Metropolis

"The mediator between the hands and the head must be the heart..."

Yup. I finally saw this one. My town just recently hosted a screening with an extra half hour of missing footage, which I couldn't get tickets to, but I did watch a version that had placards to describe the parts we missed. However, there is still a bunch of dialogue I am convinced is missing.

This 1927 German film is absolutely legendary for it's class-concious message, dystopian style, visionary storytelling and amazing special effects for a movie of it's era. It's also inspired mny other films, including Blade Runner (1982) and the anime Metropolis (2001). The anime was based on a graphic novel by Osamu Tezuka from 1949, which was heavily influenced by the 1927 film. Square Enix's game Final Fantasy VII (1997) may have been inspired by the film or graphic novel.

All the themes are there: A class-concious "Utopian" society in which the ruling class above ground is not even aware of the existence of the working class below ground. Until one young man wanders below ground and sees the destruction, toil, and death. He falls in love with a prophetess who talks of a coming mediator - the heart (guess who that will be?) - until she is kidnapped and replaced by a

 robot that looks just like her.

Much like the Anime successor, there is also some religious themes, as the highest peak of civilization was to build a tower unto the heavens. Called the Ziggarat in the anime, but in the 1927 film they just go straight to calling it the New Tower of Babel. In the anime, they still make very obvious comparisons between the Ziggarat and the biblical tower of fame.

This is the movie that placed sci-fi on the map. It's very difficult to find an english version (the movie is originally German) and despite a post-WWI budget, the scenery is impressive, with many sets, and very extravagent models of both the city above ground, and the workers city below ground. Sometimes the vaudeville style of performance can be a distraction from the believability of the story, but for a black and white horror movie, it works. It takes a bit of effort to suspend disbelief, but it is possible and the payout is well worth it.

If the extended version hits your town, go check it out. But unless they announce that there will be an intermission, avoid drinks and bring adult diapers, because the version I watched was already two hours long. And think, even with the extra half-hour it is supposed that there is still anywhere from twenty to sixty minutes still unnacounted for. I hope that extra half-hour includes dialogue placards.

Future ideas for SAW? Traps, plots, and...song?

If you haven`t seen the new SAW 3D (2010)yet, this post won`t make a lot of sense. That`s okay, because in Dimensions of Fear, very few things make any sense (Meet the Feebles anyone?). But this post will remain somewhat spoiler free, and try to only allude to things most people already know about the movie.

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So Saw 7/EndGame/3D: The Traps Come Alive is supposed to be the final movie in the epic franchise, but we`ve heard similar things about other movies - remember Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter? (1984) - and the producers did say that they will keep making these movies as long as they keep making money. So here are my predictions for SAW VIII.

• Opening Scene: Running short of ideas to keep this franchise going, James Wan and Leigh Whannel wake up in a very familiar bathroom, or at least familiar to Whannel who not only co-wrote SAW (2004) but played the role of Adam in the original film. A telivision set sitting on the toilet turns on and Billy the Puppet tells them they have "sold out" and rejected their roots, and they have three hours to complete a script bringing the franchise back to life.
• Running short of ideas, Wan and Whannel resort to other projects they have worked on to come up with supplementary material, borrowing from Dead Silent (2007) and Repo! The Genetic Opera (2009). Testify!
• A murdered ventriliquist posesses Billy and after singing a song about being trapped in a box, we see Billy perform the kidnapping of Wan and Whannel. Meanwhile, he goes on his unholy mission to use gory death traps to get the other staff at Twisted Pictures and Lionsgate to understand the error of their ways. This way, the persons have to kill themselves as revenge for killing SAW. 
• After the script is completed to part VIII (Titled "SAW VIII: The Dead Silent Musical") all the Saw fans gather in the theatre "Testifying" about how Jigsaw/John Kramer saved them and made them appreciate the value of their lives.
• James Wan and Leigh Whannel, having survived and putting together a script make their way over to the theatre to stop the ghost of the ventriliquist. The film reel is destroyed partway through and the ventriliquist must improvise using live performances, still keeping to the musical theme. While Wan hunts down and destroys Billy, thus taking away the ventriliquist's "channel." But something is wrong. The show must go on, and it turns out the entire time that Whannel was a puppet carved out of a human, and Wan is powerless to stop the show. instead of the usual "Game Over" we hear the ventriliquist say "Who's Playing Games Now?"

And that is how movie VIII would have gone. It's probably a good thing I'm not a producer. And by the way, if you're interested in Vincent Price check out my latest post on HubPages: The Many Faces of Vincent Price! Don't forget to visit my twitter as well, @videorewind.