The City (1939)
- Directed by
- Ralph Steiner, Willard Van Dyke
- Genre
- documentary film
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 44 min
- Rating
- 6.0 of 10 from 14 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
The film compares the crowded and chaotic conditions of a 1930s American city with the orderly design of a planned community. It uses images and narration to argue for better urban planning.
educationalcontemplativestylizedoptimisticnostalgicthought-provokingcalmdated
What happens
The City is a pioneering short documentary film from 1939 that contrasts the problems of the contemporary urban environment with the superior social and physical conditions that can be provided in a planned community. It was directed and photographed by Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke based on a treatment by Lewis Mumford, which was in turn based on an outline by Pare Lorentz. Aaron Copland wrote the musical score, and Morris Carnovsky provided the narration. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
Land of Liberty (1939)
The World of Tomorrow
Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther (1939)
Why America (1970)
Chronos (1985)
The 400 Million (1939)
Crisis (1939)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.