Info Wanted: Giorgio Moroder presents "Metropolis" - is it any good? (lots of info)

I just got the US BD of Giorgio Moroders Metropolis Version. Some years ago I found the following website http://www.morodermetropolisdvd.com/ with a “fan made” redux Version of Giorgio Moroder’s Version. Sadly just avaible outside europe.

Has someon that disc, and could tell if its a well done edition? It seems to be a bit more colorised than the original Moroder Version.

Try Newsgroups.

What's wrong with the BluRay?

It's nothing wrong with it. (Except its region A coded :) )

I just want to know, if that so called "redux" version does have other way colorized scenes. Or other differences from the original moroder Version. If not, I am very happy with the BD. But IF there are differences, like its different colorized, its something about collecting. The original Moroder seems to be just colored in one color per scene (like the colorized Version of Murneaus Nosferatu) while the "Redux" seem to have some multi colored scenes. But its hard to tell without the redux version on hands, just the two pictures on the site mentioned in the first post...

MrBrown said:

The original Moroder seems to be just colored in one color per scene (like the colorized Version of Murneaus Nosferatu) while the "Redux" seem to have some multi colored scenes.

 The original has some multi-colored scenes too (like during the creation of Hel). From what I've seen, the Redux is supposed to be exactly like the original (only sourced from the remastered Kino version), but of course it isn't 100% perfect.

There was "Metropolis: Morodered", and I believe that one is an LD transfer of the original Moroder version. I don't have that one.

However, I do have a copy of the "Metropolis Redux" version. The benefit of the Redux was that it colorized the early 2000's restoration, so there was better definition than the Moroder bootlegs flying around.

Now owning a copy of the 2010 reconstruction on blu-ray (and looking to get another region's release for the sake of completeness, in terms of extras), I'd be curious to see if the colour could be lifted and applied to the high-resolution blu-ray transfer with minimal effort. Judging by the disc's creator's elaboration on his method... I'm guessing it would be a considerable effort.

klokwerk said:

There was "Metropolis: Morodered", and I believe that one is an LD transfer of the original Moroder version. I don't have that one.

I have an LD preservation of the Moroder version, but that wasn't the name of it. Looks like the BluRay is prettymuch the same, but also looks like a bit of restoration went on, judging from these screenshots: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Giorgio-Moroder-Presents-Metropolis-Blu-ray/28183/#Screenshots

There aren't any shots of the "creation", but you can see from this one shot that they did retain the multicolored segments: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/screenshot.php?movieid=28183&position=7

klokwerk said:

...I'd be curious to see if the colour could be lifted and applied to the high-resolution blu-ray transfer with minimal effort.

I still don't understand why you guys want to do this. To me, it makes as much sense as using a perfectly transferred BluRay version of the OUT (hypothetically) to reconstruct Harmy's Despecialized.

For me it was just interessting, if the reconstructed, redux version is something more different from the BD. I am a bit of a collector of movies and different Versions.

I wouldn't mind seeing a fan edit where the recently recovered footage was put in where Moroder only had stills to work with.

The Blu Ray is wonderful. The only nitpick I have is the Producer's Sales Organization logo on the end credits has been removed. The credit roll freezes at the end before it would appear. This will only be obvious to those who have the old Vestron Video release burned into the brain though. ;)

Thought I saw a familiar fan editor's name on the disc credits too. The Video Savant review claims the trailer on the disc is a recreation.

I've got a PAL copy of version 1.0 of redux lying around somewhere on dvd. But it's quite a while ago I watched it. I'll look it up.

If memory serves me right, the redux version mimics Moroders version als close as possible. Maybe with a little less colour bleed in the multicolour shots. It also uses different takes for certain parts of the movie because the later restoration used some different takes than Moroder did.

Edit: I just found this on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEA4bNWkHJE It shows some of the changes made for redux.

Thanks, that video was quiete informative. So for collecting sake, it would make sense to get hands on that redux version.

I just got a DVD5 of the Redux Version. I did not watch it completely, yet, but for the few minutes I watched, I have to say, that it is a great Version.

The comentary subtitle is very informative, and it is a real good addition to my US BD of the Moroder Version and the UK BD of the reconstructed Lang Version.

Very interresting that the different Sources of the moroder Version had different color tinting intensities...

Thanks for your help with informations...

I was going to start a new post for this but as this topic closely related, I'll ask it here.

I'm a huge fan of Metropolis, I bought the complete version when it first came out and I recently picked up the Moroder version.  After watching it, it kind of sparked my interest in trying to collect some of the other versions from over the years, but I'm really confused about the content of all the different versions that exist.  Some seem to be the same cuts as others only with different sound tracks while others are entirely different cuts.  And to make matters more complicated, the versions I see listed on amazon, don't seem to give any indication of which version they are.  Are these versions all the original US cuts or do different distributors have different cuts?  Is the UFA re-cut available?

Is there a comprehensive history of the films different version and releases somewhere on the web?

I know obtaining every cut imaginable is probably impossible given the crazy history of the film, but getting my hands on the major ones would be nice. 

Any help sorting out this mess would be much appreciated.

Keep in mind there are a lot of crappy public domain versions around. (Some going all the way back to the early days of VHS.) Many of these play fast and loose with the intertitles and are missing a lot of footage.

I even saw a version the SciFi channel cobbled together and ran a few times in the 90's. The score sounded like a Casiotone keyboard or something. (They even had the balls to copyright it!) It was an awful thing to look at, especially after seeing Moroder's version.

I've read a summary of the history of the films from wikipedia, a few other websites, and the booklet included with The Complete Metropolis. 

From what I understand.  There were 3 main versions of the film that were cut after the Berlin premiere.  They were the US cut, the British cut, and the German re-cut.  All three of these cuts where similar but not identical. 

So the first thing I want to know is are these 3 cuts the same cuts that are available in the public domain copies or are they all further butchered.  Was there a common score associated with these re-cuts or that are available or do all these public domain versions just use whatever score they want.

Furthermore, I've read about there being several attempts to restore the film.  The first was in the late sixties I believe and gathered all the footage together but didn't have the title cards or original music cues needed to properly reconstruct the the editing sequence.

Then, after Moroder's version, it reads that Enno Patalas made a new restoration in 1987 using newly discovered title cards and original score music.

But then flash forward to 1998-2001 and we get the new restoration that was released in 2002 that seems to draw from that exact same material from the Enno Patalas restoration.

So I guess my real questions are, is the 1987 Patalas restoration the same as the 2002 restoration, or an earlier draft of the same restoration, or something entirely different.  And what about the 1968 restoration?  Are these versions available?

And what about the original re-cuts.  Are these available in their original form?  What was the story that they cobbled together in these re-cuts.  From what I read, Moroder's version was the first to actually reconstruct the original story structure.  So what were the others like then?  What's the significance of Moroder's version in the grand scheme of Metropolis's history?  What versions are these public domain prints? 

So much confusion.

As I've said before, it would be neat to see the recovered footage used where Moroder had to use still photos.

The recent UK Region B release of Metropolis includes not only the 2010 reconstructed version but also Moroder's version. I own it and can vouch for the extras listed:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metropolis-Ultimate-Collectors-SteelBook-Blu-ray/dp/B00Q8LDNFO/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1436361862&sr=1-2&keywords=metropolis+blu+ray

The quality of Moroder's version is, IMHO, first generation VHS of a used silent-era film.  As The Aluminum Falcon pointed out, the elements used in Moroder's version were far inferior.

SilverWook said:

As I've said before, it would be neat to see the recovered footage used where Moroder had to use still photos.

You'd have to come up with a bunch of new songs, though. That's a -lot- of extra footage we're talking about.

InvisibleWolfMan said:

The recent UK Region B release of Metropolis includes not only the 2010 reconstructed version but also Moroder's version. I own it and can vouch for the extras listed:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metropolis-Ultimate-Collectors-SteelBook-Blu-ray/dp/B00Q8LDNFO/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1436361862&sr=1-2&keywords=metropolis+blu+ray

The quality of Moroder's version is, IMHO, first generation VHS of a used silent-era film.  As The Aluminum Falcon pointed out, the elements used in Moroder's version were far inferior.

 Oh, thanks for the Info's. Seems to be a very interesting release.

Asaki said:

SilverWook said:

As I've said before, it would be neat to see the recovered footage used where Moroder had to use still photos.

You'd have to come up with a bunch of new songs, though. That's a -lot- of extra footage we're talking about.

 My initial thought was to cut the footage to fit Moroder's pacing. Extending the existing songs shouldn't be that hard to do, and there's other Moroder and Queen songs that might work for scenes that didn't exist in still form back in '84.