Although the film was a little hard to follow, it had some pretty good moments in it. It proves that although special effects and acting skills have come a long way, the seeds were in place a long long time ago. Many of the elements in this movie were the same as some movies of today. There was the hero, the villain, the girl. Even the vision of the future was similar to how we would envision our future 80 years from now.
Relating back to the German roots of this film and the period of the 1920's, I believe the extraordinary living situations for the German public in that era was a baseline for how the lower class in this film was portrayed.
I think this film was great for the gestures based theater. The actors had to do so much to get their point across to the audience. I think we take words for granted some times. The added music helped also. Being a science fiction film, I was wary because I do not care for these types of movies but this was different from what I expect by today’s standards. I think the writer and director were soothsayers because this film was made in 1927 and 6 years later Hitler came into power. He took the Jewish people and fed his “machine” with their blood. When I watch the machine being fed the people, it brought to mind what might have happened in the concentration camps. I also liked at the end when the mediator brought both sides together. This still happens today when management and unions have to negotiate deals. No matter how long this film took in the rising conflict, the climax and resolution made it worthwhile. This film could probably be remade today with all the newest special-effects and be a hit in the theaters.
I found the film interesting because of all the "gestures." It was fun to see how hard the actors had to work to tell the story. I loved all the facial expressions as well. I love watching "old" movies because it is interesting to see how far we have come as far as special effects, sound, and acting itself.
I feel like parts of the movie were hard to follow and without the help of the "text" in the movie it would have been impossible to understand.
The part in the movie that really hit me the most was at the beginning "shift change," It had a feeling as if they were walking into their own hell, if you will, and the workers walking out were leaving hell. It was eerie.
The movie as a whole was enjoyable to watch and I look forward to seeing the next movie.
This film made me thind of what a A.D.D. society we are today. I have heard that the human attention span lasts about 7 seconds. If you pay attention to current movies, tv shows, and commercials, you will see that the industry agrees with this. If you watch, the frames in what you are viewing will constantly change. I did not notice if the film was shot like this. I did not think about this at time. I don't know if people were like this in the 20's or if we figured it out later. It is also possible that our minds and attention have changed over time. The film did drag on. The message was repeated over and over. I found myself looking for hidden messages and symbology, as many science fiction writers seem to put additional messages in their work. One thing I wondered was if the woman the 'father' and the 'scientist' referred to as "Hel" (helen) was actually a play on "Hell." The gestures did seem a bit out of control, but this seems understandable due to lack of sound. Without the technology we have today, this was more necessary---a more visual form of communication. It is more necessary to watch the actors closely to follow what is going on. The music was also monotonious, but served it's purpose in guiding the emotion. I was suprised at the special effects used with the "electrical effects." I was also impressed with the amount of people (extras) used. A good example is the children during the flood. I don't even know if it would be legal to shoot a picture in the same manner these days. I saw the vision of the future interesting. The huge buildings and machinery, yet there were still old fashioned cars and planes. I agree with Brian, in that it would be interesting to see a re-make of this film with todays technology.
I disliked the film. I would liken it to being in the dentist's office just waiting for it to be over. I did not like it because it was very slow and it seemed to drag the point out for two hours. I understand that 1927 was a different time, but still I believe that this film could have been shortened by an hour at least and it could have reached the same conclusion. I did not like the general feel of the film, to me it seemed dreary. As far back as I can remember the future has always been considered something to look forward to, but this film portrays something much more dark in my opinion. Even though I did not enjoy this particular film I did find it interesting. I was appalled my the fact that these people had to act knowing that they would not be heard. I think that acting in this manner would be very difficult and it would require a very solid actor to do so. In short, Although I did not enjoy this film I feel one can learn a number of things by viewing it.
I have mixed feelings about this film, I liked and disliked this movie. First of all I thought the film was too long to reach the climax of this film. It was slow moving and very confusing in the beginning, I wasn't sure what was going on, who anyone was or didn't understand the point. Also the lack of sound made the film that much harder to understand what they were trying to convey to the audiance about what was going on. But, after Maria was being chased by the mad scientist things started getting more interesting, the action was although still hard to follow some parts it kept my attention better, because more things were happinging. I was pretty impressed by how they were able to construct the "lighting" effects in the scientists lab, I thought they did a great job on that since they didn't have the special effects like they do today. The conflicts between higher class and lower class I felt was protrayed very well in this film. I thought the actors did a fairly good job in parts of the film trying to relay what was happing other times I really didn't have a clue what was going on. I didn't really understand the machine part where the people were disappearing until it was mentioned after the movie that humans had to feed the machine, thinking on it now I think they could have done a better job on trying to convey that message. Overall I thought it was okay, but wouldn't want to have to sit through it again. Very interesting to see how things have changed drastically in the filming of movies.
I also agree with John Wells. This movie proves that high quality movies can be made based on the quality of acting and the story. This acting was a lot more then what I was used to, they weren't subtle in the slightest. This was, of course, needed to be able to keep the audience following on the types of emotions that the actors wanted to portray.
This is the kind of movie that I'm glad I watched, it has given me a greater appreciation for movies that we have nowadays. What seems so commonplace to us now would have been impossible for them to do back then. I wouldn't watch this movie again though, this is a one time film to me. It has a good story and everything, but I just couldn't get used to how much the actors exaggerated their feelings for the audience.
I have one quick question about the movie, did the clocks back then only go to 10 instead of the regular 12 that we have now? Or is this how they see us telling time in the future?
When the movie first started I noticed the style of special effects, and laughed to myself. I noticed the way they shot the machines and overlapped them in a kaleidoscope view to make them look impressive and complicated. Even though we all know what was going on you still got the point. I think we take special effects and detail way too seriously. I think sometimes we are so focused on special effects that that’s all there is room for and the story is lost. I imagine doing the unrealistic special effects they did in Metropolis it was harder and took longer than most the effects we use today. I also noticed the gestures. It made me think of the saying “actions are louder than words”. It was easy to tell what they were feeling and if they were good or evil. The only thing that bothered me about the movies was how long it took to get to the resolution. My attention started to wander as the movie got closer to the end. I am usually very easy to entertain, but the story seemed to get a bit redundant and it lost my attention. I can see why this movie is considered one of the greatest movies. It carries some of the classic ingredients that have lasted through the years. It has the boy meets girl, boy falls in love, boy looses girl, boy rescues girl, boy and girl live happily ever after. It has the big evil corporation that abuses the little guy causing the little guy to rebel and take down the big corporation. It also has the misunderstood scientist that builds a robot that looks like a human and it gets out of control and has to be destroyed. Over all I really enjoyed the film.
I thought this movie was interesting in the way it potrayed the social classes of the Germans in the 1920's. I don't feel that people's perception to that has changed all that much even if the social classes have even out. I felt that the actors actually did quite well showing their feelings towards one another considering it was silent. Gestures are obviously needed for a silent film, and they did exagerate them, but I don't feel it was over done. I was able to conclude their feelings which I found helpful.
I also agree with Elliot that this movie has given me greater appreciation for our technology of todays movies. It seems quite amazing they were able to coordinate that many people in some of those scenes to do as they wanted them to, in order to get good shots. I would almost think that to get the people coordinated, lighting, and effects they had to work much harder then than the effects we have today.
I overall was impressed with how well they did the movie with what they had to wok with, although I found it a little to long and draw out to get to the climax of the movie.
I thought this movie was interesting to watch once in my life but I probably couldn't watch it again. I agree with Michael Sanders in that the attention span of today is 7 seconds and we want the movie to move on faster then it did. I found the shift change very interesting the movement of the workers and the speed of one going faster than the other. Makes me think of how I feel on Monday mornings dragging myself into work. Maybe that is because I work at a dentist office as Justin Miltenberger compared the movie to. The movie used the same style as we do today as well as in theater, the relationship between the son and Maria reminded me of Romeo and Juliet because the father saw this relationship as something that could not take happen.
i didn't really know what to expect when the movie first started, to be honest this was the first silent film i have ever seen. but i can really see why it's still considered a classic, and one of the greats.i really liked it a lot and a lot of the styles they used aren't to far off from what we still use today. the music and some of the expressions were a little cheesy but it was still a really well done movie and i really enjoyed watching it. we definitely still see science fiction the same today with the whole machines and robots. the cities are still basically the same high rise centers and depicted the same today, only we have a lot more advanced effects at our disposal. all in all i though the acting was great for almost no dialog and it definitely is a classic for me.
I found this film fascinating. While it did indeed drag on sometimes, it was so interesting to see the obvious influence it has had on film and television to come. I can go back as far as I can remember when it comes to visions of the future,whether it be film, television, or even paintings, it's always derived from the stacking buildings the many roadways, the prestige sitting at the top to view it all. And you will often find some form of an "underground" where the lowlifes, slaves, or insane live. I always love seeing the deemed "classic" films if only to see the way they shaped what we see today.
I couldn't help but want to laugh at the extremes they would take the gestures to. But looking at it, there is no way they could portray the message being given without them. It's funny that the gestures remained in films with sound and spoken word for a long time past the first silent movies. I think it all had to do with the time period. Seeing a movie was an event, it was expensive, and much more appreciated. I think there was a fantastical element that people expected, it gave it something different than regular conversation about work, school, etc. I mean, how well do you think two guys sitting in a convenience store talking about sex, hockey, and the stupidity of the general public would have done back in '46.
For these types of movies you have to take yourself back. For me I have to put myself "in the 20's" per say. We are spoiled with living in the times we do with the technologies. As different as it was, silent, incredibly "long", it had so many similarities to todays films. Gestures were overexagerated but sometimes they are today. The basic storyline with, class seperations, a Hero, rich CEO of sort coming to senses after almost losing a loved one, and the one that really stood out to me, as much as a sci-fi movie this was, its still a Love story and in the writing it was evidently there. Boy falls for girl, girl is in danger, boy saves girl. The End
Although the film was a little hard to follow, it had some pretty good moments in it. It proves that although special effects and acting skills have come a long way, the seeds were in place a long long time ago. Many of the elements in this movie were the same as some movies of today. There was the hero, the villain, the girl. Even the vision of the future was similar to how we would envision our future 80 years from now.
ReplyDeleteRelating back to the German roots of this film and the period of the 1920's, I believe the extraordinary living situations for the German public in that era was a baseline for how the lower class in this film was portrayed.
Rating: ***
I think this film was great for the gestures based theater. The actors had to do so much to get their point across to the audience. I think we take words for granted some times. The added music helped also. Being a science fiction film, I was wary because I do not care for these types of movies but this was different from what I expect by today’s standards. I think the writer and director were soothsayers because this film was made in 1927 and 6 years later Hitler came into power. He took the Jewish people and fed his “machine” with their blood. When I watch the machine being fed the people, it brought to mind what might have happened in the concentration camps. I also liked at the end when the mediator brought both sides together. This still happens today when management and unions have to negotiate deals. No matter how long this film took in the rising conflict, the climax and resolution made it worthwhile. This film could probably be remade today with all the newest special-effects and be a hit in the theaters.
ReplyDeleteI found the film interesting because of all the "gestures." It was fun to see how hard the actors had to work to tell the story. I loved all the facial expressions as well. I love watching "old" movies because it is interesting to see how far we have come as far as special effects, sound, and acting itself.
ReplyDeleteI feel like parts of the movie were hard to follow and without the help of the "text" in the movie it would have been impossible to understand.
The part in the movie that really hit me the most was at the beginning "shift change," It had a feeling as if they were walking into their own hell, if you will, and the workers walking out were leaving hell. It was eerie.
The movie as a whole was enjoyable to watch and I look forward to seeing the next movie.
This film made me thind of what a A.D.D. society we are today. I have heard that the human attention span lasts about 7 seconds. If you pay attention to current movies, tv shows, and commercials, you will see that the industry agrees with this. If you watch, the frames in what you are viewing will constantly change. I did not notice if the film was shot like this. I did not think about this at time. I don't know if people were like this in the 20's or if we figured it out later. It is also possible that our minds and attention have changed over time.
ReplyDeleteThe film did drag on. The message was repeated over and over. I found myself looking for hidden messages and symbology, as many science fiction writers seem to put additional messages in their work. One thing I wondered was if the woman the 'father' and the 'scientist' referred to as "Hel" (helen) was actually a play on "Hell."
The gestures did seem a bit out of control, but this seems understandable due to lack of sound. Without the technology we have today, this was more necessary---a more visual form of communication. It is more necessary to watch the actors closely to follow what is going on. The music was also monotonious, but served it's purpose in guiding the emotion.
I was suprised at the special effects used with the "electrical effects." I was also impressed with the amount of people (extras) used. A good example is the children during the flood. I don't even know if it would be legal to shoot a picture in the same manner these days.
I saw the vision of the future interesting. The huge buildings and machinery, yet there were still old fashioned cars and planes.
I agree with Brian, in that it would be interesting to see a re-make of this film with todays technology.
I disliked the film. I would liken it to being in the dentist's office just waiting for it to be over. I did not like it because it was very slow and it seemed to drag the point out for two hours. I understand that 1927 was a different time, but still I believe that this film could have been shortened by an hour at least and it could have reached the same conclusion. I did not like the general feel of the film, to me it seemed dreary. As far back as I can remember the future has always been considered something to look forward to, but this film portrays something much more dark in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteEven though I did not enjoy this particular film I did find it interesting. I was appalled my the fact that these people had to act knowing that they would not be heard. I think that acting in this manner would be very difficult and it would require a very solid actor to do so.
In short, Although I did not enjoy this film I feel one can learn a number of things by viewing it.
I have mixed feelings about this film, I liked and disliked this movie. First of all I thought the film was too long to reach the climax of this film. It was slow moving and very confusing in the beginning, I wasn't sure what was going on, who anyone was or didn't understand the point. Also the lack of sound made the film that much harder to understand what they were trying to convey to the audiance about what was going on. But, after Maria was being chased by the mad scientist things started getting more interesting, the action was although still hard to follow some parts it kept my attention better, because more things were happinging. I was pretty impressed by how they were able to construct the "lighting" effects in the scientists lab, I thought they did a great job on that since they didn't have the special effects like they do today.
ReplyDeleteThe conflicts between higher class and lower class I felt was protrayed very well in this film. I thought the actors did a fairly good job in parts of the film trying to relay what was happing other times I really didn't have a clue what was going on. I didn't really understand the machine part where the people were disappearing until it was mentioned after the movie that humans had to feed the machine, thinking on it now I think they could have done a better job on trying to convey that message. Overall I thought it was okay, but wouldn't want to have to sit through it again. Very interesting to see how things have changed drastically in the filming of movies.
I also agree with John Wells. This movie proves that high quality movies can be made based on the quality of acting and the story. This acting was a lot more then what I was used to, they weren't subtle in the slightest. This was, of course, needed to be able to keep the audience following on the types of emotions that the actors wanted to portray.
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of movie that I'm glad I watched, it has given me a greater appreciation for movies that we have nowadays. What seems so commonplace to us now would have been impossible for them to do back then. I wouldn't watch this movie again though, this is a one time film to me. It has a good story and everything, but I just couldn't get used to how much the actors exaggerated their feelings for the audience.
I have one quick question about the movie, did the clocks back then only go to 10 instead of the regular 12 that we have now? Or is this how they see us telling time in the future?
When the movie first started I noticed the style of special effects, and laughed to myself. I noticed the way they shot the machines and overlapped them in a kaleidoscope view to make them look impressive and complicated. Even though we all know what was going on you still got the point. I think we take special effects and detail way too seriously. I think sometimes we are so focused on special effects that that’s all there is room for and the story is lost. I imagine doing the unrealistic special effects they did in Metropolis it was harder and took longer than most the effects we use today.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed the gestures. It made me think of the saying “actions are louder than words”. It was easy to tell what they were feeling and if they were good or evil.
The only thing that bothered me about the movies was how long it took to get to the resolution. My attention started to wander as the movie got closer to the end. I am usually very easy to entertain, but the story seemed to get a bit redundant and it lost my attention.
I can see why this movie is considered one of the greatest movies. It carries some of the classic ingredients that have lasted through the years. It has the boy meets girl, boy falls in love, boy looses girl, boy rescues girl, boy and girl live happily ever after. It has the big evil corporation that abuses the little guy causing the little guy to rebel and take down the big corporation. It also has the misunderstood scientist that builds a robot that looks like a human and it gets out of control and has to be destroyed. Over all I really enjoyed the film.
I thought this movie was interesting in the way it potrayed the social classes of the Germans in the 1920's. I don't feel that people's perception to that has changed all that much even if the social classes have even out. I felt that the actors actually did quite well showing their feelings towards one another considering it was silent. Gestures are obviously needed for a silent film, and they did exagerate them, but I don't feel it was over done. I was able to conclude their feelings which I found helpful.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Elliot that this movie has given me greater appreciation for our technology of todays movies. It seems quite amazing they were able to coordinate that many people in some of those scenes to do as they wanted them to, in order to get good shots. I would almost think that to get the people coordinated, lighting, and effects they had to work much harder then than the effects we have today.
I overall was impressed with how well they did the movie with what they had to wok with, although I found it a little to long and draw out to get to the climax of the movie.
I thought this movie was interesting to watch once in my life but I probably couldn't watch it again. I agree with Michael Sanders in that the attention span of today is 7 seconds and we want the movie to move on faster then it did.
ReplyDeleteI found the shift change very interesting the movement of the workers and the speed of one going faster than the other. Makes me think of how I feel on Monday mornings dragging myself into work. Maybe that is because I work at a dentist office as Justin Miltenberger compared the movie to.
The movie used the same style as we do today as well as in theater, the relationship between the son and Maria reminded me of Romeo and Juliet because the father saw this relationship as something that could not take happen.
i didn't really know what to expect when the movie first started, to be honest this was the first silent film i have ever seen. but i can really see why it's still considered a classic, and one of the greats.i really liked it a lot and a lot of the styles they used aren't to far off from what we still use today. the music and some of the expressions were a little cheesy but it was still a really well done movie and i really enjoyed watching it. we definitely still see science fiction the same today with the whole machines and robots. the cities are still basically the same high rise centers and depicted the same today, only we have a lot more advanced effects at our disposal. all in all i though the acting was great for almost no dialog and it definitely is a classic for me.
ReplyDeleteI found this film fascinating. While it did indeed drag on sometimes, it was so interesting to see the obvious influence it has had on film and television to come. I can go back as far as I can remember when it comes to visions of the future,whether it be film, television, or even paintings, it's always derived from the stacking buildings the many roadways, the prestige sitting at the top to view it all. And you will often find some form of an "underground" where the lowlifes, slaves, or insane live. I always love seeing the deemed "classic" films if only to see the way they shaped what we see today.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help but want to laugh at the extremes they would take the gestures to. But looking at it, there is no way they could portray the message being given without them. It's funny that the gestures remained in films with sound and spoken word for a long time past the first silent movies. I think it all had to do with the time period. Seeing a movie was an event, it was expensive, and much more appreciated. I think there was a fantastical element that people expected, it gave it something different than regular conversation about work, school, etc. I mean, how well do you think two guys sitting in a convenience store talking about sex, hockey, and the stupidity of the general public would have done back in '46.
For these types of movies you have to take yourself back. For me I have to put myself "in the 20's" per say. We are spoiled with living in the times we do with the technologies.
ReplyDeleteAs different as it was, silent, incredibly "long", it had so many similarities to todays films. Gestures were overexagerated but sometimes they are today. The basic storyline with, class seperations, a Hero, rich CEO of sort coming to senses after almost losing a loved one, and the one that really stood out to me, as much as a
sci-fi movie this was, its still a Love story and in the writing it was evidently there. Boy falls for girl, girl is in danger, boy saves girl. The End