The restored version of Metropolis, director Fritz Lang's silent classic about a future society where the rich elites exploit the poor workers who live as virtual slaves in underground cities, is coming to DVD on February 18th from Kino on Video. Severely cut after its original 1927 premiere, this reconstruction was overseen by the Murnau Foundation in Germany and took three years and more than $250,000 to accomplish. Using elements from prints, duplicate negatives and camera originals collected from around the world, this version restores deleted shots or, in the cases where scenes were lost forever, adds explanatory intertitles that fill the gaps in the story. The restoration has also cleaned up scratches, tears and uneven contrasts. Kino's special edition DVD will include a new orchestral score presented in Dolby 5.1 Surround, an audio commentary, a new 43-minute documentary covering the film's history, a restoration featurette, a still gallery of pictures and posters, cast and crew bios, and new English, German, French and Spanish subtitles. The retail will be $29.95.
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