Metropolis - Masters of Cinema series [1927] DVD ~ Alfred Abel  (8)  £14.98

Fritz Lang Box Set [1922] DVD ~ Rudolf Klein-Rogge £33.97

Nosferatu (Definitive Fully-restored version with original score) [Masters of Cinema] [1921] DVD ~ Max Schreck  (39)  £16.98

Das Cabinet Des Dr Caligari [1919] DVD ~ Werner Krauss  (5)  £14.98

Citizen Kane [1942] DVD ~ Orson Welles  (35)  £4.97

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Amazon.co.uk Review
Fritz Lang's Expressionistic masterwork continues to exert its influence today, from Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) to Dr Strangelove (1963), and into the late 1990s with Dark City (1998). In the stratified society of the future (Y2K no less), the son of a capitalist discovers the atrocious conditions of the factory slaves, falling in love with the charismatic Maria in the bargain, who preaches nonviolence to the workers. But even the benevolent leadership of Maria is a challenge to the privileged class, so they have the mad-scientist Rotwang concoct a robot double to take her place and incite the workers to riot. The story is melodrama, but it's the powerful imagery that is so memorable. One of the most arresting images has legions of cowed workers filing listlessly into the great maw of the all-consuming machine-god Moloch. Unfortunately, the print used for this DVD is unfocused, scratchy, and five minutes short, altogether unworthy of a visionary masterpiece. It may be too much to hope for the complete film to be restored (only two hours of the original three-hour film are extant), but a clean transfer from a fine-grain negative ought to be possible. And why, when there are other possible future Metropolises to be had, should we downtrodden masses accept this junk? --Jim Gay

Amazon.co.uk Review
If you think you know Fritz Lang's Metropolis backwards, this special edition will come as a revelation. Shortly after its premiere, the expensive epic--originally well over two hours--was pulled from distribution and re-edited against Lang's wishes, and this truncated, simplified form is what we have known ever since 1926. Though not quite as fully restored as the strapline claims, this 118-minute version is the closest we are likely to get to Lang's original vision, complete with tactful linking titles to fill in the scenes that are irretrievably missing. Not only does this version add many scenes unseen for decades, but it restores their order in the original version.

Until now, Metropolis has usually been rated as a spectacular but simplistic science fiction film, but this version reveals that the futuristic setting is not so much prophetic as mythical, with elements of 1920s architecture, industry, design and politics mingled with the mediaeval and the Biblical to produce images of striking strangeness: a futuristic robot burned at the stake, a steel-handed mad scientist who is also a 15th Century alchemist, the trudging workers of a vast factory plodding into the jaws of a machine that is also the ancient God Moloch. Gustav Frohlich's performance as the hero who represents the heart is still wildly overdone, but Rudolf Klein-Rogge's engineer Rotwang, Alfred Abel's Master of Metropolis and, especially, Brigitte Helm in the dual role of saintly saviour and metal femme fatale are astonishing. By restoring a great deal of story delving into the mixed motivations of the characters, the wild plot now makes more sense, and we can see that it is as much a twisted family drama as epic of repression, revolution and reconciliation. A masterpiece, and an essential purchase.

On the DVD: Metropolis has been saddled with all manner of scores over the years, ranging from jazz through electronica to prog-rock, but here it is sensibly accompanied by the orchestral music Gottfried Huppertz wrote for it in the first place. An enormous amount of work has been done with damaged or incomplete elements to spruce the image up digitally, and so even the scenes that were in the film all along shine with a wealth of new detail and afford a far greater appreciation for the brilliance of art direction, special effects and Helm's clockwork sexbomb.

A commentary written but not delivered by historian Ennio Patalas covers the symbolism of the film and annotates its images, but the production information is left to a measured but unchallenging 45-minute documentary on the second disc (little is made of the astounding parallel between the screen story in which Klein-Rogge's character tries to destroy the city because the Master stole his wife and the fact that Lang married the actor's wife Thea von Harbou, authoress of the Metropolis novel and screenplay!). There are galleries of production photographs and sketches; biographies of all the principals; and an illustrated lecture on the restoration process which uses before and after clips to reveal just how huge a task has been accomplished in this important work. --Kim Newman

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Nosferatu (Definitive Fully-restored version with original score) [Masters of Cinema] [1921] DVD ~ Max Schreck  (39)  £16.98

Battleship Potemkin [1925] DVD ~ Alexander Antonov  (12)  £6.97

Citizen Kane [1942] DVD ~ Orson Welles  (35)  £4.97

The Third Man [1949] DVD ~ Orson Welles  (8)  £7.98

M - A Film by Fritz Lang [1931] DVD ~ Peter Lorre  (11)  £14.98

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25 Reviews 5 star:  (17) 4 star:  (3) 3 star:  (2) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:  (2)           Average Customer Review (25 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   48 of 51 people found the following review helpful: The Worst Version available, 28 Nov 2001 By A Customer This review is from: Metropolis [1927] (DVD) The Eureka version claims to be the longest available version, but that's because it's shown at 14 frames a second. The original in 1926 was shown at 20 frames a second. This is actually the most imcomplete version available, bad picture quality, bad pan and scan (heads go off top of screen) and the music doesn't fit the action or pace of the scenes.A 75th anniversary version is coming soon and it's worth waiting for that. It's one of the most influencial and visually stunning films ever made, but this version doesn't do it justice, which is a crying shame. It's still a good watch if you haven't seen it at all, but you'll want to watch a fuller version to understand the storyline properly.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   29 of 33 people found the following review helpful: Poor quality print, lacking many scenes., 12 Oct 2001 By A Customer This review is from: Metropolis [1927] (DVD) This print is horrendous. I am embarrassed to own it, the center is over exposed and the edges under exposed. As for the scenes which have been left out, there are too many to mention, but I think an excellent example would be the lack of the bald men with the Tower of Babel. Fritz hired 10,000 bald men to haul blocks of stone around, and this version doesn't even include one frame of them. Finally, the sound track is pretty poor. The alloy orchestra does a far better version, with a far better print. I would encourage anyone given the oppurtunity to see the alloy orchestra playing the sound track to this silent classic.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   16 of 18 people found the following review helpful: Superbly restored classic from the visionary director, 19 May 2003 By  P Farquharson - See all my reviews Hard to imagine that Fritz Lang’s extraordinary silent epic was a box-office flop when first released – and almost bankrupted its financiers, UFA (Germany’s largest film production company). Set around the year 2000 (though still remaining visionary), the sci-fi film employed a staggering cast of 37,383 and used creative, cutting-edge effects to tell the story of the city of Metropolis (originally inspired by the Manhattan skyline). Here, Utopia (filled with ‘thinkers’) is supported by the underground (filled with ‘workers’). All is running smoothly until the workers – spurred on by an evil robot replica of their leader Maria – decide to revolt... Approximately two hours long, the film is set to its original score (composed by Gottfried Huppertz), and this DVD edition has been painstakingly restored and digitally remastered to make it the closest version yet to the director’s original cut. Bonus features include a nine-minute piece The Restoration on how various copies of the original film were gathered from around the world and restored to create this edition. It also includes The Metropolis Case, a fascinating 44-minute documentary on its making, that also puts it into a historical context. Included is how Lang’s overtly anti-Nazi film The Testament of Dr Mabuse (1933) had been banned by Joseph Goebbels yet he was later asked to direct propaganda films for Adolf Hitler. Lang explains in an interview how, when he was approached, left Germany the same day...  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) › See all 25 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews A CLASSIC IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD Who ever heard of an epic science fiction film? Especially in the 1920s? Sure, some science fiction movies are huge today, such as George Lucas' latest goofy Star Wars movie, but... Read more Published 9 months ago by stuart A picture of Hel (review the movie not various versions) In the back ground we see a picture of the Metropolis in 2026 that is watched over by Johhan 'Joh' Fredersen (Alfred Abel). He stole the heart of Hel from C.A. Read more Published 24 months ago by B. Chandler A picture of Hel In the back ground we see a picture of the Metropolis in 2026 that is watched over by Johhan 'Joh' Fredersen (Alfred Abel). He stole the heart of Hel from C.A. Read more Published on 27 April 2006 by B. Chandler The most atmospheric film of all time! I had to do a presentation on this film and I have to say that as soon as it started I was totally entranced by it. Read more Published on 29 May 2005 by girl_gambit