Peter Harrington

Original programme for the British premiere of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis in 1927.

The world’s most valuable movie poster, for Fritz Lang’s 1927 masterpiece Metropolis, is to be auctioned again after making a record $690,000 in 2005. Ephemera related to the film is notoriously scarce, with only four copies of the poster known to survive. Almost as uncommon is this amazing film programme produced for the London premiere at the Marble Arch Pavilion on March 21, 1927, one of only three copies that we have handled. Not only a list of cast and crew, it includes eleven short pieces on the making of the movie, commentary from the director and cast, and numerous production photographs and film stills, many attractively arranged as modernist collages. One of the most interesting sections shows in parallel columns how a passage of film scenes was adapted from the novel of the same name by Lang’s wife, Thea von Harbou.

Below the fold you’ll find the complete booklet – just click any image for the high-res version: