While Fritz Lang’s Metropolis is an undisputed silent film classic, a generation of moviegoers that came of age in the 1980s fondly remember the 1984 version of the movie that under the shepherding of Oscar-winning composer Giorgio Moroder included a rock soundtrack with performances from Pat Benatar, Freddie Mercury, Bonnie Tyler and others.
Kino Lorber has closed a deal to not only bring that version, which its titling Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis, to Blu-ray and DVD, but is also giving it a roughly 20-city theatrical run ahead of the November 15 store date.
The rock version had been out of print due to complex music rights issues but Kino believes there’s a demand for the edition; VHS and laser disc copies sell for hundreds of dollars on Ebay and the recent theatrical release of the recently restored Metropolis grossed over $1.2 million.
In addition to Benatar, Mercury, and Tyler, Moroder’s version includes songs performed by Billy Squier, Adam Ant, Jon Anderson and others. The version infuriated film purists at the time, who cried foul not only over the music but the incarnations’ shortened running time (82-minute versus the original’s almost 2-hours).
Among the cities which Moroder’s Metropolis will hit are Anchorage, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami Beach, Chicago, Albany, Charleston, Dallas, Houston, Olympia, Seattle, and Washington DC., The only Canadian stop so far is Vancouver.
The DVD and Blu-ray editions will come with a documentary looking at Moroder’s restoration of Metropolis titles The Fading Image, as well as the movie’s trailer.
