Episode 752: Metropolis (1927)

The Projection Booth Podcast

The Projection Booth

Film Reviews, Film Interviews, Film History, Tv & Film

4.8 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2025

⏱️ 151 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sci Fi July launches with a titan of cinematic futurism: Metropolis (1927). Fritz Lang’s visually stunning epic set the blueprint for dystopian science fiction, blending Gothic horror, political allegory, and machine-age spectacle. Co-written with Thea von Harbou, the film envisions a divided city of soaring towers and subterranean toil, where Freder—the privileged son of master planner Joh Fredersen—awakens to injustice through his encounter with the spiritual leader of the working class, Maria.

Mike is joined by Ranjit Sandhu and Federico Bertolini to discuss the many versions of the film, its fraught production, the complex legacy of Lang and von Harbou, and why Rotwang's lab never goes out of style. From Giger to Gaga, Metropolis casts a long, haunting shadow.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hold your ears, folks.
0:06.8	It's showtime.
0:08.6	People pay good money to see this movie.
0:10.9	When they go out to a theater, they want cold sodas, hot popcorn, and no monsters in the projection booth.
0:17.3	Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring.
0:20.2	Cut it off.
0:25.4	Turn it off.
0:26.8	Turn it off.
0:31.6	Hey, Andrew! The The The The
1:30.3	The and the world is the The Welcome to the projection booth.
2:10.1	I'm your host, Mike White.
2:11.1	Join me once again is Mr. Federico Bertolini.
2:14.2	Hello, thank you.
2:15.5	Great to be back.
2:17.1	Also joining us is Mr. Ranjit Sandu.
2:20.2	Oh, do you do?
2:21.5	We are kicking off a new sci-fi July with one of the granddaddies of science fiction films, Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
2:29.3	Co-written with his wife Thea Van Harbo, the film tells the story of Future City Metropolis, which is run by
2:36.0	industrialist Joe Federson. The potential power behind the throne is mad scientist Rotwang.
2:42.7	Meanwhile, Joe's son, Freeder, is a playboy who happens to meet the hero of the workers'
2:47.3	Maria. It's the story of Freighter and Maria that propels the narrative which explores
2:51.9	class relations, mysticism, science, and a whole lot more. We are going to do our best to spoil this
	...

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