In Metropolis, a towering city of the future, society is divided into two classes: one of planners and management, who live high above the Earth in skyscrapers; and one of workers, who live and toil underground, slaves to the whistle of Metropolis’s ten-hour clock. Like the other children born into the privileged upper caste, Freder Fredersen, the only son of Metropolis’ ruler, lives a life of luxury. One day, as he and his friends play games in the lush, private Eternal Gardens, they are interrupted by a beautiful girl, accompanied by a group of workers’ children. They are quickly ejected, but Freder is transfixed by the girl — and decides to follows her down to the grim Lower City machine rooms. As he watches, a worker collapses at his station and an enormous machine (known as the M-Machine) violently explodes and kills dozens of workers. In the smoke, Freder has a vision of the MMachine as Moloch, the god of fire, gobbling up chained slaves offered in sacrifice. Horrified by what he has seen, Freder returns to the New Tower of Babel, a massive skyscraper owned by his father Joh Fredersen (hereafter referred to as ‘Fredersen’). He confronts his father and describes the deplorable conditions and horrific accident in the machine room, but Fredersen is more focused on hearing about the accident from Freder and not from his clerk Josephat — a cold rationality that shocks Freder. Grot, foreman of the Heart Machine (which produces the needed energy for Metrpolis) informs Fredersen of papers resembling maps or plans that have been discovered in the dead workers’ pockets. Furious, Fredersen fires Josaphat and tells his brooding henchman Der Schmale (aka the Thin Man) to start following his son.

CAST: Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Brigitte Helm

DIRECTOR: Fritz Lang

RUN TIME: 145 min