In the Street (1948)

Directed by

Janice Loeb, James Agee, Helen Levitt

Genre

documentary film, silent film

Country

United States

Runtime

16 min

Rated

NR

Rating

6.5 of 10 from 22 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This black and white silent film captures street life in Spanish Harlem in the 1940s. It focuses on children at play and daily interactions, recorded with a hidden camera.

observationalunhurriedintimateeverydaynaturalisticneighborhoodthrowback

What happens

In the Street is a 16-minute documentary film released in 1948 and again in 1952. The black and white, silent film was shot in the mid-1940s in the Spanish Harlem section of New York City. Helen Levitt, Janice Loeb, and James Agee were the cinematographers; they used small, hidden 16 mm film cameras to record street life, especially of children. Levitt edited the film and, subsequent to its first release, added a piano soundtrack composed and performed by Arthur Kleiner. In 2020 Ben Model composed for a special Museum of Modern Art screening a new music score. This version plays about 18 minutes. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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