"METROPOLIS."

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 19389, 15 August 1928, Page 5

"METROPOLIS."

! FUTURISTIC! (DITY 9? CAPjtfAt and ihmm '■' The Germans haya done it agajn,'-' wrote one American "critic pf/''MBtrppojis,'< ang w-ben, it is to give the. palm to i tho I Teutons in gcienUfio' world, and in ths realm "of "it is "aqua.!'.? necassary to gjvp the' ILKA, studios' th«i palm when they set their hands' tq painting a futuristic pic-, tura of' fhVwpjh}; aji/'»npUe}f to, mi\%lfrA labpur. It sounds dour, -uriinter.esttfcg, tech-. nical, poli'ti<;aT;~"'in " reality, it 15 »rM*?? c » c'oio'ssal, su'p'er:charged with the sheerest genjiis, ijn'd'Wrftten in 9 spirit of tootber-.lpv? and, ""tpleyanf eV ' '.'Metroiollji'' has had a more sensational rmi than •»?,"?' ~°? ''Yviety;''' produced by' the same studios. It ha> thi|t essence 6i thoroughness, P\ soimhesi of'great sets' seen from qtuoes, twisted angles,' that, combined with a. clever s,tpry and'excellent t pictures things to marvel at. But '£aus.i and "Variety" were child's P' 3 ? . t0 "Metropolis." This picture opens its Christchurch season at the Grand Theatre on Mon, day next, for which the box plans \*ill °P e " at The Bristol Piano Company, tp/mqrroiy. morning. It is a stqry of capital versus, labbur, set 'in" a/gia'nt,' mechanical, soulless city of the future, controlled by one *«*£■ mind, and worked by thousands oi under the influence of Kotwang, ?. Ms||* inventor:'' The" thought behind « h '« F" is bbth brilliant and' eminently feasible. to. the superficial, it may possibly fPP* 8 grotesque, fantastic dream. But the vhole thing 'is' obviously possible, even to the creation and rational functioning woman, a "female automaton who, created oy Botw*ng, and" assuming the appearancel pi a loved' laughter qf the people, *£«£•£ Jj tho VrVtchbd workers to. »hey AbJ^ Is « their masters; But oven m ¥**s* l \£s wonder pity, the human urge ssserted Jtjeji, sabbtagef'-cnaos:, "reddest lu n V <, ? h3t Cft b ? e. on" "the scenfe. And the people of that wildering city were proven to be just any other people. is th? R«o Bicturp that cap be talked about wc^ qiiite" understood. It has its " h ??.»n f,° o mbnt,n H the love story of » daughter workers with tho son of M> toW the' owner, pr cpntrollef, of the city. And When flbtwang, at the cpm ffi a ß 4 of man/ builds"" his robot-woman, with th« fom of thii Mary, and sends it forth on its; evi mission, lenspsi drama creeps nto \U «wa ier. «inpms action pf the picture. Aosorbaonbtleis the "visionary .^«?? ? * Pl sible future that s its chief attraction. ■S? JSkrdiiti"of tbO VorTd. the rich and &fd/W« « the top of the city, upn. the sun and ain while for the WprleKi, who control the huge machines and engines which function for life, are housed in a subterranean citV, never seeing the light, and thown br numbers. "The Germans have done it agate;" ftd«d: even in. entertain, menl evef in th.ft they inventions that must rpusa the wonder and admiration pf tho m*\s: