no no no i won't

... this I vow tonight - I will not - hear me, NOT - watch Metropolis a fourth time

in a row.

Sunday - the film
Monday - the film with the commentary
Tuesday - oh god, alone in the apartment, and I watched it a third time...

Tonight, no. I swear it.

There's something in me that says, since this is the Big Number One silent picture in film history, I should not like it. No, my sophistocated tastes should have me obsessing over some obscure piece of brilliance no one's ever heard of - not boring, popular old Metropolis.

But I love love love

it.

The magnificent, futuristic cityscapes with little toy biplanes on strings flying through. And robot-Maria / Hel laughing as she burns at the stake is the loveliest bit of fiendish I've seen in a long time.

But I think my favorite moment is when Rotwang - evil scientist and builder of the robot-Maria - tells Joh Fredersen - the dude - the builder and ruler of Metropolis - that soon no one will be able to tell the difference between a "machine-man and a mortal" - and Fredersen runs his hand through his thinning hair. One little move that shows the weakness and the humanity of mankind.

Beautiful.