When Fritz Lang’s Metropolis debuted in 1927, the groundbreaking science fiction film had a running time of around 150 minutes, but by the time it debuted in the U.S., it had been trimmed to 90 minutes.  Given the importance of the film in the development of science fiction movies, there have been many attempts to restore the film to its original length over the years.  Most recently in 2001 a restoration combined footage from four different archives to create a 124-minute version, which was widely believed to be the most complete version of the film possible.  But in the summer of 2008 a print was discovered in Argentina that included 25 additional minutes of footage, nearly a fifth of the entire film.  The new footage was carefully restored and a new 147-minute version of the film debuted for the public in Germany in February with a 60-piece orchestra playing the original score by Gottfried Huppertz.

The initial performance was streamed over the Internet, but this is a film of epic scale that demands to be seen on something bigger than the typical computer screen.

Fortunately Kino International, which has acquired North American rights to the restored Complete Metropolis, has plans for plenty of theatrical showings.  The film will have its American debut in April at the Turner Classic Movie festival in Hollywood.  In May the film will begin a theatrical run at art houses that will eventually encompass all major U.S. markets.  Kino will release The Complete Metropolis, which should also look pretty good on those big hi-def TVs, on DVD and Blu-ray in November.