In 1969, one of the classes I took while in the MFA program at UCLA was "History of European film". The instructor would speak for awhile and then we would watch a couple of films, supplemented by a guest speaker. One day he said, "Our two films for today are 'M' and 'Metropolis'. Our guest for today is the director, Fritz Lang." He was very gracious, answered every question, and was the only man I've ever seen in person who actually wore a monocle.

Her: *dances like the sleep paralysis demon in the corner of my room at 3AM* The men: we must *s i m p*

Honestly one of the greatest dances I've ever seen in a movie. I love that Helm skipped over all the usual "sexy" moves and went straight into this unhinged, inhuman mating dance. It's eerie and unsettling and raw.

Here are translations of the intertitles: 2:08-"Truly, I tell you: The days spoken of the apocalypse are near!" 3:24-"All seven deadly sins for her sake!" 4:17-"Death is upon the city!"

Nearly a hundred years ago, this film was the most epic movie ever released. Imagine being on the set...

German Expressionism--half "wow, this is some amazing artistry" and half "what the almighty hell did I just watch?" But I love every second of it. :)

Fritz Lang's Metropolis remains the greatest silent film ever made, bar none. I've watched it multiple times and with each viewing, I discover layers of fresh truths.

Notice how her movements are jerky and awkward while still being alluring? That's because she's a robot in disguise dancing for the first time. She needed to be an incredible actress to capture that nuance.

One of the great scenes of world cinema, Expressionism always manages to feel like a nightmare and here they represent that feeling in an actual nightmarish scenario. Those who restored this film made a great contribution to the world of art.

That movie was revolutionary in so many ways. The out side shot of the city with all the futuristic forms of travel must have blown the audience away. Nice editing too in this scene.

During the silent screen era the emotions and facial expressions were heighten, and the use of eye shadow and heavy make-up were to create a more dramatic effect to impress the audience as well as leave them in a state of awe and anticipation.

Damn I'm old. Every Saturday and Sunday, the local TV channels had movie days. When it would rain or snow or just crappy weather, my Dad took the 3 of us to prepare the "living room" with the essentials. Blankets and pillows, snacks and the must have "TV guide", my Dad was lost without one, I had to teach him about the "cable guide" it was more in-depth than the older TV guide. Heck, he actually watched the cable guide because he couldn't make up his mind what to watch. I set him up good. The military channel, the old History channel And all old movie channels I could find. Westerns, WW I and WWII, korea, Viet Nam. He watched it... As I was going to work on a few projects, I was leaving... He said "Where you going? Don't ya wanna watch the old movies with your Dad" Ohhhh low blow! Hit me right in my soft spot for my Dad. We pigged out on my famous snacks, and watched 4 movies that day, my wife didn't like it but TO Bad! That's my Pops and it a ritual for us BAD JuJu!!! Stay out if male bounding rituals. After he got very ill, I wouldn't leave his side. He passed away watching " The Quite Man" with John Wayne. He held my hand, and said Thank you, for watching TV with me After a few tears ( Go on... I dare you to say something.) And he slipped away. He was 88 y/o. I miss you Pops.

if your party isn't that lit, don't even bother to invite me

Didn’t this actress do an amazing job? Anybody whining that there were never any decent female leads before the last couple of years ought to look at this movie. She plays the saintly Maria on the one hand, and the evil robot Maria on the other. But in both roles she is incredibly athletic and kinetic, and hardly ever seems to stop running, fighting, swinging, jumping throughout the whole movie. The bonfire scene is stunning, Robot Maria laughing maniacally as she is carried by the crowd to her “execution” and as the flames build around her.

This film just absolutely blows me away. The ability to use such old technology to create such a long film is insane.

hips don't lie.

The men's reactions are what disturb me the most...

millionaires, apocolypse, the grim reaper, and demonic robotic AI, sounds like right now

If this scene really does take place in 2026, then I honestly wouldn't be surprised one bit.

The symbolism of this dance is amazing. It represents the transition from total rigidity and order to absolute freedom and chaos. Even her hand gestures at 2:50, pointing to God and the other hand angrily debasing sexuality, moving from her crotch to the ground. Just like the hand gesture on many iron maiden album covers. twisting around like she has no backbone, and hunched over. Like a person with no self order or self respect. She's like the opposite of the virgin queen, QE1. Instead of on her head QE1 wore the circlet around her neck, like a collar that represents self control. Here it's like the arrogance and falsity of seductive plumage on her head. at 3:16 a tilted cup held high like life from God being spilled. The see through dress looks like water being spilled. Even the pasties seem symbolic, like those french paintings of bare breasted women in battle, but with life and nurturing being blocked. At 2:38 the arms behind the back are meant to look like snakes dancing behind the back of a person, like they're controlling and guiding them - the rings on her fingers make her hand look like a snake head. In the beginning she's like a snake dancing behind the thin veil of civilization. It's no wonder this came out leading up to WW2. A great example of an opposite kind of dance would be Suzanne Ferrel in Don Quixote: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/osmGa6Rhpt7PlGg.html. She keeps grabbing things and pulling them up with their hands. At 3:27 she does this with both hands, and moves from hunched shoulders and lascivious movements to twirling in a very upright posture, like converting something bad to good and lifting a heavy burden that becomes lighter as she lifts it.

This movie was ahead of its time from every aspect from concept to script to execution to editing... This movie is amazing. Just watched it for the first time last night.

I don't know why but this scene always scares me. The way she dances is so creepy

Lang directed it but his wife wrote the story and the script, what a freaking genius.

The men in the audience act like the guys I went to high school with.

Fritz Lang makes david lynch look like hanna barbera

3:29 This was already creepy enough, it didn't need a SPOOKY SCARY SKELETON!

This is an amazing segment from the movie. The looks on the faces of the young men as they leer at the semi-nude dancer are really something. I don't understand why Fritz Lang was so critical of the movie later, supposedly calling it 'silly'. I've always thought it was brilliant. The music really adds a lot. It should not be watched in silence.

3:33 everybody gangsta until the skeletons start playing the flute

I remember watching this (Metropolis) in a throw away college course in the early eighties. It was disturbing then and is disturbing now. Fantastic and timeless work.

1:22-1:26 Those are the most thirstiest mother fuckers I have ever seen! XD

Madonna sure has been famous for a long time.

This sequence is totally deranged... I love it.

This scene and her transformation were some of my favourites in that movie. It's a great piece of work with a lot more creativity behind it than the generic Hollywood bullshit you get to see nowadays.

The Most Disturbing Dance Scene In Movie History.

I dance like that when I'm off my meds.

For inquiring minds, the conveniently 'missing' translation at 3:09 is as follows: And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored animal, that was full of blasphemy, and had seven ten ogres. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and had a golden cup in her hand. And written on his forehead a name, a secret: The great Babylon the mother of all abominations on earth. I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints. Und ich sah ein Weib sitzen auf einem Scharlach farbenen Tier, das war voll Namen der Lästerung und hatte sieben zehn hömer. Und das Weib war bekleidet mit Purpur und Scharlach und hatte einen güldenen Becher in der hand. Und auf seiner Stirn geschrieben einen Namen, ein Geheimnis: Die grosse Babylon die Mutter aller Greuel auf Erden. Unc ich sah das Weib trunken dem Blut der heiligen.

Super Mario RPG... It is the only one just for me..

I'm no expert on film, but I really like the way the editing conveys the disjointed quality of a nightmare/graver dream. Also how the images change (for example the living men into statues. I have no idea what the director was trying to express, (or if it's a metaphor or parable) but I do know that's the way dreams work. Things change and morph from people we know to strangers and from real to unreal. The whole scene gives me an uncomfortable feeling, which is what one would expect from the real-life situation.

Such an early work of art on film. I'm so glad there were copies of it so it could be saved for all time.

FINALLY I FOUND THE SUPER MARIO RPG

Along with another contemporary film, "Nosferatu", this one pioneered what would later become the "Reefer Madness School of Acting".

That was astounding! I can only imagine what audiences thought back then when they watched this.

Did uhh... did anybody else come from "super mario-o RPG, it is the only one just for me"

Super mario rpg...it is the only one just for me...when i play the game i get lost in a phase, just to find out im stuck in genos maze

tbh, I found this scene really scary.

It's from the visionary, original score by Gottfried Huppertz, which was re-recorded after "Metropolis" was restored. It's a soaring, romantic magpie of a score, with references to other music throughout. When Death appears in the scene above, for instance, Huppertz includes quotes from the Dies irae ("day of wrath") most famously used in Symphonie Fantastique. Great score for a great movie.

She is amazing in this film. Her eyes are so expressive. I have just seen this restored version at the Phoenix cinema in Jericho, Oxford.

This movie predicted our modern times and with the use of much occult imagery I believe this film was sort of a warning as to how evil our modern time will become and has definitely become.

Lang was a visionary and a creative genius; daring and provocative.

sigh *super mario oh rpg-*

This was way ahead of it's time; very artistic!

Brigitte Helm is bloody amazing.

Everybody in the club - all eyes on us, all eyes on us.

It's like Charlie Chaplin meets David Lynch. Really delivers that heavy chest feeling.

Super Mario RPG, It is the only one just for me, When I play the game I get lost in a phase, Then I find out I'm stuck in Geno's Maze. Super Mario RPG, It is the only one just for me, When I play the game I get lost in a phase, Then I find out I'm stuck in Geno's Maze. Give me frog coins, Give me ice bombs, Give me fright bombs, Give me mushrooms, Give me See Ya, Give me star egg, Give me cookies, give me Lambs lure, I want eve- rything I need I must play this more and more I need to get those damn frog coins to pay off all my credit cards. There are many secrets in the game, Many of which drive some peeps insane. Why we try to cheat in a really good game Just sounds like crap and it makes you look lame Exiting the forest is super simple, All you do is follow these patterns, For the rest of your gaming life. Follow Geno through here. Follow Geno through here. Follow Geno through here. I'm a gaming god!

The men's reactions are hilarious to me. 😂

The great Fritz Lang classic movie"Metropolis", had such imagery.Fritz Lang's silent movies are among the best.

One of the greatest scenes in silent film/cinematic history

This movie is a masterpiece!

I watched this years ago for a high school media class. The dance scene is the only thing I remember lol

Super Mario RPG

Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue.

To me, what is stunning is how Fritz Lang understood that reality is 3 dimensional not 2D like other filmmakers of the day (and today) filmed. So, in this unreal depiction - depth, perspective just jumps out at the viewer. Spectacular! And THOSE TEETH, THOSE TEETH!

SUPER MARIO RPG REMAKE HYPE BABYYYYYYYY🎉🎉🎉

This honestly scares me and gives me the creeps

Super Mario RPG It is the only one just for me When I play the game, I get lost in a phase Then I find out I'm stuck in Geno's Maze

I just noticed - the way the preacher lifts the book @ 3:04, he had been reading it _upside-down the entire time._

メトロポリスは手塚治虫も漫画にした位、当時は衝撃だった。いいものはいつまでも語り継がれていきます。私はこの映画好き。

🎶Super Mario RPG It is the only one just for me When I played the game I got lost in a phase Then I found out I’m stuck in Geno’s Maze🎶

One of my favourite movies ever! This part is a pure piece of art

Fun fact about this film, the screenwriter (Fritz Lang's wife at the time) later joined the Nazi Party and Lang very soon thereafter divorced her in disgust and left for America.

This is so wicked.

This video is incredible. It blows my mind that this came from the 1920's. Well done, Metropolis.

A few thoughts: One, this is my favorite scene, and favorite piece of music in the whole movie. Two: You know the guy is soft when he's delirious after only one 10 hour shift. Three: And to think, all the workers had been asking for all this time was a union rep.

Is this that VIP sensei thing I’ve heard so much about

The thirst is real

What an amazing production.

You know, something I just realized is that this dance scene must've taken a huge amount of planning and prepwork to built that giant Beast Of revelation statue, put it on some kind of elevating base, and put together all the effects the dance sequence has, and the producer and/or choreographer either didn't have a dancer planned, or was willing to swap out their planned dancer for some random woman who just arrived like fifteen minutes ago.

This sooooooo far ahead of its time, AI robot sitting on the beast from revelation, the rich people turning into the dead after being enchanted

the dance is just weird enough to be a dream, pervy enough to be real...very much ahead of its time!

VIP-sensei is so back

I have long had a minor crush on the actress playing Maria, forever unrequited, since she likely died before I was born. She did some fairly impressive stunt work in this film too.

Such an accomplished film, technically and visually. A deserved classic. Unsurpassed.

"Invites you to see a new erotic dancer" All the invitation actually says is "...invites you to be his guest tonight"

back in the 20's this must have been a trouser splitting stretch of film.

Cinematography and special effects were astounding for the time.

The level of cinematography and film editing was decades ahead of its time. A monolith of achievement in cinema history

To see her dancing live must have been amazing.

これがVIP先生の元ネタか…

Super Mario RPG It is the only the Just for me

You know you can't go wrong with an invitation from C.A. ROTWANG !!!

This is brilliant! I wish movies today had such an exciting visual style.

The 20s certainly was an...."interesting"....time for dance. I vote this be considered among the oddest dances of cinema ever recorded.

I’ve had this movie poster since i was a kid. Very creepy movie but cool as hell! Good ole Fritz Lang😁

Imagine being a movie-goer in 1927 and not seeing this at least twice

This video disturbs me on many levels, especially the faces at 2:28

Both disturbing and brilliant. I fall to my knees in adulation and awe. Genius and madness. What more can I say?

This film is a masterpiece. In technique, music, acting and the message

Unfathomable mysterious and marvellous dance

Imagine making these special effects today, instead of being original they would be a computer generated treatment because its easier and doesn't require any hard work.