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In what might be one of the most important discoveries for cinema, missing scenes from Fritz Lang's original version of Metropolis has been unearthed. Shortly after the 1927 premiere of the film, Lang edited the film considerably, and the original cut was thought to be lost; certain scenes went missing, never to be seen again.

Now, almost a century later, Germany's ZEITmagazin reports exclusively in this week's issue on how they tracked down the film to the archives of a film museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina. These newly discovered scenes offer more insight on certain scenes and give minor characters more prominent roles—like that of the spy called "The Slim" (pictured), who had a somewhat insignificant role in the widely known version.

The following statements were taken from the official press release:

Rainer Rother, Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kinemathek Museum in Berlin and the series of "Retrospectives" at the Berlinale, examined the footage for ZEITmagazin and comes to the following conclusion: "Metropolis, Fritz Lang's most famous film, can be seen through new eyes." For him the find represents a "sensational discovery".

Prof. Martin Koerber, the restorer of the most recent version of "Metropolis", who also examined the footage, confirms like Rainer Rother the authenticity of the material. He adds: "No matter how bad the condition of the material may be, the original intention of the film, including all of its minor characters and subplots, is now once again tangible for the normal viewer. The rhythm of the film has been restored."

Enno Patalas, the film historian and former director of the Munich Film Museum, who has been working on the reconstruction of the film since the 1970s, and was responsible along with Martin Koerber for producing the 2001 version of "Metropolis" current until today, talks of the "most authentic material that we know" after viewing the scenes.

Helmut Possmann, director of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation, the holder of the rights to "Metropolis", said to ZEITmagazin: "The material believed to be lost leads to a new understanding of the Fritz Lang masterpiece." Following the discovery, the Murnau Foundation sees itself as "responsible, along with the archive in Buenos Aires and our partners for making the material available to the public."

More pictures from the missing scenes: