[What] is this "bigness of outlook" that distinguishes Metropolis? The architectural sets and the photography are extremely competent craftsmanship. After that, what? It is a vision of the future…. The idea of the machine city of the future, of robots, etc., is the common property of all up-to-date journalists. No one in the cinema to-day could conceive and transmit the future as it will probably be. A subject which occupies some of the best minds of Europe, which has such unplumbed depths, and which is certainly too dark and complex for such a glib and facile solution as Metropolis offers, is unlikely to be translated into terms of images. It is necessary to drug one's sensibilities, to stop asking oneself the many awkward questions that occur as the film unfolds, in order to be able to accept such grossness as the pathetic reconciliation of father and son, or...