Purchased for a mere $6 at Media Play, this is undisputably now the most ancient film in Bitscape's collection. Now I can read the Dark City comparison with some degree of understanding. :)

The age of the source media is definitely apparent. Totally scratchy, frequently washed out images, with the words sometimes running off the edge of the screen. It had definitely been sitting in a vault for many, many years.

I'm almost at a loss for how to rate this one, because it is so outside what I'm used to in a movie. A silent film. Though it is standard movie length, coming in at just under 2 hours, the fact that there is no audible dialog makes it seem to go on forever. On my first attempt to watch it last weekend, I only made it through the first part, not because the story wasn't interesting, but because my mind was totally unprepared for the pacing.

People in stage makeup frantically wave their arms around and make exaggerated facial expressions in what would now be considered grossly overacted performances, yet in the style of this film, it is somehow compelling in its own way. An occassional caption appears on the screen to describe what's going on, as an orchestra plays in the background throughout the duration.

The movie tells a haunting narrative, set in a city purportedly without time and place, where the rich live extravagant lives in skyscrapers, while the workers toil at machines far beneath the surface, living in their own "worker's city", until the son of the master of the metropolis gets curious, and decides to venture down into the depths.

The effects are amazing, especially given the time period when it was made. Towering buildings with airplanes flying in between the skyscrapers, humungous structures are shown, which only serve to hint at the ones that aren't shown. There are long wide shots of people working in unison on multi-floored machines whose real functions can only be guessed at. As far as evoking imagination and wonder, the visuals stand up to modern movies without hesitation.

The events do get disjointed in some places, and the ending seems especially hacked together. Nevertheless, it is an interesting film, with some thought provoking stuff.