'Metropolis' restored after 75 years of cuts

A newly restored print of the German silent-film classic, Metropolis, which recreates the stunning visual impression of the 1927 première copy, is to be shown at a series of special screenings around Britain later this month.

The print has restored the narrative of the original, which was never seen outside Berlin due to cuts by distributors anxious to reduce the monumental film to the "normal" feature length of the era. This is the first time in almost 75 years that cinema-lovers can view the sci-fi fantasy as the director, Fritz Lang, devised it.

Metropolis was a landmark in cinema history, using thousands of extras, enormous futuristic sets and special effects that were ground-breaking for the time. It has had a huge influence in subsequent films such as Blade Runner.

Clyde Jeavons, the former curator of the National Film and Television Archive who now programmes film restorations for the London Film Festival, said: "It's a huge warhorse of German Expressionism combined with German nationalism. The Nazis liked it rather too much, unfortunately, much to Fritz Lang's chagrin."

About two million feet of negative was shot and the eventual production is estimated to have run at more than two and a half hours, a length common today but rare in the early years of film.

"It has been much mutilated and chopped around subsequently," Mr Jeavons said. "About a quarter of the film is lost and probably irretrievable.

The reconstruction was the passion of Enno Patalas and Martin Körber, both Germans, who used the best of surviving versions of the film, including one in Britain, to piece together the true picture.

Metropolis will return to the National Film Theatre for a fortnight from 17 January before touring to Edinburgh, Dublin, Cork, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol and Brighton.