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Sometimes the actors would do things that would not make sense. Such as: ringing the bell, yet not helping the kids get to higher ground as the water rose around them.

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I really loved how planned the composition was in every shot

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Table of Contents

Metropolis, German silent film, released in 1927, featuring director Fritz Lang 's vision of a grim futuristic society and containing some of the most impressive images in film history.
(Read Lillian Gish's 1929 Britannica essay on silent film.)
The great future city of Metropolis in the film is inhabited by two distinct classes: the industrialists live off the fat of the land, supported by the workers who live under the city and endure a bare-bones existence of backbreaking work. The story concerns a forbidden love between Freder (played by Gustav Fröhlich), a young man from the industrialist class, and Maria (Brigitte Helm), an activist who preaches against the divide between the two classes. The subterfuge and deceit involving a robot duplicate of Maria culminate in a revolution that quickly spells disaster for all involved.

Despite advances in filmmaking technology, no other film has surpassed Metropolis in terms of its impact on production design. Its influence can be seen in many subsequent science fiction films, including Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) and Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985). Lang's eye for magnificent set pieces and special effects resulted in memorable images, notably the immense skyscrapers that dominate the skyline of Metropolis and the scenes in which the robot takes on Maria's features.

Metropolis was not a success in its initial German release. It was cut by about a quarter from its original length of 153 minutes for its American release and a German rerelease. These shortened versions were further reedited many times over the decades, and various versions exist in different countries. For example, in 1984 an 87-minute print was released with a rock sound track constructed by composer Giorgio Moroder. The original 1927 release print seemed lost forever, but in 2008 a deteriorated but nearly complete print that ran 147 minutes was discovered in the archives of the Museum of Cinema in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After several months of restoration in Germany, the reconstructed Metropolis had its first showing at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2010.

Production notes and credits

Writers: Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou

Running time: 153 minutes

Cast

Brigitte Helm (Maria/The Robot)

Alfred Abel (Joh Fredersen)

Rudolf Klein-Rogge (Rotwang)

Lee Pfeiffer

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Metropolis, German silent film, released in 1927, featuring director Fritz Lang's vision of a grim futuristic society and containing some of the most impressive images in film history. (Read Lillian Gish's 1929 Britannica essay on silent film.)

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Very unique and probably believable special effects when the robot was created.

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Both the poor and rich are completely self-absorbed. The rich were okay with watching the world burn and the poor forgot about their children.

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Nosferatu being referenced in children's tv/ memes shows that it is still part of our media culture.

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The thought processes that separate the rich and the poor.

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I found it funny that Hutter never listened to the warning of the book at the inn.

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The mad scientist from Metropolis
& Knock from Nosferatu.

Both had evil and good undertones. In the beginning, they just seemed like odd but nice characters. In the end, they both were evil.

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Metropolis was cut so long. It felt like I watched the same scene over and over before they would move onto a new plot point.

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Even though it was Sci-Fi, The main story was a Romacne film. Without Maria's influence, Fredder would have never learned about the underground workers.

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Ellen's sacrifice saved the town. She also was the weakest actor in my opinion so I was glad she was able to redeem herself

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The reactions of the actors are similar to the over-the-top reactions found in  theater.

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There was so much water when the machines broke

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Metropolis told the story of right before the robots would take over. Which is different than modern dystopian robot movies.

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The first vampire movie turned out to be fantastic. I now understand why vampire movies are so loved.

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Terrifying but iconic.

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Amazing acting in Nosferatu

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I really enjoyed this. A symphony of horror is a really awesome name for the song!

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Was cast perfectly because of his length.

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Schreck as Count Orlok

Friedrich Gustav Maximilian Schreck (6 September 1879 - 20 February 1936), known professionally as Max Schreck, was a German actor, best known for his lead role as the vampire Count Orlok in the film (1922).

Max Schreck was born in Berlin-Friedenau, on 6 September 1879. Six years later, his father bought a house in the independent rural community of Friedenau, then part of the district of Teltow.

Schreck's father did not approve of his son's ever-growing enthusiasm for theater. His mother provided the boy with money, which he secretly used for acting lessons, although only after the death of his father did he attend drama school. After graduating, he traveled briefly across the country with poet and dramatist Demetrius Schrutz.

Schreck had engagements in Mulhouse, Meseritz, Speyer, Rudolstadt, Erfurt and Weissenfels, and his first extended stay at the Gera Theater. Greater engagements followed, especially in Frankfurt am Main. From there, he went to Berlin for Max Reinhardt and the Munich Kammerspiele for Otto Falckenberg.

Schreck received his training at the Berliner Staatstheater (State Theatre of Berlin), completing it in 1902. He made his stage début in Meseritz and Speyer, and then toured Germany for two years, appearing at theatres in Zittau, Erfurt, Bremen, Lucerne, Gera, and Frankfurt am Main. Schreck then joined Max Reinhardt's company of performers in Berlin. Many members of Reinhardt's troupe went on to make significant contributions to the German film industry.

For three years between 1919 and 1922, Schreck appeared at the Munich Kammerspiele, including a role in the expressionist production of Bertolt Brecht's début, Trommeln in der Nacht (Drums in the Night) in which he played the "freakshow landlord" Glubb. During this time, he also worked on his first film The Mayor of Zalamea, adapted from a six-act play, for Decla Bioscop. In 1921, he was hired by Prana Film for its first and only production, (1922), an unlicensed adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel . The company declared itself bankrupt after the film was released to avoid paying copyright infringement costs to the author's widow, Florence Stoker. Schreck portrayed Count Orlok, a character analogous to Count Dracula.

While still in Munich, Schreck appeared in a 16-minute (one-reeler) slapstick, "surreal comedy" written by Bertolt Brecht with cabaret and stage actors Karl Valentin, Liesl Karlstadt, Erwin Faber, and Blandine Ebinger, entitled Mysterien eines Friseursalons (Mysteries of a Barbershop, 1923), directed by Erich Engel. Schreck appeared as a blind man in the film (also 1923).

Schreck's second collaboration with Nosferatu director F. W. Murnau was the comedy Die Finanzen des Grossherzogs (The Grand Duke's Finances, 1924). Even Murnau did not hesitate to declare his contempt for the picture. In 1926, Schreck returned to the Kammerspiele in Munich and continued to act in films, his career surviving the advent of sound until 1936, when he died from heart failure.

Schreck was married to actress Fanny Normann, who appeared in a few films, often credited as Fanny Schreck.

One of Schreck's contemporaries recalled that he was a loner with an unusual sense of humor and skill in playing grotesque characters. He also reported that he lived in "a remote and incorporeal world" and that he often spent time walking through forests.

There were rumours at the time of Nosferatu and for many years afterwards that Schreck did not actually exist and was a pseudonym for the well-known actor Alfred Abel.

On 19 February 1936, Schreck had just played The Grand Inquisitor in the play Don Carlos, standing in for Will Dohm. That evening he felt unwell, and the doctor sent him to the hospital where he died early the next morning of a heart attack. His obituary especially praised his lead role performance in Molière's play . He was buried on 14 March 1936 at Wilmersdorfer Waldfriedhof Stahnsdorf in Brandenburg.

The person and performance of Max Schreck in was fictionalized by actor Willem Dafoe in E. Elias Merhige's Shadow of the Vampire. In a secret history, Shadow posits that Schreck was a real vampire. Dafoe was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Schreck.

Scriptwriter Daniel Waters created the character Max Shreck (portrayed by Christopher Walken) for the Tim Burton film Batman Returns and compared him to the character Max Schreck played in Nosferatu. claimed the name was an in-joke.

Schreck's portrayal of the Orlok character later became a recurring character in the SpongeBob SquarePants universe as the night shift manager for the Krusty Krab; this was initially portrayed using archive stills of Schreck before the role was cast with actors Alexander Ward and Dee Bradley Baker.

Schreck's Count Orlok was used as stock video in the music video of the Queen (band) and David Bowie's " Under Pressure".

Reenactement at Max Schrecks grave in Stahnsdorf near Berlin in the 2022 silent movie "F.W.M. Symphony" by visual artist Thomas Hörl.

Eickhoff, Stefan (2007). Max Schreck - Gespenstertheater (in German). Munich: Belleville Verlag Inh. Dr. Willi Michael Farin. ISBN 978-3-936298-54-3.

Eickhoff, Stefan. "Max Schreck - Gespenstertheater" (in German). (summary of Eickhoff's biography/tribute of Schreck)

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Friedrich Gustav Maximilian Schreck (6 September 1879 - 20 February 1936), known professionally as Max Schreck, was a German actor, best known for his lead role as the vampire Count Orlok in the film (1922). Max Schreck was born in Berlin-Friedenau, on 6 September 1879.