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Piecing the Puzzle Together
Let us review, in the likely sequence,
though I really do not know what the precise sequence was:
| Jul 1948 | The Associated British reissue is copied from the revised and shortened Wardour release of autumn 1927. The score consists of mood cues from Chappell library recordings of the Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra. (Optical reduction to .620"×.864") |
| Jun 1952 | Ray Rushmer and National Films of N.S.W. receive a copy negative of the Associated British reissue with the Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra library track, and use it to make at least two prints. Anything Rushmer says to the contrary is just publicity. (Optical reduction to .620"×.864") |
| 1954 | Thomas J. Brandon licenses a silent 16mm print from the US Office of Alien Property. It appears that this is identical to the edition shown at the Marble Arch Pavilion in London in March 1927. Haliday/Harvey book it for the 55th Street Playhouse in Manhattan. |
| Aug 1957 | Sydney Cinema Group revives the film for a single screening at the Anzac.
This is a 16mm |
| 1961 | Associated British donates its remaining print to the BFI. Why? Here’s my guess: The sole remaining print was nitrate and it was ready to be retired. I wonder if British cinemas had by this time lost their licenses to project nitrate. Nordwestdeutscher was probably now promising new diacetate prints in the near future. |
| 1963 | Nordwestdeutscher licenses German rights, presumably from Ufa or its successor, and derives its edition from the copy negative held at the BFI National Film Library of London. It commissions from Heinrich Riethmüller a new music track — piano, drums, and organ — adapted in part from Huppertz. It translates the English titles back into German. Some prints of this new edition apparently retained the English titles for exhibition in the UK and I suppose Australia. (Cropped to .723"×.864") |
| 1965 | Nordwestdeutscher trims the film slightly and hires Konrad Elfers to write a new |
| 1966 | The Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung purchases all rights to Metropolis, including the Nordwestdeutscher holdings, and continues to distribute the Nordwestdeutscher’s 1963 and 1965 editions. The government-owned Transit Film is put in charge of foreign sales. (Cropped to .723"×.864") |
| Jul 1967 | The Anzac books a one-day engagement. This is probably the Nordwestdeutscher/Elfers edition. |
| 01 May 1972 | Janus Films licenses the Associated British edition from |
| 1980? | The National Films of N.S.W. license expires. Dorothy Tayler donates the remaining print, a composite nitrate of the 1948 Associated British edition, to the NFSA in Canberra. (Optical reduction to .620"×.864") |
| 1982? | Janus’s licenses expires. It surrenders its materials probably to the Murnau-Stiftung. |
| 1983 | BFI donates the Associated British print to the Münchener Filmmuseum. (Optical reduction to .620"×.864") |
It would be invaluable to get a list of every 35mm and 16mm sound issue of Metropolis worldwide,
with music credits and release dates and distributors.
That in itself would solve so many mysteries.
But, hey, it ain’t like you can just pick up the phone and chat with distributors and archivists who would joyously share their info.
Nope.
This info is all several generations old and nobody knows where or even if it is filed,
and nobody has the time or patience to start digging at the request of a mere commoner.
The staff get their biweekly paychecks to do pressing work of immediate consequence
and understandably could not justify wasting the bosses’ payroll on pursuing such trivia.
I really do not know how to break through this logjam.
And, really, I would not even know how to justify such a request.
If we put our fragmentary knowledge together
and pour it all into a table,
another pattern forms itself:
| 1937 | MoMA | mute |
| 1939 | National Film Library/BFI | mute |
| Jul 1948 | Associated British | QHLO/Chappell library track |
| Jun 1952 | National Films of N.S.W. | QHLO/Chappell library track |
| 18 Mar 1963 | Nordwestdeutscher Filmverleih | Heinrich Riethmüller |
| 1965 | Nordwestdeutscher Filmverleih | Konrad Elfers |
| 1 May 1972 | Janus Films | QHLO/Chappell library track |
I just received a Janus catalogue from 1978,
and it lists Metropolis as 94 minutes, “Silent — Musical Score Added,”
with no indication of who created that music score. Predictable.
Any silents in this Janus catalogue that had music scores are identified the same way.
Clearly, when Janus acquired these films, it acquired the previous distributor’s music scores as well,
and they were probably almost all library scores.
 Wild Strawberries was a Janus Films title. Who supplied Metropolis? Perhaps Brandon? |