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After a year-long wait, the re-editing and restoration process of Fritz Lang's iconic silent film Metropolis has finally begun.

Shortly after its 1927 premiere, Metropolis' producers weren't too happy with Lang's original cut and trimmed the film. Since then, the excised footage had gone missing and the original version never seen again.

Over the years, several versions of the film were released, with varying amounts of footage. The most complete treatment to date was the 2002 restoration by Germany's F.W. Murnau Foundation and distributor Kino International, which had title cards describing the missing sequences. Those gaps will finally be filled.

The lost footage was discovered in Argentina last summer. Shortly afterward, Kino announced that the planned Blu-ray release of Metropolis will include said footage, originally planned to be a 2009 release, but it looks like it'll have to wait a little longer.

The footage is finally in the hands of the F.W. Murnau Foundation. There, the film will undergo both a reconstruction of the original version and a digital restoration for a new crisp release. I hope whenever that Blu-ray comes around, we'll get an extensive featurette about how this classic is finally restored to its original vision, including the full story behind its discovery.

They say to expect completion in January of next year. At that point, this film would be 83-years-old. Exciting? You bet.

[via EuroNews]