Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis. 1927.
Maybe it was because of watching Babylon Berlin that I had an urge to watch this wonderful documentary again.Happily it sat on my shelf waiting for me. I had first seen it a few years ago at the smaller theatre in Carnegie Hall (this at one time was one of my favorite rep film houses in the city but that's another post) with a live orchestra accompanying it. Thrilling. The film made by Walter Ruttmann is a short one hour look at this once great city from early morning till late at night, and it shows us all sorts of things including trains, trams, people going to work, machines in factories, poor people, rich people all going about their day. Highly influenced by the Russian constructionists, its a montage of movement and is filled with stunning images, even though they are mostly ordinary things. As I said its all about movement and motion at the beginning of the 20th century and the short film is broken down into 5 segments or acts which adds to the theatricality of the piece. Curtains actually rise and close especially in the morning when shops raise their closed drapes and curtains to start another day of commerce. There is a lot to take in signs, shop windows, people eating, fashion and much more all matched with a musical score. The film closes rather too abruptly for me with a night time display of fireworks over the city and I would have loved more of the nightlife of this once beautiful city. I've been to Germany and have written about it quite a bit, but I never got to Berlin, which was still a divided city when I was there, so I don't have any feelings or opinions about what it is like now. It was of course leveled in World War two with most of its glory and beauty gone.
Maybe it was because of watching Babylon Berlin that I had an urge to watch this wonderful documentary again.Happily it sat on my shelf waiting for me. I had first seen it a few years ago at the smaller theatre in Carnegie Hall (this at one time was one of my favorite rep film houses in the city but that's another post) with a live orchestra accompanying it. Thrilling. The film made by Walter Ruttmann is a short one hour look at this once great city from early morning till late at night, and it shows us all sorts of things including trains, trams, people going to work, machines in factories, poor people, rich people all going about their day. Highly influenced by the Russian constructionists, its a montage of movement and is filled with stunning images, even though they are mostly ordinary things. As I said its all about movement and motion at the beginning of the 20th century and the short film is broken down into 5 segments or acts which adds to the theatricality of the piece. Curtains actually rise and close especially in the morning when shops raise their closed drapes and curtains to start another day of commerce. There is a lot to take in signs, shop windows, people eating, fashion and much more all matched with a musical score. The film closes rather too abruptly for me with a night time display of fireworks over the city and I would have loved more of the nightlife of this once beautiful city. I've been to Germany and have written about it quite a bit, but I never got to Berlin, which was still a divided city when I was there, so I don't have any feelings or opinions about what it is like now. It was of course leveled in World War two with most of its glory and beauty gone. 
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