Metropolis Resurrected

Just read this cool news today. Missing scenes from Fritz Lang's seminal sci-fi film Metropolis thought lost for 80 years have been re-discovered in Buenos Aires. Unseen in its original version since 1927 screenings in Berlin, the film was shortened and re-edited to 90 minutes by Paramount Pictures since the original was deemed too long for American audiences (little did they anticipate the modern 3+ hour blockbuster epic!).

Toshiyuki Honda - Metropolis
One of my favourite soundtracks is to the 2001 anime film Metropolis, which was based on manga by the legendary Osamu Tezuka. Apparently Tezuka himself had never seen Fritz Lang's Metropolis but was inspired by a promotional still of the robot Maria. Toshiyuki Honda's future retro score incorporates New Orleans dixieland jazz, which I fell in love with after hearing the main theme and later reinforced by a Woody Allen binge. I snapped up the soundtrack from the now defunct Emperor Norton Records, but it's still available at Amazon and other sellers I'm sure.