In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
Sometime in the future, the city of Metropolis is home to a Utopian society where its wealthy residents live a carefree life. One of those is Freder Fredersen. One day, he spots a beautiful woman with a group of children, she and the children who quickly disappear. Trying to follow her, he, oblivious to such, is horrified to find an underground world of workers, apparently who run the machinery which keeps the above ground Utopian world functioning. One of the few people above ground who knows about the world below is Freder's father, Joh Fredersen, who is the founder and master of Metropolis. Freder learns that the woman is Maria, who espouses the need to join the "hands" - the workers - to the "head" - those in power above - by a mediator or the "heart". Freder wants to help the plight of the workers in the want for a better life. But when Joh learns of what Maria is espousing and that Freder is joining their cause...
Written by Huggo
Continuity:
After having worked at the machine for ten hours, Freder is clearly exhausted when he enters the catacombs and goes down the last stairwell. When he relieved Georgy (worker 11811) earlier in the film, Georgy was sweating--implying Freder should now be sweating too. However, when he takes off his beanie in the catacombs, his hair isn't wet from sweat at all.
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Quotes
Maria:
"We shall build a tower that will reach to the stars!" Having conceived Babel, yet unable to build it themselves, they had thousands to build it for them. But those who toiled knew nothing of the dreams of those who planned. And the minds that planned the Tower of Babel cared nothing for the workers who built it... See more »
Crazy Credits
Restoration based on the version in the Filmmuseum Munich and material preserved in the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv
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