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The first screening of the newly-restored full-length version of Fritz Lang’s silent science-fiction masterpiece Metropolis took place in Berlin on Friday 12^th February 2010 as part of the Berlin film festival, the Berlinale.   A gala screening, which several Hollywood stars including Leonardo DiCaprio were expected to attend, was staged at Berlin’s Friedrichstadpalast.   Berlin’s Radio Symphony Orchestra played Gottfried Huppertz’s original score for the occasion.

In addition to the gala screening, the film was also projected onto a huge screen at the Brandenburg Gate for the benefit of thousands of film fans.  The occasion marked the first time this full version of the film had been screened since its original release – and box office failure – in 1927.

The film was panned by both audiences and critics.   Distributors Paramount considered the original format too long for the American market and ordered wholesale cuts.   Much to director Fritz Lang’s disgust, the film’s characters were given American names, titles were re-written and scenes re-edited so that the story remained comprehensible after up to 30-minutes of footage was cut from the original version.

The footage excised from the scene was believed to have been lost until Paula Felix Didier, the curator of the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires, Argentina, discovered the missing reels in 2008.  It was believed Adolfo Z. Wilson, the head of a distribution company called Terra took the copy to Argentina before Paramount carried out the cuts.

The rediscovered footage restored characters who had been relegated to the sidelines or removed completely and explained parts of the plot that had previously been unclear.  Other scenes, such as the saving of a group of children from slavery, had also been expanded.

July 2008: Missing Metropolis Footage Found

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