Füge eine Handlung in deiner Sprache hinzuA prescient documentary about city planning, which presents idyllic suburbs and nuclear families as a solution to the chaos, poverty and social decay of industrialized inner cities.A prescient documentary about city planning, which presents idyllic suburbs and nuclear families as a solution to the chaos, poverty and social decay of industrialized inner cities.A prescient documentary about city planning, which presents idyllic suburbs and nuclear families as a solution to the chaos, poverty and social decay of industrialized inner cities.
- Regie
- Drehbuch
- Hauptbesetzung
- Auszeichnungen
- 1 wins total
Morris Carnovsky
- Narrator
- (Synchronisation)
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A classic piece of Depression-era advocacy for a better life through garden city planning. Much of the theory behind it is anti-urban and sentimental, but it's a wonderful period piece nonetheless. Some of the era's major talents were involved in this short. Ironically the most interesting and impressive footage shows the tough gritty urban life that these idealists wanted to do away with (probably shot in Pittsburgh.)
In this appeal to razing down neighborhood slums, the plea to build new cities, and get rid of the ghettos is emphasized. Strikingly visual for such a messaged film, the narration is pretty sparse, sticking with visuals of the city ala Baraka and Koyaanisquatsi. What I like about this film is again the visuals, treating petty items such as road signs into work of art, and it's salute to the car is very masterful as well. What I didn't like, I didn't really think the narration needed to be there, I would be perfectly happy with just the visuals alone, rather then the somewhat stilted narrative. Still, I think this is a recommended film. Turn down the volume during the narration, and then turn it back up again when the (excellent) music starts up again.
this film starts out showing an idyllic old style town, complete with 'town meetings' where everyone gets a chance to speak their mind, kids play in the yards, theres a blacksmith helping out a neighbor, blah blah blah. then it shows the horrible city where everything is dirty and the air and water are poison. this goes on for a bit. shows some very cool shots of an industrial town which being from a rural state i've never seen. anyways all this bombast ends up focusing on something called 'the new city' which is sort of a cross between a suburb and im not sure what. the modern highway is presented as the ultimate solution to the overcrowded industrial city. people go to these 'new cities' where the 'play is not so much different from the work' and people supposedly dont mind going to work. washing machines would free women from boring chores and they could sit around gossiping with their pals. you could walk to work (but i thought everyone would drive on the motor parkway?). nearby farms would supply all produce so it would be fresh. i have no idea what these guys were smoking. this movie proves that you dont have to be on LSD (not invented till the 40s) to be trippin'.
Curious to find THE CITY evoking such antagonism eighty years after it's production.
After half a Century I had another look at it and was impressed to see the effect it had had on subsequent work including my own. The elements are impressive - the Copland score which I immediately remembered, Morris (THIEVES HIGHWAY, VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE) Carnovsky's reading of Lewis Mumford's commentary and Theodore Lawrence's editing which is a link between the Soviet montage work and Hollywood. The film was cannibalised into a Passing Parade and the Warner HUMORESQUE.
The message about substandard housing ("places where a man sent up for crime can have a better place than we can get for our children") still resonates though their solution sits uneasily with our knowledge of over population and urban planning now but it set up a dialogue with fiction films like SUNRISE, STREET OF WOMEN or LA TERRE QUI MEURT. It's not too far away from the ideal industrial community shown in MAJOR BARBARA.
This one stood out when I started watching non theatrical movies and I still enjoy watching it.
After half a Century I had another look at it and was impressed to see the effect it had had on subsequent work including my own. The elements are impressive - the Copland score which I immediately remembered, Morris (THIEVES HIGHWAY, VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE) Carnovsky's reading of Lewis Mumford's commentary and Theodore Lawrence's editing which is a link between the Soviet montage work and Hollywood. The film was cannibalised into a Passing Parade and the Warner HUMORESQUE.
The message about substandard housing ("places where a man sent up for crime can have a better place than we can get for our children") still resonates though their solution sits uneasily with our knowledge of over population and urban planning now but it set up a dialogue with fiction films like SUNRISE, STREET OF WOMEN or LA TERRE QUI MEURT. It's not too far away from the ideal industrial community shown in MAJOR BARBARA.
This one stood out when I started watching non theatrical movies and I still enjoy watching it.
Visionary documentary that contrasts the conditions of life in small towns and in the industrialized cities, starting with a brief portrait of pre-industrial United States, then moving into the modern chaotic, industrial and commercial city to reflect on the effects of this environment on family life and the raising of children, and finally proposing a return to a simpler life, in an idyllic "new city" in Maryland, constructed as a New Deal project, to promote proper upbringing of children, as well as a stable family life.
I'm not sure if this film is "visionary" as the description suggests. It's very interesting in the contrasts that it makes, but visionary? The real value of this film is the time capsule it has. This is 1939, America is just about to go to war (again), and here is how the country lives. This really has a strong value for seeing how the world was at this time, and how everything was looking up... we were coming out of the depression!
I'm not sure if this film is "visionary" as the description suggests. It's very interesting in the contrasts that it makes, but visionary? The real value of this film is the time capsule it has. This is 1939, America is just about to go to war (again), and here is how the country lives. This really has a strong value for seeing how the world was at this time, and how everything was looking up... we were coming out of the depression!
Wusstest du schon
- WissenswertesThis film was made to be shown at the 1939 New York World's Fair. It was screened at the Little Theatre in the Science and Education Building.
- VerbindungenEdited into This Is Tomorrow (1943)
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Details
- Laufzeit
- 43 Min.
- Farbe
- Seitenverhältnis
- 1.37 : 1
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