Metropolis

This film was produced by Ufa and is distributed courtesy of Parufamet.

Direction: Fritz Lang. Scenario: Thea von Harbou.

Production Design: Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut, Karl Vollbrecht.

At the Camera: Karl Freund, Günther Rittau.

Music: Gottfried Huppertz. Sculptor: Walter Schultze-Mittendorf.

Metropolis, a novel by Thea von Harbou,

appeared in the publication Illustriertes Blatt, Frankfurt,

and in book form from August Scherl Verlag G.m.b.H.

The personages in the film:

Joh Fredersen ― Alfred Abel

Freder, Joh Fredersen's son ― Gustav Fröhlich

Rotwang, the inventor ― Rudolf Klein-Rogge

The Thin Man ― Fritz Rasp Josaphat ― Theodor Loos

11811 ― Erwin Biswanger

Grot, the guardian of the Heart-Machine ― Heinrich George

The Creative Man The Machine-Man

Death The Seven Deadly Sins

Maria ― Brigitte Helm

Epigraph:

THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN HEAD AND HANDS MUST BE THE HEART!

Shift change.

Deep beneath

the earth lay the

City of the Workers.

As deep beneath the earth as the City of the Workers lay,

so high above it towered the complex known as the "Sons' Club",

with its lecture halls and libraries, its theatres and stadiums.

Fathers, for whom every revolution of a mechanical wheel meant gold,

had bestowed upon their sons the wonder of the Eternal Gardens.

Which of you ladies shall today

have the honour of entertaining Master Freder, Joh Fredersen's son?

Look!These are your brothers!

Look ― !

These are your brothers!

Who ― was that?

But this was what happened to Freder ―

the son of Joh Fredersen, the master of Metropolis ―

as he sought out the girl:

To the new Tower of Babel ― to my father ― !

Why is it, Josaphat, that I learn of this explosion from my son, and not from you ― !

Details ― !

What were you looking for in the Machine-Halls, Freder?

I wanted to look into the faces of the people whose little children are my brothers, my sisters...

Your magnificent city, Father ―

and you the brain of this city ― and all of us within the light of this city... ―

...and where are the people, Father, whose hands built your city ― ?

Off where they belong...

...off where they belong...?

...in the Depths...?

And if those in the Depths one day rise against you?

The chief foreman of the Heart-Machine, Grot, ― with an important message...

There were two more copies of those damnable plans, Herr Fredersen...

...in the pockets of two men who met with an accident today at the M-Machine...

How is it, Josaphat, that these plans were brought to me by Grot, rather than by you?

Apply to the G-Bank for your remaining wages...

Father, do you know what it means to be dismissed by you? ―

It means: To be sent below! ― Father ― below! Into the Depths ― !

Do you know what it means to be dismissed like that by Joh Fredersen?

Would you like to come with me, Josaphat?

Go home, Josaphat, and wait for me... I still have a long way to go tonight...

Into the Depths, ― to my brothers...

From today on I wish to be kept precisely informed of my son's every move...

Brother...

...the Machine!There needs to be someone at the Machine!

There will be someone at the machine...

ME.

Listen to me... I want to trade my life with you...

Josaphat. 99th Block. House 7, 7th Floor.

Wait for me ― both of you...

Josaphat. 99th Block. House 7, 7th Floor.

In the middle of Metropolis,

there stands a strange house that the centuries had overlooked.

The man who dwelled within was Rotwang, the inventor.

Hel

Born to bring me happiness and a benediction to all mankind.

Lost to Joh Fredersen. Died giving life to Freder, Joh Fredersen's son.

A mind like yours, Rotwang, should be able to forget...

Only one time in life did I forget something: that Hel was a woman ― and you a man...

Let the dead lie, Rotwang... She's dead for you as she is for me...

For me she isn't dead, Joh Fredersen ― for me she lives — !

Do you think the loss of a hand is too high a price for recreating Hel ― ?!

Do you wish to see her ― ?!

Now, Joh Fredersen ― ?!

Isn't it worth losing a hand to have created the man of the future ―

the Machine-Man — ?!

24 more hours of work ―

and no man, Joh Fredersen, will be able to differentiate the Machine-Man from a mortal ― !

The woman is mine, Joh Fredersen! Hel's son was yours!

And what brings you my way, Joh Fredersen?

I need your advice ― as usual, when all my experts fail me...

Can you decipher for me these plans

that for months have been getting discovered in the pockets of my workers?

...at two... once my shift ends! She has summoned us again...

Father ― ! Father ― ! Will ten hours never come to an end ― ??!!

― it's a blueprint of the two-thousand-year-old catacombs

deep below the lowest levels of your Metropolis...

I should like to glean what my workers are doing exactly in those catacombs...

Today I shall tell you

the legend of THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOWER OF BABEL...

The Legend of THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOWER OF BABEL

Come! Let us build a tower whose zenith shall reach unto the stars!

And at the tower's zenith we shall write:

Great is the world and its Maker! And great is Man!

...but those who had conceived of the Tower of Babel

could not build the Tower of Babel.

The task was too great. So they paid wages to outside hands...

But the hands that built the Tower of Babel knew nothing of the dream

of which the head that had conceived it had been fantasising.

The hymns of praise of one man became the curses of others.

The same language was spoken, but these men did not understand one another...

Great is the world and its Maker and great is Man

HEAD and HANDS require a Mediator.

THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN HEAD AND HANDS MUST BE THE HEART!

And where is our Mediator, Maria ― ?

Wait for him! He will surely come!

We will wait, Maria...! But not for much longer ― !

Oh Mediator, have you finally come...

You summoned me ― here I am!

Rotwang, give the Machine-Man the likeness of this woman...

I shall sow discord between them and her!

I shall destroy their belief in this woman ―

Leave me alone now, Joh Fredersen... You'll find the way back without me...

You fool! Now you shall also lose the last remaining thing you still had from Hel...

your son...

Until tomorrow, in the cathedral!

END OF THE PRELUDE

INTERMEZZO

Freder witnesses a monk at the pulpit who preaches:

"Verily, I say unto you: the days of which the Apocalypse speaks draw nigh!"

The monk's hand points to the Bible, in which it is written:

"And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy,

having seven heads and ten horns.

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,