corridors, rhythmically keeping time like the Expressionistic revolutionary choirs, sharply outlined ranks in which the individual no longer counts as a human being."(Eisner) As they begin to execute their duties they become like hands of a clock, frantically working with every ounce of strength. They become one union, working for one cause that eludes us. "The machine center is transformed into the image of the god Moloch"(idem) as workers march in a rhythmic pattern into the gaping jaw of the beast. The scene is of great visual impact, with dark figures glimpsed merely as silhouettes in the dusty air and hazy light of the machine room. Through a screen of smoke an accident is viewed by Freder, who is fittingly dressed in white garb. He is absolutely shocked as he witnesses the dark figures bearing the casualties file past, shot against the light.As Freder makes his transition into the underworld, we come to the scene in the catacombs where a crowd of dark figures with pale faces is contrasted with the white crosses in the background, and the touching figure of the good Maria. The construction of the great tower is shown to us as we witness thousands slaving to complete it. The workers, without choice, lug the great stones through the streets. The view of the towering luminous city is amazingly visualized. Obviously a New York inspired vision, the buildings reach high into the heavens in a complete fantastic manner. The presence of the mammoth structures is "is the encounter of Expressionism and Surrealism"(Eisner). The dreams that Freder experiences "are similarly expressionistic-surreal"(idem). As everything is spinning around him Freder is seemingly falling into a deep nothingness. "Here real pandemonium should have begun... Lang had originally planned much more powerful versions of the evil forces loosed by the creation of the robot... but in the surviving versions of the film only Freder, in his fevered dreams, can s...
