Question 1

Why did Fritz Lang have to use an optical multiplier for the Tower of Babel sequence?

Accepted Answer

Lang wanted 4,000 bald extras but producer Erich Pommer could only find 1,000 willing to shave their heads. After shooting, Lang used an optical multiplier to make them appear as 4,000.

Question 2

How did Nazi leaders' admiration for Metropolis affect Fritz Lang?

Accepted Answer

Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were fans. Goebbels told Lang he could be made an honorary Aryan despite his Jewish background, saying "we decide who is Jewish and who is not." Lang left for Paris that night.

Question 3

What made filming the Moloch nightmare sequence particularly difficult for the extras?

Accepted Answer

It was filmed in winter in an extremely cold studio. Unemployed extras had to walk naked into the mouth of the god. Lang took so many days filming that his assistants feared revolt until Pommer told him to stop.

Question 4

Where was a long-lost copy of Metropolis discovered in 2008?

Accepted Answer

A 16 mm dupe negative copy was found at the Buenos Aires Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken by film historian Fernando Martín Peña. An original full-length 35mm export print had been sent to Argentina in 1928.

Question 5

Which international film festivals has Metropolis been featured at?

Accepted Answer

It was shown at the São Paulo International Film Festival (1984 and 2010), Venice Film Festival (1984), and Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (2011).

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