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Metropolis: The Forgotten Madhouse Masterpiece


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Dark Mac



Joined: 17 May 2008
Posts: 313
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 9:48 am Reply with quote
I dunno if it was lost. Still easy enough to watch nowadays.

As far as Madhouse movies that took years to make and had huge budgets go, Redline was better.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2553
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 11:10 am Reply with quote
Dark Mac wrote:
I dunno if it was lost. Still easy enough to watch nowadays.


Yeah, "lost" might have been a little too harsh of a word, though it does make for a nice sounding title. "Forgotten" would easily be the better word here, as while it this movie is still readily available, barely anyone really talks about it.

Personally, I actually watched it for the first time a couple of years ago & really enjoyed it. I even wrote a piece pitting it against the Fritz Lang movie that inspired the original manga's creation, and found both to honestly be rather equally matched, mainly because both do their own thing very well. Rintaro's film is definitely not perfect, but it at least aims high & generally hits where it counts, and is still absolutely beautiful to look at, even 21 years later.

Also, props for actually including a Ray Charles song during the climax. I thought it fit the scene really well, personally.
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JintoLin



Joined: 29 Sep 2020
Posts: 44
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 12:05 pm Reply with quote
I love this movie. I saw it in the theatre, own the DVD and CD soundtrack, and won a 'Metropolis' t-shirt from some website 20 years ago.
There's a weird call-out to Southern Ontario hidden in the background of one scene. There's a map on the wall, and it's a section of the north coast of Lake Ontario, rotated 90 degrees. The names of the cities and towns along that stretch are easy to make out. I have no idea how it got there, but it's cool to see.
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puraoreo





PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 12:16 pm Reply with quote
Lost? You can watch it on Youtube.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15315
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 12:34 pm Reply with quote
Should've been nominated for an Oscar along with VHD: Bloodlust and the 2000's Kon movies. Maybe DT will do a special edition one day?
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Gem-Bug



Joined: 10 Nov 2018
Posts: 1213
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 12:40 pm Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:
Dark Mac wrote:
I dunno if it was lost. Still easy enough to watch nowadays.


Yeah, "lost" might have been a little too harsh of a word, though it does make for a nice sounding title. "Forgotten" would easily be the better word here, as while it this movie is still readily available, barely anyone really talks about it.


It's pretty much the same as adding "..you've never heard of" to a title. Kind of an assumption that the reader is ignorant of your topic. Rolling Eyes

I still haven't seen it, but people have brought it up to me for years. I remember seeing it in old Anime Invasion/Insider magazines eons ago.
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Swissman



Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 768
Location: Switzerland
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 1:54 pm Reply with quote
Dark Mac wrote:
As far as Madhouse movies that took years to make and had huge budgets go, Redline was better.

I've seen both movies in the cinema, on huge screens, Metropolis in Japan during its initial release and Redline as a world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival. Both are equally good in my opinion, and just a joy to experience. I wish more such lavishly produced anime movies were released over the years.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 3:07 pm Reply with quote
To me it was forgotten because its plot is so forgettable, maybe its due to pacing but I have no idea because I literally don't remember anything about its plot. Still vividly remember some visual scene, like Tina half broken at the end, but I literally cannot remember anything about the plot. I can't even remember if I though it was good or bad, its just all gone.
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Spawn29



Joined: 14 Jan 2008
Posts: 551
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 3:36 pm Reply with quote
I was lucky enough to see this on the big screen with my dad back in the early 2000s. He discover it in the news paper and took me to see it because he knew that I like anime and stuff from Japan. I was probably 10 or 11 at the time.
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DerekL1963
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Joined: 14 Jan 2015
Posts: 1114
Location: Puget Sound
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 3:38 pm Reply with quote
FWIW... My intro to Madhouse's Metropolis was this amv, which pairs images from the film with the song "Twilight" from ELO's seminal 1981 concept album Time. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_(ELO_album) since I can't get the markup to work. Dang but you guys need a more modern editor...)

Of course being a child of the 60's and 70's, the album's semi-dystopian themes resonated strongly with me...

The anime was one of the first DVD's I rented from Netflix (one of my gateways into anime), and I remember mostly being disappointed in the film... And that was pretty much down the pacing problems Matthew points out.
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iamthevastuniverse





PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 4:20 pm Reply with quote
Metropolis certainly isn't forgotten or lost its availability is pretty easy to find. I've owned a copy of the film for over a decade now can't really relate to this article.

Last edited by iamthevastuniverse on Sat Feb 05, 2022 8:40 am; edited 1 time in total
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Netero



Joined: 10 Jun 2018
Posts: 163
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 5:14 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
While Tezuka had never seen the original 1927 silent film by Fritz Lang...

I think that's all anyone ever needs to know about this anime.
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Themaster20000



Joined: 05 Aug 2014
Posts: 863
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 5:16 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
To me it was forgotten because its plot is so forgettable, maybe its due to pacing but I have no idea because I literally don't remember anything about its plot. Still vividly remember some visual scene, like Tina half broken at the end, but I literally cannot remember anything about the plot. I can't even remember if I though it was good or bad, its just all gone.


That's how I felt watching it for the first time years ago. A visual masterpiece by far,with the plot being serviceable. Most memorable thing being the ending, which is amazing.
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KENZICHI



Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Posts: 1103
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 7:02 pm Reply with quote
Not a forgotten or lost film for me (I say proudly). It’s one of my favorite childhood films. I finally bought a copy of it a few years ago.
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Ajc228



Joined: 29 Dec 2015
Posts: 265
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2022 8:28 pm Reply with quote
While the Mill Creek release is perfectly serviceable, the UK release from Eureka has the best picture quality. It also has multiple English subtitle tracks.
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