The Roundup:

Berlin: Symphony of a Big City
We watched the first part of it, the train entrance into Berlin. Some really great shots. Often we've been told that shooting vehicles doesn't create great motion, but this film certainly did. Aside from that, it was neat to see Berlin post-WW1 and pre-WW2.

Bronenosets Potyomkin
A very moving sequence. So many people died, and unlike many other movies, you really feel it. It seems odd, becuase some of the acting is way over the top, but you still feel what's going on. Apparently the sequence we watched wasn't in the original script, but came about while they were shooting the movie. Now I understand it's the most famous sequence of the film.

Metropolis
I saw the animé version of this one first, and was surprised at how exact the anime version was to this one. The sets and effects in this movie are stunning for the time. The acting was once again way over-the-top. All the early films really draw their acting straight from the theatre, with big facial expressions and everything emphasized. I particularly like the useless machines the people run. One is a circle with three hands in the middle, surrounded by lightbulbs. The operater simply points the hands to the lights that turn on. Apparently this is a gruelling task...