“Metropolis”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 370, 2 June 1928, Page 25

“Metropolis”

NEW U.F.A. MASTERPIECE

German Classic of Screen

“Metropolis,” the latest offering from the great XJFA studios , is generally conceded to represent the pinnacle of the art of the cinema as far as the Germans are concerned. Critics of the cinema have realised for a long time that the German producers, either in Europe or in the United States, have done more toicard raising the general artistic standard of the silver sheet than any other body of men. “Metropolis ” will he screened in Auckland shortly tinder the management of the O'Brien Theatres. It is the biggest UFA production since “Faust,” which teas undoubtedly one of the finest pictures shown last year in this country.

Take a slice from the fantastic works of H. G. Wells and a page or two from the prophecies of Jules Verne, add a dash of adventure from the latest best-seller picked at random from the bookstalls, weave in it a powerful romance with a beautiful girl and a handsome young man as the principal characters, set it in a city so bizarne and so wonderful that it almost takes the breath away, and you have a faint conception of what “Metropolis” means.

When Fritz Lang, the producer of “Metropolis,” required a girl to portrrap the leading role in this remarkable story, the studios of the Continent were scoured for a suitable type. Lang amazed and conofunded

all litis critics by choosing'an 18-year-old girl who had never previously appeared on the screen. Miss Helm’s subsequent work proves the wisdom of Lang’s selection. Her portrayal of the dual role of Mary, daughter, of the people, and the Machine Woman, the cruel and relentless siren, is a splendid characterisation, and the critics of two Continents have acclaimed her as the finest emotional screen actress of to-day. Her reward for her marvellous work in “Metropolis” was a five-year’s contract in Hollywood, and when she has completed her present engagements to the firm of Ufa she will pdoceed to America, there to take part in a further series of super productions.