This is a past event

On the Big Screen – Metropolis (1927)

Metropolis (1927) is a stylized, visually-compelling, silent film classic set in the dystopic, 21st century city of Metropolis – a dialectical treatise on man vs. machine and class struggle. Austrian director Fritz Lang’s German Expressionistic masterpiece helped to develop the science-fiction genre, with innovative imagery from cinematographer Karl Freund, art design by Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut, and Karl Vollbrecht, and set design by Edgar Ulmer. It was the last of Lang’s silent films.

In the allegorical tale written by Lang’s wife Thea Von Harbou (from her own novel), the luxurious, futuristic, Art Deco city of 2026 – an industrial world with skyscrapers and bridges, was divided or stratified into an upper, elite, privileged class of powerful industrialists and a subterranean, nameless, oppressed and exploited, ant-like worker/slave class. Thousands and thousands of extras were employed, and effective cinematographic special effects achieved many of the film’s unique hallucinatory imagery and dreamlike visions.

This screening will feature world renowned organist Peter Krasinski playing his original score for this silent masterpiece on the Bardavon Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, with the support of the New York Theatre Organ Society

This event is made possible with the support of the Poughkeepsie Public Library District and its Big Read, which this year features Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link. The Big Read is designed to broaden our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book.

Also made possible with support from Marshall & Sterling and Herzog’s/Kingston Plaza.