Metropolis Japan 1929 release

Metropolis, die-cut cover of 4 page advertisement, Japan 1929.

メトロポリス

Introduction

Fritz Lang's classic German silent film Metropolis premiered in Japan at the Syoitiku Kinema, Yurakucho, Tokyo on 3 April 1929. It was shown with a local second feature Kamiyama Ara (Spray of Blood) starring Ookawati Denzirou. The Japanese release took place two years after the German premiere in Berlin on 10 January 1927. It appears that the version seen was that edited by American playwright Channing Pollock and released by Paramount, rather than the longer UFA director's cut. During its initial Japanese run in 1929 we know that the movie travelled to Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya Koube. In September of that year it was screened at the Akita Yanagimachi theatre in Akita City, with the renowned benshi Izumi Tenmine narrating. 

Metropolis screening, Akita Theatre, Yanagimachi, Akita City, Japan, September 1929. An advertisement for this screening is reproduced below.

The cinema magazine Kinema Junpo later listed Metropolis as number 4 in the top 10 foreign language films of 1929, pointing to its popularity. Metropolis proved an important film within the context of Japanese cinema and popular culture, though this is not well recognised, either within Japan or outside. Osamu Tezuka's breakthrough manga of 1949 - entitled Metropolis - was based, in part, on Lang's epic production. Tezuka's work subsequently gave rise to the character of a child robot called Atom / Astro Boy, which has proven the most popular of all Japanese anime since the 1960s. The 2001 cinema release anime Metropolis was based on Tezuka's manga. It made numerous references to Lang's original film, both in the demographic social layering of the city - centred around the towering Ziggurat (aka Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou's Tower of Babel as featured in the 1927 film) - and in the main character Tima - a beautiful, innocent young girl robot who is placed in an electrified chair (again like Lang's Maria) and subject to a transformation which results in partial destruction of the city of Metropolis amidst a worker revolution. The 2001 anime is the nearest thing to date of a remake of Lang's original classic of 1927.

Rotwang's machine person, Metropolis, UFA, 1927.

The 1929 Japanese release of Metropolis was fortuitous. The Japanese, like many advanced societies, were at that time grappling with the impact of industrialisation and the introduction of the production line, especially in urban areas such as Tokyo. Science and technology, through mechanisation, were becoming a part of everyday life, and artists and writers were reacting to, and commenting upon, a myriad of societal changes. Local instances of Expressionist and Modernist art movements such as Dada and Russian Constructivism were being adapted locally and flourishing, especially in the area of the graphic arts. This was seen in much of the promotional material that accompanied the release of Metropolis and other films of the day. The place of humanity and machine in a burgeoning metropolis such as Tokyo was being discussed within the content of evolving philosophical and sociological frameworks. The frenetic pace of industrial change seen during the 1920s and following on the end of World War I in 1918, came crashing to a halt with the economic collapse of the early 1930s. Up to that point all that was new was embraced with vigour and abandon. Fritz Lang's movie was a reflection of this, at least from a German perspective, but it also resonated internationally and in developed and developing countries such as Japan. Apparently the film caused a sensation when it was released in China around the same time as the Japanese release (Ye 2019).

Advertisements for the Shanghai screening of Metropolis, 10 April and 10 November 1929.

Metropolis was a celebration of, and commentary upon, the excesses of the 1920s. Beneath the simple love story of Freder and Maria was a moral tale exposing the dangers of that excess and the horror of rampant technological change. Rotwang's replacement of his lost love Hel with a sexually charged robot cyborg was visually powerful and immensely thought provoking. It presented in cinematic form debates which were taking place across western societies and which would continue through the following decades. Japan had only been opened to the west since the 1860s, yet by the 1920s its expansionist policies into China, for example, pushed forward its industrial and technological development, alongside the social turmoil and engagement in conflicts outside of Japan. Lang's Metropolis was an account of a revolution contained within a singe locale, but nevertheless violent and disruptive, and brought about in large part as a result of technological upheavals and the failure of capitalism to have a social conscience or display compassion. The Japanese fascination with robots and technology can be seen to date from the early years of the twentieth century. Metropolis was to feed that fascination in a very public way. For example, in 1926 Dada artist, playwright and novelist Tomoyoshi Murayama published a book entitled Ningen Kikai (Machine Man) which, apparently for the first time in Japanese literature, described the transformation of a man into a robot (Murayama 1926). In the 2006 book Loving the machine: the art and science of Japanese robots, the author noted:

The year 1928 was the beginning of an exceptional time for robots in Japan. Along with Gakutensoku [the first Japanese robot, constructed by biologist Makoto Nishimura in 1929] reports of foreign automatons in the press began a robot boom that continued into the 1930s. In 1929 Fritz Lang's Metropolis, which featured the female robot Maria, opened in Japan and proved a wild success. (Homyak 2006)

The precise details of that 'wild success' are not known, though the statement is obviously based upon a reading of contemporary documents such as reviews and ticket sales. The aforementioned robot Gakutensoku, though based on a Buddha-like figure, is similar in appearance to the evil Maria from Lang's film, though it is not known if Nishimura had seen images from Metropolis in the two years prior to its Japanese release.

Gakutensoku robot, Japan, circa 1929.

This is, however, likely as the movie's production and 'machine man' scenario was widely reported upon in the international press prior to the German release. This not only occurred within cinematic magazines of the day, but also in technical journals and literary / science fiction publications. As was noted in Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams:

With the translation of early Western science fiction like Karel Capek’s R.U.R. (1920), and the Japanese release of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis in 1929, mechanical objects like robots and cogwheels became ubiquitous in literature. Japan saw a “robot boom” during which popular science magazines like Kagaku gaho (Illustrated magazine of science) and satirical writers like Mizushima Niou began to feature robots in their texts. The image of jinzo ningen (literally, “artificial humans”) was popularized through works like Mizushima’s “Jinzo ningen jidai” (1923, The age of artificial humans). These early Japanese “robots” were also not awkward tin men. Rather, they resembled what we might now identify as androids, with bodies indistinguishable from those of human beings.... After the release of Metropolis, machines and robotic figures were inseparable from the image of “the proletariat” in the popular imagination. Numerous works of proletarian literature began depicting machines as threatening forces that brutally murder factory workers, and it is this type of fearful imagery that was appropriated by the Shin seinen detective fiction writers like Edogawa Ranpo and Unno Juza (1897-1949) - the latter often referred to as “the father of Japanese science fiction” (Bolton et al.,  2007)

The ongoing Japanese interest in robots / cyborgs / androids  - a "collective infatuation with advanced technology" in a land also known as "robotto okoku" (robot kingdom) - mirrors some of the themes contained in Lang's landmark production of 1925-6. These include societal segmentation and class distinction; the dehumanising threat of industrialisation; imposition of scientific management and Fordism to working life through industrial production lines and time and motion studies; open discussions of the values and impact of self-centred, individualistic Capitalism as against collective and community-based Socialism or Communism; and the ideal of the artificial human being - the machine person, or robot - who could replace humans not only on the factory floor, but also in the home. Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou's movie script and subsequent book and film addressed many of these themes in literary, visual and cinematic forms. Their Metropolis is unique, due in part to the fact that it attempts to cover such a wide range of societal, technological and political issues. Whilst it was somewhat of a box office failure in Germany and beyond, it nevertheless remains universally relevant and accessible, and has become perhaps the most watched of all silent era films. In 1929 the book and movie would no doubt have provided a rich tapestry for the Japanese to reflect upon, and contrast with their own experiences.

A number of English language studies into the Japanese fascination with the robot / cyborg have recently appeared, spurred on by the release of the breakthrough manga and anime Akira in 1982-1987. Such studies make mention of Lang's film in passing, though with no clear statement on its influence. A 2002 essay by Yoshida Morio apparently discusses in detail how the figure of Maria in Metropolis influenced the Japanese understanding of robots, however it has not been seen by the author. A 2009 McGill University thesis by Lawrence Bird takes a different perspective, comparing the Lang (1927), Tezuka (1949) and anime (2001) versions of Metropolis in the context of architectural influences on society. It is difficult for a non-Japanese speaking Australian such as the current author to fully investigate these aspect of Japanese history and events of the 1920s, though as English language studies of that period become more common, and anime and manga more an everyday part of Western mainstream entertainment, there is an opportunity for better understanding the impact of Fritz Lang's Metropolis upon its Japanese audience in 1929 and beyond.

The Japanese release

Metropolis was slated for release in Japan by the German production company UFA during late 1928, as  also was the Chinese release (Ye 2019). This came at a time when the German company was suffering financially and subject to a partial takeover by the American studio Paramount, forming Parufamet. Two full page spreads in the Tokyo-based The Movie Times magazine of 11 and 21 September 1928 announced the imminent release of Metropolis, alongside other UFA films such as Berlin: Symphony of a City. However, according to the Metropolis around the world website (Bar-Sagi 2018), the company with the rights - Taguchi - went bankrupt in November and UFA was forced to renegotiate its release. The novelisation of Metropolis by Theo von Harbou was nevertheless translated by Qin Toyoshi and published on 10 November, and shortly thereafter the film was advertised in Kinema Junpo. Around this time a staged version of Metropolis was also performed at the Tsukiji Small Theatre - perhaps a preview showing for the media. The rights were then secured by the local Shochikuza / TOWA company in December and UFA closed it's Japanese branch shortly thereafter. The film was subsequent released in April by Paramount and the TOWA company, and exhibited throughout the remainder of that year.

During the silent era the Japanese developed a unique way of presenting film, with emphasis placed on the role of the narrator, or benshi. This was a highly specialised profession which continued through to the sound era. The brother of the famous producer Akira Kurosawa was himself a silent film narrator. Metropolis may have been seen during its preview and initial release with benshi narration, though elements of the original score by Gottfried Huppertz and various sound effects may also have been utilised. As noted above, the graphic arts were highly developed in Japan at the time of the release of Metropolis, with Expressionism, Dada and other Modernist movements finding expression through, for example, book jackets, movie posters and magazine articles and layouts. Whilst no contemporary Japanese posters for the initial release of Metropolis are known to the author, there are a number of film magazines and theatre brochures which include relevant advertisements and promotional material. The graphic art seen within this material is often stunning. It perhaps reflects, in part, the wider poster campaign, which in turn may have been based on the original UFA posters and other promotional material. For example, within one magazine advertisement, the Japanese distributors made use of graphics featuring the helmeted head of a green-faced Maria, with yellow text for the Japanese word Metropolis presented diagonally across the page. 

Metropolis, magazine advertisement, Tokyo, 1929.

This image is derived from one of the original German release posters, with artwork by Werner Graul. It is unclear at this stage whether this image is of a small magazine advertisement or a larger theatre poster. A variant on this image (reproduced above), and one that is closer to the original German poster, is also known. In it, Maria is blue-faced, and the stylised graphical lettering running diagonally across the image reflects the influence of Dada, who typographical innovation developed in Europe during the post WWI period. It is also possible that this is an image of a first release Japanese poster. On 26 May 2014 the Yahoo Japan auction site sold an original, first release Japanese Metropolis poster for 1.9 million Yen ($20,000 Australian). The work was 45 x 62 cm, offset lithographed on paper and Modernist in design. It may have been the poster referred to above, though this remains unclear. The Japanese also produced their own unique artwork for the local release, some of which bore a definite Russian Constructionist edge. The multicoloured image at the top of this page is an example of such a perspective brought to the release by Japanese graphic designers. Of a similar style is one of the original release theatre brochures. By the artist (or firm?) Sewge, it is printed in pale green and brown / reddish brown and presents an image of towering skyscrapers superimposed with planes flying over them and, in the foreground, machines and flywheels.

Metropolis, cover of movie program, Japan, 1929. Illustrator: Sewge.

This image is in some respects similar to the work of the Paris-based graphic artist Boris Bilinsky who produced a number of posters and promotional items for the French release of Metropolis in late 1927. The Japanese advertisements are a mix of elements from two of Bilinsky's most famous posters, though whether the Japanese artists were aware of these is not known. The French poster magazine Affiches [Posters] had a Japanese equivalent, so the local graphic designers may have been aware of the work of Bilinsky and his colleagues. The mixture of design elements is strong in these Japanese advertisements, though the use of colour is usually limited, perhaps due to production costs and the nature of the film magazines from which they were taken. Colours were often, but always, muted, and the Metropolis release material reflects this. One of the strangest of the Japanese promotional items is the image of the upper torso of the robot, presented in a dark yellow with pale grey-green text. 

Metropolis advertisement, Japan 1929.

 

In many ways, apart from the face of the robot, this is a straight copy of the image of the robot from the film. However, in being redrawn, the face has been transformed from the original which was of a beautiful, strong young woman, to that of a rather forlorn and ageless individual. The face is rather blank and decidedly less powerful than the original. The image appears almost photographic, but it is not, and the question arises as to why the robot was redrawn in such a way instead of making use of the original photographic images.

Japan in Metropolis

There are a number of Japanese elements in Metropolis, the most obvious being the use of the term "Yoshiwara" in reference to the entertainment sector of the city of Metropolis. It was here that Georgy went astray and failed in his task of meeting up with, and assisting, Freder. It was here that the evil Maria indulged in excess and instigated murder and suicide. It was also from here that she led a boisterous crowd into the streets of Metropolis, meeting her end at the hands of a crazed mob when she was burnt on a pyre as a witch. 

Still photograph of  a crowd coming out of the Yoshiwara nightclub, from the film Metropolis.

Yoshiwara was the traditional red light district of Edo / Tokyo and a focus for art as seen in woodblock prints which became popular in Europe following the opening up of Japan to foreign trade in 1853. Fritz Lang himself was an artist, and had also travelled to Asia as a young man. He claimed to have visited Japan, possibly between 1911-13, though the precise details of his journey are not clear. Lang's apartment in Berlin featured artworks from his travels.

Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou in their Berlin apartment, circa 1923/4. Note the Asian wall hanging behind them, and Japanese woodblock prints hanging on the wall to the right.

The large Chinese dragon tapestry hanging on his wall - as seen in photograph taken around 1923/4 with his wife Thea von Harbou - is evidence of this. The artworks to the right of the picture are most likely Japanese woodblock prints, which were very popular collectibles in Europe during this period. Lang's first major production as a film maker was the Japanese-themed Harakiri of 1919, based on the Madame Butterfly opera. It features a high level of detail suggesting Lang, and/or members of his production team, had first hand experience with Japanese society and culture. Apart from the reference to Yoshiwara and the use of "foreign" faces in one of Lang's montages to reflect the debauchery engaged in by Georgy, Japan as such does not appear in Metropolis. It is in the film's influence upon that country's literature, art and cinema that the most profound effects are seen.

Promotional material

Film advertisement, 1929.

Film advertisement, 1929.

Film magazine advertisement, 1929.

Film advertisement, 1929.

Film advertisement, 1929.

Film advertisement, 1929.

Film advertisement, 1929.

Film advertisement, 1929.

Advertisement from the 1984 release of the Georgio Moroder version of Metropolis.

Poster for the 1984 release of the Georgio Moroder version of Metropolis.

 

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References 

* Anonymous, [Review of Lawrence Bird, Saving Metropolis: Body and City in the Metropolis Tales], Japanese Language and Literature, 45(2), 2011, 567-568. 

* AOI Weekly, 2(17), Tokyo, 1929, 8p. [Film magazine featuring a 2-page spread on Metropolis.]

* Bar-Sagi, Aitam, Metropolis around the world, 1 September 2018, 14p.

* Bird, Lawrence, Saving Metropolis: Body and City in the Metropolis Tales, PhD. thesis, McGill University, 2009.

* Bolton, C, Csicsery-Ronay, I. and Tatsumi, T. (eds), Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime, University of Minnesota Press, 2007, 269p.

* Brown, Steven T., Tokyo Cyberpunk: Post humanism in Japanese Visual Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, 272p. 

* Eiga Hyoronsha, Tokyo, 6(5), 1929. [Film booklet referring to Fritz Lang and Metropolis - relevant pages illustrated below]

 

  

  

* Homyak, Timothy N., Loving the machine: the art and science of Japanese robots, Kodansha International, 2006, 159p.

* Makela, Lee, From Metropolis to Metoroporisu: The changing role of the robot in Japanese and western cinema, in Mark W. MacWilliams (ed.), Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime, Armonk, NY, 2008, 91-113.

* Metropolis 1929, Japanwaw [blog], 18 April 2011. Available URL: http://20century.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-369.html. 

* Metropolis - Era 2000, Shochiku, Tokyo-Osaka, April 1929, 12p. [Movie program for the release of Metropolis. Cover illustration by Sewge.]

* Metropolis Japanese Release Timeline 1924-2010 [Japanese]. Available URL: http://www.kaibido.jp/metp/m_nenpyo.html.

* Morio, Yoshida et al., Ninshin suru robotto: 1920 nendai no kagaku to genso (Robots that become pregnant: Science and the fantastic in the 1920s), Shunpusha, Tokyo, 2002, 8-59.

* Murayama, Tomoyoshi, Ningen Kikai [Machine Man], Shun Yodo, Tokyo, 160p. Volume 2 of the Bundan Shinjin Sosho collection. 

* Shochikuza News, Tokyo, 1929, 8p. [Film magazine featuring a page on Metropolis. Cover illustration by Sewge.]

  

* Takao, Itagaki, “Kikai to geijutsu to no ko ryu” (The exchange between machines and art), in Unno Hiroshi (ed.), Kikai no metoroporisu (Machine metropolis), Heibonsha, Tokyo, 1990.

* The Sibuya [Picture Theatre], Tokyo, April 1929, 8p. [Theatre program from the Sibuya-Kinema, featuring Metropolis.]

  

* von Harbou, Thea, Metoroporisu [Metropolis], Kaizo-sha, Tokyo, 1928, 560p. Translated by Toyokichi Hata. Issued as volume 15 of the World Literature series. Illustrated with 10 b/w stills, plus 1 coloured photo and 1 page with head shots and music score extract.

  

* Yasar, Kerim, Japanese Visions of Fritz Lang's Metropolis [Review of Lawrence Bird, Saving Metropolis: Body and City in the Metropolis Tales], Dissertation Reviews, 25 February 2013. Available URL: http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/2343. 

* Ye, Michelle Jia, Between Science and Fiction: The Transmission of the Film Frau Im Mond (1929) in Chinese Periodicals, 1929-1933, Journal of Translation Studies, 3(1), June 2019, 69-96. 

 

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Appendix 1 - eMovieposter.com sale items 2022

 

During October 2022 a set of three Metropolis Japanese release 4-page advertisements were offered for sale. Images of the pages are reproduced below.

#1 - Cover reproduction of Werner Graul blue-face original German poster, with die-cut Japanese lettering for the word Metropolis - front cover, middle pages + back cover.

 

 

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#2 - Cover featuring an orange circular machinery pattern, plus brown and black text and an image of the Metropolis robot.

 

 

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#3 - Cover featuring a lifelike drawing of the Metropolis robot in olive, plus light blue text. Internal pages feature a red / black / olive colour scheme comprising text. The rear cover features four images from the film.

 

 

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Acknowledgements 

In the compilation of this page I must acknowledge my good friend Aitam Bar-Sagi who, through his scanning of Japanese Yahoo auction sites, uncovered a number of references to the initial release of Metropolis in that country and who recently uploaded relevant images to the German Expressionist Underground Facebook site.

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Last updated: 20 October 2022

Michael Organ, Australia (Home)