I agree. While I think M is a masterpiece in almost every aspect, I tried watching Metropolis several times and always found it to be mediocre at best. I cannot

I agree. While I think M is a masterpiece in almost every aspect, I tried watching Metropolis several times and always found it to be mediocre at best. I cannot understand the hype around this movie. Besides H.G. Wells, contemporary German critics were also spot on: > Thea von Harbou erfindet eine unmögliche Personenhandlung, die in den Motiven überstopft wird. […] Immer wird mit Gefühlsphrasen gearbeitet. Schrecklich. Ein sachliches Thema grausam verkitscht. Effekte, nicht weil Weltanschauungen zu Explosionen drängen, sondern weil der Film seine Tricks will. Der Schluß, die tränenreiche Versöhnung von Arbeitgeber und Arbeitnehmer – entsetzlich.“ Slightly improved Google translation: >Thea von Harbou (she was the screenwriter) invents an impossible plot which is overstuffed with motifs. [...] She is only working with emotional clichées. Dreadful. A serious subject cruelly made into kitsch. Effects not because the depicted world demands it, but because the film wants its tricks. The end - the tearful reconciliation of employer and employee - awful." – Berliner Börsen-Courier, 11. Januar 1927 > Nimm zehn Tonnen Grausen, gieße ein Zehntel Sentimentalität darüber, koche es mit sozialem Empfinden auf und würze es mit Mystik nach Bedarf, verrühre das Ganze mit Mark (sieben Millionen) und du erhältst einen prima Kolossalfilm. > Take ten tons of horror, pour a tenth of sentimentality over it, cook it with social feeling and season it with mysticism as needed, mix with Mark (seven million of it) (Mark the currency, but it may also be understood as bone marrow ("Knochenmark") or tomato puree ("Tomatenmark") in the context of cooking, which is the joke here) and you get a great colossal movie. – Simplicissimus Nr. 44/1927