1. The director of this adaptation-for-cinema is the Fritz Lang, of Metropolis fame. However much that matters.

Yes. Also of the female-focused science fiction Frau im Mond (1929) and the incalculably influential noir ancestor M (1931), whence my semi-crack to rydra_wong about him being ahead of his time. I know that the American studio system could produce some remarkably extruded cinema product, but I suspect it still matters. Even if he never made another "women's picture," Lang seems to have known women were people. His wife Thea von Harbou was his credited co-auteur on almost all of his major German work.

2. I wonder how a modern re-release in the theatres might be best promoted...because that original poster simply will not do.

Unfortunately the extant DVD cover looks like terrible clip art, which doesn't really solve the problem. I bet Flicker Alley could come up with something classy.