The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra invites you to experience Fritz Lang’s iconic 1927 film Metropolis – a spectacular futuristic vision that science fiction films have sought to emulate ever since.
Lang’s fantastic vision achieves its full realisation in this recently restored and completed version, including new footage and additional scenes taken from an original, late 1920s tinted nitrate print held by the New Zealand Film Archive.
Conductor Frank Strobel recreates Gottfried Huppertz’s original orchestral score which marked a bold contrast to the romantic clichés overtaking Hollywood film music of the day. The rich Wagnerian language of Huppertz’s music forms a powerful unity with the film’s imagery to convey the full might of Lang’s audacious prophecy. Rich and enveloping, it provides the perfect partner to Lang’s vision of a city of wealth and want in the year 2026.
This cinematic landmark Metropolis comes to Wellington (5 November) and Auckland (12 November) as it was originally intended – with the visceral impact of a live symphony orchestra, in association with National Tour Partner Pacific Blue.
Other watered-down versions simply can’t compete! This latest restoration of Metropolis includes 11 scenes (both new and replacement footage) taken from the Film Archive collection’s nitrate print.
“The Film Archive’s contribution to the restoration of Metropolis is just one of a series of international collaborations which have focused attention on New Zealand over the last two or three years,” says New Zealand Film Archive Chief Executive Frank Stark.
“We realise now that we are guarding a jewel box of lost treasures of early cinema.”
A free pre-concert talk with Frank Stark (NZ Film Archive Chief Executive), Stephan Prock (NZSM), and Frank Strobel (conductor) takes place 45-minutes before each performance inside the concert venue.
The Christchurch concert, which was scheduled for 9 November, was cancelled for technical reasons. Logistically, it proved impossible for the NZSO to follow through on the pre-earthquake plan to present the live-score screening of Metropolis in Christchurch.
“Unending applause brought the creators and the production staff to the apron stage over and over again, including Gottfried Huppertz, who put up the background music and conducted himself.”
Film, Berlin – following the movie premiere on 10 January 1927, with music delivered by a 66-piece orchestra.