Cologne

Cologne (1939)

*** (out of 4)

This amateur film from Cologne, Minnesota features the Guettler family and you have to think that they never imagined that people would be viewing this film decades after it was recorded but the film was selected to the National Film Registry in 2001. The film starts off with a woman writing into a diary, which we get to read via title cards. From here we see dates as well as what the woman did that day or just things she saw. From this point the entire film is basically just footage shot around the city and it includes farm machines, local restaurants, a parade and a social gathering with some turtle soup. We're told in one of the early entries that this town has 350 people and it's this that really makes this film stand out. There's certainly nothing ground-breaking here but I think the film serves a great purpose of showing what a small American town used to be like. I must admit that I was caught up in the poetry beauty of the film and especially the shots high above the city showing what few homes and buildings there were. Another major plus was getting to see various farm equipment and what exactly they were using all these years ago. I doubt many mainstream people will find this entertaining but it's certainly a good reminder of what small towns used to look like.

I am sure the film makers who made this had no idea it would ever be reviewed. After all, it was put together by a couple amateurs--a doctor and his wife--from footage they made while serving in this tiny Minnesota farming community. It is the essence of what you might consider ephemeral--and yet it was somehow discovered and included in a four-DVD set entitled "Treasures from American Film Archives". As such, the film is a nice portrait of a bygone era in a part of the country pretty much ignored otherwise. As a result, it's a great historical portrait. So, despite some cheap home-made intertitle cards and some VERY abrupt edits, it is an invaluable record--something that anthropologists and historians drool over while watching. Sure, the average viewer would probably be a bit bored by all this, but considering the film's original aim, this isn't a bit problem. Worth seeing but not a film for the average viewer.

Structures, people and events are documented in Cologne, Minnesota, in 1939.

Alright, so I have never been to Cologne, so far as I can recall. And I was not alive in 1939. Not even close. But I have spent my life in Wisconsin, which is close, and my grandparents were farmers in a rural area. Much of what I see here reminds me very much of them and their property. And I suspect this is true all across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and probably further.

Another reviewer commented that it is strange to rate a film that was never intended to be screened for criticism. That is an interesting point and a true one. But just the same, there is a level of skill here, and this is an important cultural document. Whether that was the intent or not, it deserves the positive acclaim.

For an amateur movie from the 1930s, this is made with some real skill, and aside from a few tip-offs such as some unpolished inter-titles, it might easily have been made by more experienced film-makers. The content itself is the kind of simple but pleasant Americana that is easy to watch as long as it does not go on too long, and at less than 15 minutes, it's able to hold your attention all the way through.

Created by a doctor and his wife who spent a couple of years in the town of Cologne, Minnesota, it gives an honest yet caring perspective on the type of farming community that must have been (and probably still is) very common in their part of the country. Much of it shows the kinds of scenes you would expect, showing activity at farms, the local feed mill, the blacksmith shop, and the like. It's not without a little humor, as in the brief comment about and shot of the town's significance as a railway stop.

It's edited together quite smoothly, and features a good assortment of camera angles. Although the diary narrative device was already an old one at the time, it is pretty well suited to the material. It's easy to watch, and it's somewhat more interesting than you would expect such a movie to be.