Mighty Manhattan, New York's Wonder City

This entertaining travelogue from the late 1940's is a glimpse of Manhattan - the largest of the five boroughs of NYC. As a travelogue, it is a postcard-perfect view of Manhattan with the narrator gushing over the bright lights and skyscrapers. Nevertheless, like an old issue of Time or Life, it has to be looked at as a piece of social history. The film introduces New York's Mayor William O'Dwyer and takes us on a tour that includes an interesting sample of life in the Big Apple. We stop at the construction site of the United Nations which was taking place at the time. We visit Xavier Cugat, one of Manhattan's entertainment icons and see the great ocean liners along the piers of the Hudson River. We also get to see the Waldorff Astoria, considered one of the great hotels of the time. What is remarkable though is how many points of interest are still on the itinerary of a visitor to New York - Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, the Woolworth Building, the Statue of Liberty, the bridges spanning the East and Hudson Rivers, and of course Times Square. As a fan of New York, this 20-minute film was like a wonderful dessert after I viewed The Naked City on TCM. Highly recommended.

An MGM Short Subject.

Beginning at the Statue of Liberty, this delightful little film conducts us on a rapid tour of MIGHTY MANHATTAN, NEW YORK'S WONDER CITY. After gazing at the famous bridges spanning the Hudson & East Rivers, we travel along Broadway, Fifth & Park Avenues, visit the Empire State Building & Rockefeller Center, linger a moment in Chinatown & Times Square, and take a horse-drawn carriage through Central Park - where we get to enjoy feeding time at the Zoo. We finish our filmed excursion with an evening at the Starlight Roof, enjoying the music of Xavier Cugat.

This is one of a large series of succinct travelogues turned out by MGM, beginning in the 1930's. They featured Technicolor views of beautiful & unusual sights around the globe, as well as vivid, concise commentary. These films were produced & narrated by James A. FitzPatrick.

I saw this on Turner Classic Movies, and I was fairly interested. It was not what you might typically think of a "classic" movie, but I thought it was important for historical value, if nothing else.

New York is probably the most-filmed city in the world, with Los Angeles and Vancouver not far behind. But even if you've never been to New York, you know the skyline. To see it here 60 years ago was a real treat, and I especially liked how it showed that the United Nations building was not built yet, and the hopes they had for its use. How that has fared is now open to debate.

For how short it is, I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in New York, history, or is planning to go to New York... a great way to get excited for the trip.

Mighty Manhattan, New York's Wonder City (1949)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

MGM's (not official) TravelTalk short takes a look at various landmarks in Manhattan including Times Square, Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and the streets of Chinatown. Once again the Technicolor is certainly the highlight of this film, which has the city jumping off the screen. Once again there have been many better documents of the city but I'm sure this thing served its purpose back when it was originally released when there wasn't an internet or even color television to see such things. The most interesting thing is that the United Nations building hadn't yet been completed and we get to see it in its early stages of construction.

James A. Fitzpatrick sends the Technicolor camera under the direction of James H. Smith, with Paul Rogalli to run them, to New York. It's a portrait of a city seventy years ago, with the Third Avenue El still running, the tall buildings begrimed with the smuts of hundreds of years.. Even the New York Foundling Hospital, not far from where I write this, is filthy, as is the Flatiron Building, which I walk past three or four times a week.

It's a portrait of the city that captures it at a moment when, with the United Nations Building about to rise, it seemed as if New York would become the capital of the World. New York is a living city, always growing something new, always a hallowed institution about to vanish.

The copy of this Traveltalk that plays on TCM sparkles with chips of the film's emulsion. Still, it's a pleasure to look at this and see the city as it was a few years before I was born.... and which still can be spotted among the newer construction.