Metropolis

Metropolis is set in the year 2026, in the extraordinary Gothic skyscrapers of a corporate city-state, the Metropolis of the title. Society has been divided into two rigid groups - one of planners or thinkers, who live high above the earth in luxury, and another of workers who live underground working to sustain the lives of the privileged. The city is run by Johhan "Joh" Fredersen (Alfred Abel). One of the workers, the beautiful Maria (Brigitte Helm), takes up the cause of the workers. The son of Frederson, Freder (Gustav Fröhlich), becomes infatuated with Maria, descends into the working underworld and, shocked at the working conditions, joins her cause. To counter the threat of worker dissatisfaction his father has The Robot built by the scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge). The Robot is given Maria's appearance and is directed by Joh to spread disorder and so allow the workers to be crushed.