes great pleasure in telling actual Maria that he has tricked Joh Fredersen. Joh Fredersen does not realise the level of violence that DeepFake Maria is about to unleash.
At around 19:00 on 25/3/25 (UK date) I've still much to do.
Edited at around 18:00 on 26/3/25 (UK date) to tidy all of the above and copy & paste;
Freder and Josaphat arrive in the catacombs just as DeepFake Maria is giving the workers their last rallying call. Telling them they have been waiting patiently for the mediator however their saviour has still not arrived. So they must take matters into their own hands, destroying the machines which are fed with their flesh and oiled with their blood.
Freder is convinced that this is a reference to his ten day absence so announces himself to the group trying to reassure them that the mediator, their saviour, has returned. The problem is that Freder seems to be the only one who has decided that he is the mediator, the saviour. Whipped up into a frenzy by DeepFake Maria the workers certainly aren't in any mood to accept him as their saviour.
So the workers attack Freder and Josaphat. When one of the mob attempts to stab Freder Georgy steps in, protecting him. Getting killed in the process. As the workers rush off to destroy the machines Freder lovingly cradles a dying Georgy in his arms and laments that he had been loyal and faithful after all.
As news of the workers March on the Machines spreads to the Surface City Joh Fredersen learns that his only son, Freder, is not safe in the Surface City. Instead he is in great danger within the Worker's City. Distraught Joh Fredersen abandons his office in a vast tower in the centre of Metropolis to search for Freder. His search takes him past Rotwang's house where actual Maria is being held prisoner. Joh Fredersen enters the house and fights Rotwang. Allowing actual Maria to flee to the Worker's City.
After smashing their way through many of the machines the workers arrive at the gates or doors of The Heart Machine, the most important machine in all of Metropolis. Grot, the guardian or foreman of The Heart Machine seals the doors and tries to defend The Heart Machine from the rampaging mob.
Convinced that Freder has been killed in the violence in the Worker's City a distraught Joh Fredersen returns to his office. He uses a super futuristic video call to contact Grot. Having given up on everything, life itself, Joh Fredersen instructs Grot to open the doors and let the rampaging mob destroy The Heart Machine.
As The Heart Machine is being destroyed we're finally given some idea of what it does, why it is considered the most important machine in all of Metropolis. The one where production can never cease. It seems that The Heart Machine is like a modern, for its time, Hydroelectric Dam. It stops water flooding the underground Worker's City and provides electricity to both the Worker's City and the Surface City.
As The Heart Machine is destroyed and water starts to flood the Worker's City we are exposed to a horrifying truth. Having allowed themselves to be whipped up into a blind frenzy of hatred by DeepFake Maria the workers have forgotten their own children. Abandoning them in the Worker's City where they will surely all drown amid the rising flood waters.
I think the impending death of all the Worker's City's abandoned children is the most shocking, most appalling thing that the filmmakers could think of. The only thing that would show how despicably the workers have behaved, allowing themselves to be whipped up into a (Nazi) hate mob.
It seems to be a universal truth, shared amongst all Mammals that babies are adorable. It is no small question to ask why babies and very young children seem to elicit such strong emotions within us.
Some would argue that it's the result of Social Conditioning. For our whole lives we've been taught that babies and very young children are precious and we must protect them. So we believe that babies and very young children are precious and we must protect them. While others argue that it is a Biological Imperative, something which is encoded in our DNA. For the species to survive babies must be born and survive into adults. So protecting babies and very young children is a matter of protecting ourselves, ensuring our own, collective, survival. I have to say that I'm inclined to believe in the latter. From the way I've observed Mammals, like Foxes, Cats and Dogs, respecting the very young offspring of rival species they would normally hunt and kill.
Whatever the reason intentionally harming babies and very young children is considered the ultimate taboo in, really, all cultures. It is why child killers and child rapists are treated with such disgust. Why when Britain wanted to draw attention itself in the Summer of 2024 it organised a knife attack against very young children at a Taylor Swift themed dance party.
Fortunately for the children actual Maria was able to make her way back to the Worker's City just before the transport machines connecting it to the Surface City were destroyed by the rampaging mob. So she gathers the children in the Worker's City around a very Asian, Oriental style gong, presumably used to summon the workers to work. Luckily for actual Maria and the children they are soon discovered by Freder and Josaphat. Josaphat knows a way to escape from the Worker's City through air shafts and chimneys. The trio lead the children to the Surface City and the safety of the Pleasure Garden.
As the rampaging Nazi mob are wantonly dancing around in celebration of their destruction of The Heart Machine DeepFake Maria slips away to the Surface City. She heads for the Yoshiwara Cabaret/nightclub where life is one long party. As the lights go out across the Surface City DeepFake Maria leads the patrons Yoshiwara in another rampaging mob. Taking them out to party in the streets as the city collapses around them. Metropolis' Cabaret/nightclub scene has achieved true decadence. It has reached such a level of decay and collapse that it celebrates its own oblivion. The filmmakers really driving home their complaint at their contemporaries' wilful ignorance to the rising anger and Fascism in The Weimar Republic.
As the guardian or foreman of The Heart Machine Grot knows what its destruction means. He berates the Nazi hate mob for what they have done, telling them that they have abandoned and killed their own children. The Nazi hate mob blames their depravity on DeepFake Maria. labelling her a witch. They then take their rampage to the Surface City in pursuit of DeepFake Maria so they can burn her at the stake.
There is then this huge chase sequence amid the collapsing Surface City. With one rampaging mob of the Top 10,000 being led by DeepFake Maria and another rampaging mob of workers looking for DeepFake Maria. At the same time actual Maria, Freder and Josaphat are taking the worker's children to safety in the Pleasure Garden.
This huge chase sequence, along with the worker's March on the Machines and the rescue of the children from the Worker's City, was a revolutionary use of special effects. Metropolis was all built in miniature. Actors were able to appear to be within the sets through to use of what became known as the; "Schüfftan Process," named after its inventor and Metropolis' Director of Photography, Eugen Schüfftan. A mirror was placed at an angle across the lens of the camera as it filmed the miniature set. The actors perform in front of another mirror which reflects onto the mirror on the camera. Giving the impression of it all happening within a single shot. Alfred Hitchcock went onto make extensive use of the Schüfftan Process. While Peter Jackson even used it in "The Lord Of The Rings; Return of the King" (2003).
Initially the rampaging mob of workers captures actual Maria. However the worker's rampaging mob quickly collides with the Top 10,000's rampaging mob. In the confusion actual Maria escapes and DeepFake Maria is burned at the stake in front of what is now one large mob. A mob which is shocked and terrified when the flames burn away the visage of Maria, revealing Machine Man underneath.
However that does not mean that actual Maria is safe. She is once again kidnapped by Rotwang who, having lost all chance of using Machine Man to create a DeepFake Hel, seems intent on making do with actual Maria instead. Chased by Freder Rotwang takes the captive Maria to the roof of the Cathedral. Eventually Freder battles and kills Rotwang, freeing Maria.
This is a very clear reference to the 1831 novel; "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Victor Hugo, who also wrote; "Les Misérables" about The French Revolution in 1862. In The Hunchback of Notre Dame Quasimodo, the deaf, half-blind, hunchbacked bell-ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral kidnaps Esmeralda, the princess of the (criminal) underworld, on the instructions of his master. Various people then try to kidnap Esmeralda and force her into marriage before Quasimodo falls in love with her and dies trying to protect her.
I think that it is primarily referenced in Metropolis because it is a famous story that the audience will be familiar with. So makes for an easy way to explain Rotwang's motivations in kidnapping Maria. However in 1923 an American movie adaptation "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923) directed by Wallace Worsley was released by Paramount Pictures, becoming their most successful silent movie. A further attempt by the struggling filmmakers to be noticed and rescued by the studio bosses of booming Hollywood.
Of course Notre Dame is a French Catholic Cathedral. So the beautiful German woman being kidnapped and abused by a monster in the French Catholic style plays into The Weimar Republic's loss of the Alsace and Rhineland Regions to France under The Treaty of Versailles. Attempting to show the audience that the filmmakers share Adolf Hitler's nationalist concerns. They're not the Communist traitors Adolf Hitler is constantly warning about.
At one point Maria almost falls to her death from the bell-tower. Only to save herself by grabbing onto the bell's rope, causing it to ring out for all to hear. It is a practice of Catholic Christians which is not shared by Protestant Christians to celebrate the Angel Gabriel telling the Virgin Mary, Mother Mary, that she is pregnant with Jesus Christ by reciting the Angelus (Angel) Prayer three times a day. They are called to prayer by the Angelus Bell. So this sequence further drives home the Catholic Christian nature of the Cathedral while further reaching out to Aimee Semple McPherson's Angelus Temple in Los Angeles.
The movie's final scene sees Grot, Joh Fredersen, Maria and Freder Fredersen all standing at the grand entrance of the Cathedral, amid the ruins of Metropolis. Grot, the Proletariat, and Joh Fredersen, the Capitalist, appear to want to shake hands with each other yet retreat and clench their fists instead. Maria whispers to Freder and tells him, in an inter-title card show onscreen; "The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands Must Be the Heart." Prompting Freder to step forward and speak to both his Father and Grot. Getting them both to unclench their fists and shake hands.
Giving us the happy ending of Freder getting to fulfil what Maria told him was his destiny of the mediator. Getting the Proletariat and the Capitalist to agree to work together in peace to rebuild Metropolis.
As with the scene where Freder is bathed in a heavenly light and anoints himself as the mediator, the leader, the saviour the Communist cool kids will find this final scene absolutely hilarious. The filmmakers being convinced that they've found a happy ending so saccharine sweet and conservative it will hide all of their Communist propaganda. The likes of Aimee Semple McPherson will no longer object to the US taking on the role of mediator to relieve the rising anger and Fascism in The Weimar Republic. The filmmakers themselves will go on to have great careers in booming Hollywood.
It turns out the filmmakers got that very badly wrong. Metropolis was made by Babelsberg Studios under the Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (UFA) conglomerate which controlled all movie production in The Weimar Republic. It was distributed globally under Parufament, a partnership between UFA and the Hollywood studios Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
Both Paramount and MGM hated Metropolis and invoked their right to edit it in any way they saw fit. Going so far as to commission Channing Pollack to write a simplified version of the movie which could be assembled from the existing footage. Cutting the movie down from 153 minutes to 116 minutes. Mainly by removing much of the religious and Communist symbolism and removing all reference to Hel. Thus removing the reason why Rotwang created Machine Man and why he was so angry and having to use Machine Man to create DeepFake Maria that he chose to destroy Metropolis in revenge.
This angered the director Fritz Lange to the point that he turned his back on the hope of being rescued by booming Hollywood. Declaring; "I love films, so I shall never go to America. Their experts have slashed my best film so cruelly I dare not see it while I'm in England."
When the Nazis took power in Germany their censors required even more edits to Channing Pollack's version. Reducing the movie to just 91 minutes. It was this 1936 version of the movie which influenced the likes of Thierry Mugler with the original version of the movie thought to be lost forever. Only adding to the lore and legend surrounding the movie.
Then in 2008 almost all of the original footage was discovered in storage in the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires, Argentina. However it was a 16mm copy rather than the original 35mm footage. Some of the footage was also too badly damaged to be used. There then began a Worldwide effort to restore the full, original version of Metropolis with film historians working together to combine the bits of footage they had along with archived scripts, cast lists and musical scores. That version was finally released in 2010.
It is a bit of a joke amongst movie fans that directors and movies with large fanbases will try and cash in by constantly re-releasing ever so slightly different versions of the same movie. As if 8 seconds of new footage is supposed to change the movie entirely. The difference between the 1936 and 2010 versions of Metropolis is a full hour. It actually is as if a whole new movie has been added.
At around 19:10 on 26/3/25 (UK date) I will finish this tomorrow.
Edited at around 17:20 on 27/3/25 (UK date) to tidy all of the above and copy & paste;
I talk about Metropolis being one of the most influential movies ever made. Watching it now many of the scenes seem reminiscent of The Nazi Holocaust. Jewish slaves, tattooed with an identity number, being fed into death machines. The thing is that Adolf Hitler didn't come to power in Germany until 1933. The Nazi Holocaust, as people would recognise it, didn't begin until 1942. Over a decade after the movie was released.
Initially I thought Hitler and the Nazis had seen the movie as a warning against them. Then decided to take revenge on the people who'd warned against them by copying aspects of the warning about them in their crimes. A sarcastic demonstration that they'd won out over the warnings.
However since reading around the movie it turns out that the Nazis missed the point of the movie. Rather than realising it was a warning against them they thought it was supportive of their cause and decided to pay tribute to their supporters. Initially Adolf Hitler was leader of the Germany Workers Party (DAP) turning it into the National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP). "Nazi" actually means; "National Socialist."
In 1933 the Nazis' propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels was so impressed that he offered Fritz Lange the job of head of the UFA to oversee the production of Nazi propaganda films. As something of a sweetener the Nazis cancelled the debt the UFA owed to Paramount and MGM due to Metropolis being such a flop.
According to the dramatic story in response to his meeting with Joseph Goebbels Fritz Lange fled Germany for France that very night. Fritz Lange's Mother was a Jew who had converted to Catholic Christianity. So when Nazi Germany invaded France in 1939 Fritz Lange was forced to go back on his word and go to America. He did end up being rescued by the Hollywood studio bosses and, after becoming a naturalised citizen, spent 20 years making movies in Hollywood, mainly for MGM. He died in 1976 and is buried in the Hollywood Hills cemetery.
Thea von Harbou who wrote the 1925 novel Metropolis, as a treatment for the movie, was initially married to Rudolf Klein-Rogge yet began an affair with Fritz Lange. Eventually divorcing Rudolf Klein-Rogge and marrying Fritz Lange. Events which seem similar to Rotwang and Joh Fredersen relationship with Hel.
Thea von Harbou, the woman who invented DeepFake Maria, who breaks with her director's plan to lead the Nazi hate mob, divorced Fritz Lange after he fled for France. Thea von Harbou then joined the Nazi Party. Making propaganda movies throughout The Second World War. At the end of the war she served four months in a British Prisoner Of War (POW) camp before being released to serve as part of the Trümmerfrau (Rubble Women), tasked with clearing up the ruins of the war.
Alfred Abel, played Joh Fredersen, died in 1937. His daughter, Ursula Abel, tried to have a career as an actress in Nazi Germany. However she was banned from doing so because she was unable to produce an Ariernachweiss certificate proving that her Father, and by extension she, was not of Jewish descent.
Metropolis' close links to the rise of Nazi Germany and The Nazi Holocaust is probably why it remains so influential. With many filmmakers continuing to explore the issue.
Obviously there is Bob Fosse's; "Cabaret" (1973). Based on the 1939 novel; "Goodbye To Berlin" by Christopher Isherwood. Set in Berlin's decadent, pansexual Cabaret/nightclub scene amid the Nazi's rise to power. In his physical appearance Helmut Griem's Baron Maximillian von Heune does seem remarkably similar to Fritz Rasp's The Thin Man from Metropolis. Incidentally Fritz Rasp also looks quite a bit like Freddie Mercury. No doubt inspiring him to work with Giorgio Moroder on his 1984 version of Metropolis. Along with using footage from Metropolis in the video for the 1984 Queen song; "Radio Ga Ga."
However Metropolis has also been referenced in countless of mainstream, entertainment movies. Which, on their surface, seem to have absolutely nothing to do with Nazi Germany and The Nazi Holocaust.
For example there is Ronald Neame's; "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972). This tells the story of a group of, presumably wealthy, people on a luxury cruise in the Mediterranean Sea. A tidal wave hits the ship, turning the world upside down. Almost exactly like the song; "The World Turned Upside Down," that anthem of The Digger's Revolt (1642-1652). In which people protested the Enclosure of Farmland at the start of The Second Agricultural Revolution, the Industrialisation of Farming.
The group then have to battle rising waters to ascend from the luxury cabins and dining rooms, up through the machine rooms to find salvation. There is a scene in which they have to climb a ladder within one of the ship's funnels. That is almost a frame-by-frame reshoot of a scene from Metropolis where Freder and Josaphat have to climb a ladder in an air vent to rescue Maria and the children of the Worker's City.
Two of the group are Manny and Belle Rosen, played by Jack Albertson and Shelley Winters. Jewish survivors of The Nazi Holocaust who are travelling to meet their Grandson in Israel for the first time. The movie was released just after the Arab Aggression towards Israel in The Six-Day War (1967) and just before the Arab Aggression towards Israel in The Yom Kippur/October War (1973).
Then there is Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984). This opens in a Cabaret/nightclub in The Shanghai International Settlement during The Chinese Civil War.
Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones is meeting with a Chinese crime boss, Roy Chaio's Lao Chee, to hand over the remains of Nurhaci - the founder of China's Manchu-led Jin Dynasty (1616-1636). One of the Japanese Ultranationalist secret societies/organised crime groups that backed The 1911 Revolution in China was the Back Dragon Society which thought overthrowing the Qing Dynasty would help Japan takeover the Manchu homeland.
The scene begins with Kate Capshaw as the ex-pat American Cabaret singer Wilhelmina "Willie" Scott emerging from a Chinese dragon which closely resembles the Maloch machine from Metropolis. Willie Scott then gives a performance very reminiscent of DeepFake Maria's Whore of Babylon performance in Metropolis' Yoshiwara Cabaret/nightclub. Almost shot in black and white Willie Scott is surrounded by dancers who look almost exactly like her. Effectively DeepFake versions of her. To the point you're supposed to wonder whether they are actually mirror images of her. Created using a version of the Schüfftan Effect.
After fleeing The Shanghai International Settlement Indiana Jones, Willie Scott and Short Round, played by Ke Huy Quan, find themselves within the territory of the British East India Company. What would become India at the end of The European Colonial Era. Key to China's decline during the European Colonial Era was its defeats in the First Opium War (1839-1842) and the Second Opium War (1856-1860). These were fought as attempts by the British Empire to force China to buy opium grown in the territory of the British East India company.
Within the territory of the British East India Company Indiana Jones and co battle worshippers of the Hindu, polytheistic, goddess Kali. Like Maloch from polytheistic Judaism Kali is a goddess which requires Human sacrifice. The worshippers of Kali have stolen all the children from surrounding villages to work in underground mines where they are at constant risk from flood waters.
The children are being used as slave labour to uncover the remaining Sankara Stones. These represent the five essential forces which allow Humans to fight evil. In Metropolis the door of Rotwang's house is adorned with a Pentagram. This represents the five limbs or five essential forces of life. When Rotwang unveils Machine Man for the first time there is an inverted Pentagram behind it. Representing evil, the five essential forces being turned upside down.
Interestingly the song Willie Scott performs at the start of the movie is a Mandarin adaptation of the Cole Porter song; "Anything Goes." From the 1930's musical of the same name. The lyrics of the song make fun of Puritan Christian's attitudes to things like sex and nudity. Pointing out that times have changed since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock.
In The Weimar Republic the Cabaret/nightclub scene was infamously decadent. A swirl of polyamory, pansexuality, orgies, gender-fluidity and drug taking. However The Weimar Republic did still have censorship of movies for scenes which outraged Public Morals. It's just there weren't many Public Morals left to outrage.
Believe it or not Hollywood at this time was even more liberal. As movies were still such a new technology that no-one had gotten around to attempting to regulate them. So with the First Amendment protecting the freedom of expression and no mechanism to censor movies absolutely anything went during the Golden Age of Hollywood. The first attempt at self-censorship came in 1934 with the enforcement of The Motion Picture Association (MPA) Production Code. Often referred to as; "The Hay's Code." In 1968 this was replaced by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) Film Rating System.
At the time that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was in production Steven Spielberg was in a bit of a battle with the MPA of the Film Rating System. He was frustrated that if his movies were just a bit too violent or scary for the Parental Guidance (PG) rating then they would have to be rated as Restricted (R), preventing them being seen by anyone below 17 years old. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is, clearly, not that violent or scary. As a result of Steven Spielberg's battle with the MPA and the release of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gremlins (1984) the MPA introduced a new category. Parental Guidance-13 (PG-13). The first movie to receive that rating was Red Dawn (1984).
Of course you may have heard of another little movie Steven Spielberg did. "Schindler's List" (1993).
The worshippers of Kali's search for the five Sankara Stones is repeated in Luc Besson's "The Fifth Element" (1997). Starting in an Egyptian temple is explains that aliens are helping to protect the Human race by providing them with a weapon that can defeat evil. This weapon is made up of the classical Four Essential Elements from Greek Philosophy; Earth, Water, Air, Fire. Along with a mysterious Fifth Element.
It's worth pointing out that modern scientists now consider the Universe to be made up of Four Essential Forces; Gravity, Electromagnetism, Strong Nuclear, Weak Nuclear. However there also seems to be an, as yet undiscovered, mysterious Fifth Force at work.
The world of the Fifth Element is very much the world of Metropolis. Cities made up of impressive high-rise buildings and futuristic technology like flying cars. The mysterious Fifth Element of this weapon is revealed to be Leeloo, played by Milla Jovovich. The scene in which Leeloo is brought to life is a frame-by-frame reshoot of Rotwang grafting Maria's physical likeness and personality onto Machine Man to create DeepFake Maria in Metropolis.
The opening sequence of Metropolis sees the city as an industrial machine. With lots of cogs, pulleys and flywheels. Something which is recreated in the opening credits to the TV show; "Game of Thrones" (2011-2019).
More movies to follow in Part 3.
