Minutes for Wednesday, September 10, 2003

By Johanna Bienert

The planned watching of NOSFERATU couldn’t take place because of technical difficulties.  Instead, we talked about METROPOLIS by Fritz Lang and watched clips.

METROPOLIS is after THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI one of the best known films of the Weimarer Republic, which ran from 1919-1933,

other well-known films by Fritz Lang are: DR. MABUSE, M, and NIBELUNGEN.

All are variations of expressionistic style.

METROPOLIS

-         Not successful at start, financially a flop,

-         became a success over the years

-         difficult to follow story (BFI edited original METROPOLIS, story much easier to follow now, added new soundtrack as well)

-         Lang’s wife Thea von Harbou worked on screenplay

-         Two strands come out in the movie – left and right ideology of husband & wife

-         Goebbels and Hitler liked the movie, the main idea being:

Wealthy class on top, need to control “mob”,

      workers (hands) are not any good alone and need a head,

      hands and head need a heart that joins them, which is the hero of the film,

      Hitler reads his own reason for being into film, sees himself as heart.

-         Film reflects what’s going on in Germany

METROPOLIS’s threefold look at

1)      Cities:

      Berlin becomes industrial complex, magnet and trap in one for workers,

      Ambivalent look at cities, what they meant for society

2)      Science:

Mad scientist creates a machine that looks like a human

3)  Woman:

      depicted as absolute good or absolute bad through depiction as “doppelgaenger”,

       machine robot created as Maria

Dr. Reimer shows a clip of METROPILIS in which “bad” Maria is interacting with workers. We are shown the clip five times with five different soundtracks.  We have to answer the following questions:

-Why was music played to silent movies?

-Which soundtrack is the original?

Why was music played in silent movies and what does the music do in film?

-     makes film more entertaining

-         uses more of our senses

-         adds dimensionality, we know people make sounds

-         drains out noises

-         takes on role as characterization: funny, heartwrenching, suspenseful, etc.

-         creates mood

-         without music: flat, distant, spooky

Which soundtrack is the original?

1)      Old piano style, easy music – doesn’t go well with the film

2)      Classical, orchestral music, much faster – enhances the scenes, fits the mood

3)      Modern, synthesizer music – doesn’t feel right, out of time context

4)      Disco, techno music – doesn’t fit mood and time of film

5)      Original soundtrack – harmonizes with film