What better way to follow a screening of 'Metropolis' than with...another screening of 'Metropolis'?
That's what'll happen this weekend, when Fritz Lang's ground-breaking sci-fi epic hits the big screen yet again: this time on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 4 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre in Keene, N.H.
Lots more detail about this screening is in the press release below.
This will actually be the fourth 'Metropolis' screening I've accompanied in the past three weeks. That's a lot of futuristic fantasy!
The four screenings were booked separately by programmers at different venues, which I take as a sign of the film's enduring popularity. Anywhere you go, it seems people still buy tickets and show up for 'Metropolis.'
So if you're in the Monadnock area of southwestern N.H. this Saturday, please drop on by and experience one of the great achievements of the silent era as it was intended to be seen: on the big screen, with a restored print, with live music, and with an audience!
I usually describe a screening as a "rare chance" to experience early cinema as it was intended. But in the case of 'Metropolis,' I can't really say it's rare, having done music for it so often.
Plus, if you can't make it to Keene this weekend, I'm doing 'Metropolis' again in April at the Rex Theatre in Manchester, N.H. Stay tuned on that one...
* * *
TUESDAY, DEC. 20, 2022 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info, contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com
Restored classic sci-fi epic 'Metropolis' to screen in Keene on Saturday, Jan. 7
Ring in the New Year with landmark early futuristic fantasy shown with live music at Colonial Theatre
KEENE,
N.H.—A silent film hailed as the grandfather of all science fiction
fantasy movies will be screened with live music in Keene next month.
'Metropolis'
(1927), an epic adventure set in a futuristic world, will be shown on
Saturday, Jan. 7 at 4 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre, 95 Main St., Keene,
N.H.
The screening will feature live accompaniment by Jeff
Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating music
for silent films.
Admission is $10.50 adults, $8.50 youth. Tickets are available online at http://thecolonial.org or at the door.
'Metropolis'
(1927), regarded as German director Fritz Lang's masterpiece, is set in
a society where a privileged elite pursue lives of leisure while the
masses toil on vast machines and live in poverty.
The film, with
its visions of futuristic factories and underground cities, set new
standards for visual design and inspired generations of dystopian
fantasies from Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner' to Terry Gilliam's
'Brazil.'
In 'Metropolis,' the story centers on an upper class
young man who falls in love with a woman who works with the poor. The
tale encompasses mad scientists, human-like robots, underground
spiritual movements, and industrial espionage, all set in a society
divided between haves and have-nots.
In reviving 'Metropolis,'
the Colonial aims to show silent movies as they were meant to be seen—in
high quality prints, on the big screen, with live music, and with an
audience.
"All those elements are important parts of the silent
film experience," said Rapsis, who will improvise an original live score
for 'Metropolis' on the spot. "Recreate those conditions, and the
classics of early cinema leap back to life."
The version of
'Metropolis' to be screened at Colonial is a newly restored edition that
includes nearly a half-hour of missing footage cut following the film's
premiere in 1927.
The lost footage, discovered in 2008 in an
archive in Argentina, has since been added to the existing 'Metropolis,'
allowing plot threads and characters to be developed more fully.
When
first screened in Berlin, Germany on Jan. 10, 1927, the sci-fi epic ran
an estimated 153 minutes. After its premiere, the film's distributors
(including Paramount in the U.S.) drastically shortened 'Metropolis' to
maximize the film's commercial potential. By the time it debuted in the
U.S. later that year, the film was only about 90 minutes long.
Even
in its shortened form, 'Metropolis' became a cornerstone of science
fiction cinema. Due to its enduring popularity, the film has undergone
numerous restorations in the intervening decades in attempts to recover
Lang's original vision.
The restoration work has continued in
recent years. In 2008, the curator of the Buenos Aires Museo del Cine
discovered a 16mm dupe negative of 'Metropolis' that was considerably
longer than any existing print.
It included not merely a few
additional snippets, but 25 minutes of "lost" footage, about a fifth of
the film, that had not been seen since its Berlin debut.
The
discovery led to a 2½-hour version that debuted in 2010 to widespread
acclaim. This fully restored edition will be screened at the Colonial.
"
'Metropolis' stands as an stunning example of the power of silent film
to tell a compelling story without words, and reach across the
generations to touch movie-goers from the real future, which means us,"
said accompanist Jeff Rapsis, who provides live music for silent film
screenings throughout New England and beyond.
To accompany a
silent film, Rapsis uses a digital synthesizer to recreate the texture
of the full orchestra. The score is created live in real time as the
movie is screened.
Rapsis creates new music for silent films that
draws from movie scoring techniques that today's audiences expect from
the cinema.
The restored 'Metropolis' will be shown on Saturday,
Jan. 7 at 4 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre, 95 Main St., Keene, N.H.
Admission is $10.50 for adults; $8.50 for youth. Tickets are available
online at http://thecolonial.org or at the door. For more information, call the box office at (603) 352-2033.
CRITIC'S COMMENTS on ‘METROPOLIS’
“'Metropolis'
does what many great films do, creating a time, place and characters so
striking that they become part of our arsenal of images for imagining
the world.”
—Roger Ebert, 2010, The Chicago Sun-Times
“If
it comes anywhere near your town, go see it and thank the movie Gods
that it even exists. There’s no star rating high enough.”
—Brian Tallerico, Movieretriever.com
No comments:
Post a Comment