Six years ago I sat in my room playing some DVD s on my old iBook G4. It was another boring summer day and I was looking to pass the time till something better came along. Back then I was a bit of a homebody (and still am to some degree), just shy enough to not call my friends to hang out. At that time my DVD collection was scant, most of what I owned was footage of my favorite band, Queen; which happened to be what was currently playing on my computer. The next song in the shuffle was Radio Ga Ga, a little ditty written by the drummer of the group, Roger Taylor; a song I happened to like.

As I think back now on watching that video I wonder why it was that it fascinated me so much that summer day. After all it wasn’t the first time I had watched it, nor was it the first time I had seen early film images. As a junior in high school I had been exposed to silent images (incorporated into PBS documentaries) of immigrants on the shores of Ellis Island. Being 50% Sicilian I found these images interesting from an ancestral perspective but that was about as far as my fascination went.

Anyhow…back to my story. As I sat there watching the video I was assaulted with a barrage of images. However, interspersed with images of Queen and stock footage from WWII era England was the real gem; it appeared to be from an older film; workers in a factory, robots being transformed. I was given one clue at the end of the video telling me where I could look to find the rest of this strange excerpt. Metropolis was the piece credited and so I hastily copied down the title and logged onto the internet to figure out what “it” was. I have always been fascinated by history, how it’s shaped the past, present and future; this footage was seemingly no different…or was it?

I later discovered that Metropolis was a 1927 German Expressionist film by the late director Fritz Lang. It was made as a last gasp of the movement at a time when making films in Germany cost little due to high inflation. Needless to say the taster I had in the video was enough to get me to watch the entire film…I was not disappointed.

On that day I discovered my path in life, my passion. I am not a religious person, however if we are meant to do one thing in life I have discovered my calling. Film history is my life, my driving force. If it hadn’t been for that music video my life would be very different right now. I am eternally grateful to Queen, to Metropolis, to that day for taking me down a path I wouldn’t change for the world…

For your viewing pleasure here is the video that changed it all…Also here is the trailer for the new Metropolis DVD/Blu-ray coming this November!

[livevideo id=51D0F47D11E744C7B4B03973B7A03AE8]