...but i finally watched metropolis. wow. the costumes in this film were pure decadence! definitely many erte inspired pieces, and such agile bodies. i loved the scene where the machine maria is dancing in the men's club wearing pasties, sequins, and a rhinestone in her belly button, and the long sequin dress with an even longer slit up the leg which she wore during the second scene at the club. brigitte helm, who portrayed maria, was so alive! the dance movements, the lowered lid during the machine maria scenes, the gusto she brought to the character, who needs vocals when one has such abilities!
one of the first things i noticed was the font used on the face of the clock, the way ones eye makes the missing connections. just fantastic! the graphic imagery used throughout is such fodder for ones imagination.
i understand now why my 20th century art professor waxed poetic about this film. ah, the golden age! but it also showed the dark underbelly of the gilded society. i could not help but see reflections of what was to come after the 1920's in germany. the flashes of things that reminded me so much of the holocaust; the stars on the doors of the inventors house, the line after line of marching workers, their shaved heads, the ghettos below ground, bared from the outside world. it's strange, sad somehow. i don't know, sometimes humanity is so predictable in its cruelties it pains me.
