Well, according to The Associated Press, here's what happened: The movie (the most expensive silent film at the time) almost bankrupted the studio that released it, so they cut it from its original 3 1/2-hour length to the running time that has been viewed since: two hours. Apparently, a collector took a copy of the original to Argentina, where it eventually made it into a museum, and was discovered by two film buffs recently. It was screened last Thursday for journalists.

Now, the film can be restored to what Lang had intended, a coup for film historians, who thought the lost scenes were gone forever. And, undoubtedly, this is good news for film fans as well, since Metropolis is considered to be an influential and relevant film, even 80 years later. Adding to the good news is word that this footage will be added to the 2009 Blu-ray of Metropolis, from Kino International.

This is the sort of story that film geeks like myself might only get to experience once in their lifetimes. I mean, we have new releases, box office numbers, casting information and celebrity gossip every day of the year, but it's not very often that lost footage from an 80-year-old film is going to be discovered. This is one for the record books. It also should be a lesson to filmmakers: Put it all on DVD if you like it even a little bit. After all, you wouldn't want to lose it.