Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist science-fiction silent film directed by Fritz Lang and written by Thea von Harbou in collaboration with Lang from von Harbou's 1925 novel of the same name. It stars Gustav Fröhlich, Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, and Brigitte Helm. Erich Pommer produced it in the Babelsberg Studio for Universum Film A.G. (UFA). Metropolis is regarded as a pioneering science-fiction film, being among the first feature-length ones of that genre. Filming took place over 17 months in 1925–26 at a cost of more than five million Reichsmarks, or the equivalent of about €21 million.
Theatrical release poster by Heinz Schulz-Neudamm
Set photograph of the Maschinenmensch from Metropolis
Manhattan skyline in 1912
The Tower of Babel in Maria's recounting of the biblical story was modeled after this 1563 painting by Pieter Brueghel.
German expressionist cinema
German expressionist cinema was a part of several related creative movements in Germany in the early 20th century that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central European culture in fields such as architecture, dance, painting, sculpture and cinema.
Paul Wegener as The Student of Prague in a 1913 poster
A poster for the 1920 silent film The Golem: How He Came into the World, starring and co-directed by Paul Wegener and Carl Boese
A commemorative plaque for the 1922 silent film Nosferatu in the market square of Wismar, Germany where some of it was filmed
A frame from director Arthur Robison's 1923 silent film Schatten – Eine nächtliche Halluzination (a.k.a., Warning Shadows)
