I finally did it. I watched Metropolis, the 1927 movie.
This is supposed to be one of those movies you have to see. I will say it is important and helps explain a lot of things that came later in cinema, but you don't have to see it. You will be fine without watching this. I still say you should give it a shot if you can deal with silent movie inter-titles.
If you do watch it, you will see exactly where CP3O from Star Wars came. You will see a lot of grand scenes with hundreds or thousands of extras running around. You will be amazed at the special effects for the day and understand the inspiration for the SFX that followed. You will see immediately the impact on films that shortly followed, like Frankenstein and Wizard of Oz.
The story is a mess and mash up of political commentary and religion. The reasons to get from A to B to C are a bit sketchy. One would say today: "The screenwriter needs to tighten this up."
Apparently, many tried and the original 153 minutes were cut down to as little as 87 minutes in one version. In 2010, they found lost footage and have made a version of about 143 minutes. This version is playing on Tubi. You want to watch this version. Another version of 118 minutes is playing on PlutoTV or Roku Channel. The Tubi version is very clean and easy to watch. The lost scenes are grainy and scratchy -- they did their best. Don't be alarmed when the quality changes. It is not a flashback or anything. I found the PlutoTV version impossible to watch as it appears to a non-restored version captured from VHS. The Roku Channel version is the same as PlutoTV, but cleaner. This version supposedly is the cut seen in America when first released. It leaves out a portion of the story. I think it is best to watch the original as the director intended, plus the Tubi version is restored and crystal clear (mostly). The only problem with the Tubi version is the soundtrack does not include one of the official scores (the music is probably still copyrighted), so instead they play this jazz trio loop. Turn it off. Watch it silent.
Finally, I will say the lead actress in this movie is excellent. She plays a very difficult role where she gets "cloned". So there are two of her. The makeup artist gives us clues as her makeup is different, but she uses facial expressions and actions that clearly keep us in the loop to understand which version we're watching. You can see this on the Tubi version, but not the other versions because the quality is too low. She is a Madonna-like figure. We're supposed to fall in love with her, and we do. Well done.