“METROPOLIS.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18380, 4 February 1928, Page 25 (Supplement)

“METROPOLIS.”

THE STYLISTIC SUPER SUPREME. What is stylism in films? Early after the war, a film was produced in Germany entitled “The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.” It was an innovation in every respect and the film world immediately acclaimed “Caligari,” as it was to be known both in England and America. This film was never screened in Australasia for reasons best known to the American distributors. "Caligari” was, of course, the first stylistic film, but since the date of its release the German producers have made a number of others which have definitely established stylism in films. The director who has done more perhaps than any other to foster this type of film is Fritz Lang, of the famous Ufa Company, of Berlin. His film, “Dr Mabuse,” was well off the beaten track and resembled “Caligari” in cer tain respects. Many of the scenes in both-films could be termed “futuristic.” For instance, a street scene in “Caligari” is shown as it would appear to the mind of a madman. Perspective is reversed. Windows and doors of houses are on the skew, and architecture in this film has nothing in common with symmetry. Likewise the stylism of “Dr Mabuse” was seen, for instance, in the famous cabaret sets which could be called plus bizarre. But the acme of stylism is found in the latest super production of the Ufa which took Fritz Lang three years to complete. “Metropolis” sets a standard first and last for the film of stylism, and it is doubtful if anything will be attempted like it again because “Metropolis” cost in the making mere than ten million marks. This super film will have its Australasian premiere at an early date in Wellington. It is a gigantic and bizarre attraction and has been universally acclaimed. The National Board of Review gave the film first honours. The board selected it to go on the Photoplay Guide in America. More than that, it has been marked with an asterisk and recommended to the critique committee as an exceptional picture. New Zealand audiences have not had the ODportunity of seeing the stylism in films lixe “Caligari” and “Dr Mabuse,” but “Metropolis” contains it from beginning to end. It is impossible to select any one scene for analysis. but perhaps mention can ne made of the mobVushes in the mass scenes. The “Metropolis” mobs are not milling thousands which are seen in every big film, but are orderly crowds. These thousands do not rush down streets and across the squares of metropolis helter skelter. Here stylism comes in. The mob rushes in exact geometrical formation, sometimes in triangles, sometimes in hexagons—so much for stylism, which will be a source of wonder [ to •ven the most hardened picture-goer. I