eMoviePoster.comAuction History Result 1j0003 METROPOLIS 10x13 tear sheet 1927 Fritz Lang classic, incredible different art, ultra rare! Date Sold 1/18/2022Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Original Vintage Tear Sheet (measures 10" x 12 1/2" [25 x 32 cm]) (Learn More) Metropolis, the classic 1927 Fritz Lang German silent anti-fascism science fiction (sci-fi) robot fantasy dystopian future thriller ("The screen sensation of the age!"; "The wonder city of the future"; "Adapted by Channing Pollock"; based on the novel by Thea von Harbou; set designs by Edgar Ulmer; about an ultra-depressing world of the future where the rich people live in cities in the clouds, and the poor people toil away endlessly underground; a female populous leader arises and a mad scientist makes an android robot duplicate of her to ruin her work; a brilliant movie, light years ahead of its time, and movie makers are still stealing from it!) starring Brigitte Helm (in a dual role as Maria, the female leader of the workers, and as the android [gynoid] "Maschinenmensch"), Gustav Frohlich (as Freder), Alfred Abel (as Joh Frederson), Rudolf Klein-Rogge (as Rotwang the Inventor), Theodor Loos (as Josaphat), Fritz Rasp (as the Thin Man), Heinrich George, and Margarete Lanner. Note that there is a fascinating story behind this movie being imported to the U.S. in 1927, that we did not learn until 2023, when we noticed the "Adapted by Channing Pollock" on the first U.S. herald we auctioned, and Internet research (NOT on the IMDb) revealed this: Fritz Lang's version of this movie at the premiere was 153 minutes, and Paramount was unwilling to release such a long movie in the U.S. So they hired playwright Channing Pollock to shorten the movie to a more "reasonable" length, around 2 hours. What Pollock did was to essentially drastically change the entire movie, by shortening it to 115 minutes, and changing all of the inter-titles to ones he wrote! Among the changes he made was that the man who made the robot (Rotwang) had made it in the image of the love of his life, named "Hel", who had run off with another man. Pollock did not want to use the name "Hel", because of its similarity to "Hell", but instead of just changing it, he eliminated all references to the robot having a name, or to the reason why Rotwang built it! He made a number of other major changes to the movie. When Fritz Lang heard what had been done, he said "I love films, so I shall never go to America"! The movie was somewhat restored to its original version in 1984, when the Giorgio Moroder score was added, and has since been completely restored to its original version! NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography. Important Added Info: Note that Vincent Trotta was Paramount Pictures' chief art director in the 1920s and 1930s. While he was an accomplished artist himself, he spent much of his career supervising the art created by other artists for the posters and ads used to promote Paramount Pictures, including many of their most famous ones (Metropolis is one!). What is offered in this auction is a "tear sheet" of an ad that Mr. Trotta designed. He would be sent these tear sheets to make any final changes, or to approve them as printed. Tear sheets from pre-World War II movies are extremely rare. Our consignor obtained this tear sheet (and four other tear sheets and five trade ad samples, which are similar) at one time when he purchased a collection. In addition to these ten items, there were two receipts, one from Warner's Features to Mr. Trotta and one from Famous Players-Lasky to Mr. Trotta, and our consignor asked us to picture these two items on the auction for the Metropolis tear sheet. We will be returning the letters to the consignor, but he wanted bidders to see them to make it clear that these ten items came directly from Mr. Trotta's estate. Condition: good to very good. There are some tears and paper loss around the edges, and the paper is fragile. Obviously, the new owner will likely either frame this as it is and then the blank borders won't show, or perhaps they will linenback it, but in either case, the border defects are not very significant at all. Learn More about condition grades
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