Original Typed Manuscript ‘The Master of Metropolis’ Signed by Robert Bloch
signed
n.d. (1984
by BLOCH, ROBERT, FRITZ LANG
12 pages, n.d. (1984. Original Typed Manuscript signed by the author Robert Bloch directly below the title ‘The Master of Metropolis’ which is written in all caps in Bloch’s hand on the first page of his essay about the great German director Fritz Lang’s experiences as a filmmaker and, especially for his epic science fiction silent film Metropolis. 12 double-spaced numbered pages with extensive corrections, edits, and revisions in Robert Bloch’s hand throughout, offering a unique insight into his creative process. The essay was published with the slightly changed title of ‘The Master and Metropolis’ in the anthology Omni’s Screen Flights / Screen Fantasies: The Future According to Science Fiction (1984), edited by Danny Peary. Enclosed in a handsome custom dark green cloth folding box with gilt-stamped leather on the front reading, “The Master of Metropolis, Robert Bloch, Original Manuscript Signed”. Fine fresh condition. Metropolis was released in 1927, directed by Fritz Lang in collaboration with his wife, Thea von Harbou, who wrote the silent film, which starred Brigitte Helm, Gustav Frohlich, Alfred Abel and Rudolf Klein-Rogge. The film was cut significantly after its German premiere, removing a large portion of Lang's original footage, which for many years was considered ‘lost’. In 2008 a damaged print of Lang's original cut of the film was found in a museum in Argentina and following a painstaking restoration process, the film was 95% restored and shown on large screens in Berlin and Frankfurt simultaneously on February 12, 2010. Interestingly, Bloch points out in his essay that Metropolis was not Lang’s favorite film. That choice belongs to his 1929 film Frau im Mond (Woman in the Moon), based on the novel The Rocket to the Moon by Thea von Harbou, and released in the U.S. as By Rocket to the Moon and in the U.K. as Woman in the Moon. Lang considered his greatest contribution to science fiction genre to be the invention of the countdown for the rocket launch scene from Woman in the Moon. (Inventory #: 20940E)