Syd, they ran it on TCM a few months back.
Supposedly they found an almost complete copy of it in South America, but in 16mm instead of 35mm standard projection. Anyway, they pieced it all together, spent millions blending it all, recut the score in a new recording to add into it, re-mastered the result digitally to 35mm copies, and it was amazing, albeit an almost 3 hour run time. There's a few moments where it's obviously a scene from the 16mm they did the best they could, and a few minutes where they keep on the captions (missing frames) to not interrupt the score, but no complaints considering its age and the route it took to get here.
Plus it's great mental exercise to keep Fritz Lang (the METROPOLIS director) and Hermann Lang (the great between-the-wars racing driver) and Eddie Lang (the great Swing Band guitarist) separate in my mind !
If METROPOLIS is on your radar, I can definitely recommend it. I have a horrible DVD of the previous edit, and will be glad when I can get the new one. OK, now where's my NOSFERATU ? ? ?
J o e y
