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Last night, I caught the fully restored Metropolis (1927) on Turner Movie Classics. It was the most recent and updated version, almost completed to its uncut original glory using some 30 minutes of footage recently found in Argentina and New Zealand film vaults. It's an excellent film, and a fascinating study in the way Some Things Never Change.
* * *
Metropolis is a vast futuristic city founded by plutocrat Joh Fredersen. The city is run as an oligarchy by the elite few, who live a luxurious life in the penthouses of skyscrapers. A vast, down-trodden army of workers support it all by living and toiling underground, in the worst conditions imaginable. So, yeah; timely!
( Wikipedia was a huge help writing this synopsis.... )So, that's my (long but extremely truncated, believe me) synopsis of Metropolis. One thing I found interesting about Metropolis was that pop culture's idea of "What Is Sexy" has been refined over many generations of visual entertainment. While on paper "half-dressed young woman dancing seductively" still works, what that means in the flesh has changed. Check out New Maria's sexy-dancing in this Metropolis trailer:
It's kind of hilarious how men who are supposed to be jaded, degenerate playboys suddenly act like repressed virgins with a wad of cash and the Pope's blessing let loose in a whore house when New Maria starts flopping around.
Here's Fox's preview of Glee's "Britney/Brittany" episode shown earlier this year:
I think Brittany in the green top dancing with the snake pretty much approximates what Lang was going for, bless his heart. She looks awesomely sexy, and I'm sure men would snap to attention if they saw her dancing at Yoshiwara (or anywhere else), but doubt that anybody would kill anybody else over her. One of the side-benefits of internet Pr0n available to all is that nobody faints over the sight of a bare ankle anymore, let alone tries to kill anyone over it.
Bonus vid:
Queen! Radio Ga Ga!
Metropolis is a vast futuristic city founded by plutocrat Joh Fredersen. The city is run as an oligarchy by the elite few, who live a luxurious life in the penthouses of skyscrapers. A vast, down-trodden army of workers support it all by living and toiling underground, in the worst conditions imaginable. So, yeah; timely!
( Wikipedia was a huge help writing this synopsis.... )So, that's my (long but extremely truncated, believe me) synopsis of Metropolis. One thing I found interesting about Metropolis was that pop culture's idea of "What Is Sexy" has been refined over many generations of visual entertainment. While on paper "half-dressed young woman dancing seductively" still works, what that means in the flesh has changed. Check out New Maria's sexy-dancing in this Metropolis trailer:
It's kind of hilarious how men who are supposed to be jaded, degenerate playboys suddenly act like repressed virgins with a wad of cash and the Pope's blessing let loose in a whore house when New Maria starts flopping around.
Here's Fox's preview of Glee's "Britney/Brittany" episode shown earlier this year:
I think Brittany in the green top dancing with the snake pretty much approximates what Lang was going for, bless his heart. She looks awesomely sexy, and I'm sure men would snap to attention if they saw her dancing at Yoshiwara (or anywhere else), but doubt that anybody would kill anybody else over her. One of the side-benefits of internet Pr0n available to all is that nobody faints over the sight of a bare ankle anymore, let alone tries to kill anyone over it.
Bonus vid:
Queen! Radio Ga Ga!
