Costume Design

Mittendorf was also repsonsible for much of the makeup and some costuming in the film. The figures of the Seven Deadly Sins, including Death- which was played by Brigette Helms- were actors wearing masks made from a new malleable wood material that had just been developed. The material could be sawed, grated, filed or planed. The same material was used for the construction of the robot, Futura, also played by Helms.The actress had to be able to sit, stand and walk in the costume. A plaster mold of the helmet was constructed, onto which the body was directly attached, which had several jointed, moveable segments as in knight’s armor. Much like a knight’s armor, however, the costume was very uncomfortable and Helms suffered greatly during the filming, enduring cuts and bruises from the edges. Mittendorf, who is one of the few remaining Metropolis crew members still living, continues to own the copyright for the robot’s design.

Constructing the Scene: The Transformation Scene

The scene that continues to fascinate audiences the most to this day, however, is that of the transformation of Maria’s likeness onto the robot’s in Rotwang’s lab, and it has become the one of the most imitated scenes in cinema. It was achieved through a combination of all three major techniques, but particularly that of multiple exposures. The same piece of negative was exposed up to thirty times for every single component of the shot. First, there was the shot of Brigette Helms in the robot costume on the pedestal. The figure was then replaced by a black silhouette. Around this figure, two circular neon lights in tubes made from sandwich paper were repeatedly moved up and down by a type of elevator. This was filmed through a glass plate which was smeared with a thin layer of grease. Finally, the electrical discharges were filmed without this glass plate.