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

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)

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