METROPOLIS - HOMAGE TO MORODOR
LBBLURAY16
A NOTE REGARDING THE BLU-RAY: SURROUND Blu Ray $16.99 (includes S&H) STEREO Blu Ray $16.99 (includes S&H) U.S. orders only - Sorry, no international shipping: |
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NTSC DVD, DTS Surround & Dolby Stereo $16.99 (includes S&H) Digital Download, about 1.7GB, same quality as the trailer below, $9.99: |
WOW! Are we excited about this one!
Metropolis, Fritz Lang's masterpiece from 1926, was resurrected from the dead back in 1984 by Giorgio Morodor, the king of Disco producers.
He cobbled together all the prints he could find and assembled an 83 minute version of the film. He replaced the title cards with subtitles, which wasn't possible back in 1926.
He also tinted the film and then added an electronic soundtrack that included songs by the likes of Pat Benatar, Adam Ant, Freddie Mercury, and Billy Idol.
We loved it, except for the songs.
It was a great success, filling major movie theaters with audiences who were actually paying to see a silent film. However, most film scholars thought it was a travesty.
Fast forward to the 2010s: The F.W. Murnau Institute in Germany restores and releases an almost-complete print of Metropolis that looks stunning - it blows away the prints that Morodor had access to. It's well over two hours long and is only missing a few frames, basically presenting the film in its original form, along with a 5.1 surround sound recording of the original orchestral score which accompanied the film's world premiere in Berlin in 1926.
Important? It made it the headlines of all the international news services.
We love the restored version, but it's in black and white with no tinting (which is the way Fritz Lang wanted it), and we kinda miss all the bloops and bleeps from the Morodor score.
So we set out upon a mission: re-create the shorter Morodor version with tints and colorizations, subtitles, and a brand new electronic score that pays homage to his 1984 soundtrack.
We highly recommend the blu ray, which is available in 24-bit Quad PCM (for those with surround sound) or 24-bit Stereo PCM (for those without).
Due to the dearth of robust Blu Ray Authoring software affordable by us mere mortals, we can't press a blu ray with alternative audio tracks.
The DVD, however, contains both a DTS 4.0 soundtrack and a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack thanks to Apple's now-discontinued DVD Studio Pro.
How I wish Apple would have done the same for bluray....
- Tim Casey,
Grand Wazoo and Chief Poo-Bah,
Lowbudget Records