The Giant of Metropolis (1961)

Wonderfully offbeat film!

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This film struck me as being about three hours long. I don't mind Italian Peplum films so much (I'm not a rabid fan of them either, mind), but this film had serious pacing issues that caused me to either be mildly interested in what was going on to drooling slightly while having anxiety dreams about a bunch of Czech nurses wanting to irrigate my colon.Justin Beber lookalike Gorgon Mitchell is Orbo, some eco-warrior all out to give some guy a guilt trip about his scientific experiments in the city of Metropolis. Old' Gord is all out to prove that recycling, sustainable energy sources, and so on is the way forward, but this film was made in 1961 and the bad guy does not care in the slightest.My problem with this film is that it's not very good. Things that should be exciting are dragged on forever (like fighting bad guys, the eco-disaster, all that crap). I don't mind Gordon Mitchell, but...I don't know (I'll have to add that bit in later but I need a pish).This is one of them Mill Creek films you can pick up for next to nothing so don't worry about it. Good bad guy kill ratio however.

I've now sat through THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS, from Italian director Umberto Scarpelli, twice and it's only getting more difficult to watch. I was able to find some laughable material the first time through with its hilarious archaic message, but the melodrama and snail pacing made it a painful 90 minutes when I tried to sit through it again. It's part sword and sandal epic/part science fiction cautionary tale and 100% endurance trial for this viewer. THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS is the tale of Obro (Gordon Mitchell), a muscle-bound barbarian from a distant land who has travelled with his father, brothers, and townsfolk to deliver a dire warning to Yotar (Roldano Lupi), king of Metropolis. Yotar is a diabolical scientist whose experiments spit in the very face of death, if you can be bothered to understand what those experiments are. Regardless, Obro's father dies before reaching Metropolis and the townsfolk abandon Obro and his brothers to continue their journey alone. When his brothers are killed in a…lightning tornado attack (?)…Obro is left to face Yotar alone. Imprisoned, tortured, and thrown into gladiatorial combat, Obro struggles to press on and continues to warn Yotar of the consequences for a life of science and the gall to challenge nature. Obro proves his strength in challenge after challenge as Metropolis edges toward annihilation, and he soon discovers sympathetic minds where he least expects it. But will Obro and his new allies succeed in time to save the people of Metropolis? No, he won't because, as explained in the opening text scrawl, Metropolis is Atlantis. And we all know how that ended up…Yeah, that's right. Metropolis is Atlantis and this movie is set 20,000 years ago. In case there's any hope remaining for Obro to succeed in his quest, the opening scrawl contains the following omen:"When scientists of Metropolis attempted to penetrate the secret of death, nature rebelled, causing universal destruction…"So really, you don't have to go any further than the first five minutes of the film. It gives you the ending right there. I'm unsure why Atlantis is referred to as Metropolis. It might be an Italian-English translation error or Metropolis might be the capital/largest city in the land of Atlantis. I don't know and it's never explained. And what is Yotar's weird science that leads to the destruction of Metropolis/Atlantis? Piecing it together is half the fun. I got the impression that he was transferring the brain of his elderly father into the body of his young son, Elmos. Then he would transfer his son's brain into the body of an older guy, I guess. I'm really not sure. I know his ultimate goal was immortality (for his father and his son, I guess…but not himself?) and his science incorporated astrology because the screenwriters just don't understand science. Or it could be because there were six separate people with screen writing credits on this thing. It's confusing and, as a result, dull because I don't know what we're working toward.I suppose none of that is important though because the central message to walk away from THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS with is "science is evil". This movie is so preachy, it's almost anti-intellectual propaganda. And, if you really look at the movie through a skewed lens, it's essentially condoning terrorism. Let's break it down: Yotar and his society are science-oriented. Obro comes from a simple society that worships nature and an unspecified, omnipotent force. Obro arrives to preach the evils of science and the pursuit of knowledge, and he threatens total destruction if he is not heeded. Yotar, understandably, disagrees and proceeds to put Obro through a series of tests because he's not seen strength of this magnitude before in any one man (Ok, admittedly, imprisonment and forced combat weren't Yotar's most sympathetic choices). Obro escapes and proceeds to engage in guerilla attacks against Yotar's people, at one point even dropping in to slaughter a funeral procession. I'm painting in broad strokes here but that's because, halfway through this film, I'd zoned out and the finer details skated right past me.Some highlights to be found in THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS are Gordon Mitchell's broad theatrical performance (especially when miming battles against a beam of light), Obro's battles against a hairy cave troll and a swarm of flesh-ripping pygmies, the strange interpretive dance number (with plenty o' thrusting), and, honestly, the production design. It's incredibly minimalistic but I liked the wide, spacious chambers with sparse columns, carvings, and statues. I also enjoyed the costume design and the use of miniatures to create Metropolis. And, of course, there's the final 7 minute or so sequence where Metropolis meets his end. Plenty of stock footage and wave-pool action going on, making for a glorious end to a sluggish film.

I am another one of the viewers who loved this film. Not exactly because its a great movie but because it just looks so freaking cool and is so super duper trippy man!! Some wild new rock band should absolutely show this thing on a large screen behind their next big gig. I found myself constantly pausing the movie just to freeze some of the especially visually compelling frames. This movie is just to much. Truly we have here a classic feature in the weird cinema genre. You can watch this for free on TV4u.com. What the heck is up with those freaky swords that look like dust mops...crazy! James Whale would have been proud to have his name attached to this one and Mario Bava's fingerprints are all over it..like somebody already mentioned. Holy freakout Batman...this flick should be a can't miss for fans of the truly trippy video scene. Whoa!

Hmmm... outside of the poor dubbing, I don't really understand how this gets basted as a turkey. I suppose you could eat cheetos and drink beer and watch it with your buds. It's entertaining, but hardly Maciste Against Hercules In The Valley Of Woe or similar low budget quickies full of unintentional laughs. It's more sci-fi than sandal due to the urgent "message" it attempts to teach us modern scientific men. Evidently the producers saw in the script an important project because they lavished the greater part of their creative energies on the costumes, set designs, lighting and camera set-ups. Like movies today, the stars are not found in the cast but in the art director's studio. If it weren't in color, Giant Of Metropolis might easily be mistaken for some expressionistic epic cooked up by Fritz Lang in 1925 or one of those "new wave" European productions of The Ring cycle from the 60s and 70s. The heavy symbolism is transcribed visually, and the Roman crafts people behind the scenes must have been pleased at the oppressive but strangely beautiful world they realized. So don't expect much exciting action, character development or witty dialog. But do expect a Roman giant of sorts, one with an under-appreciated place in the ranks of thoughtfully produced sci-fi cinema.