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‘A Hymn to Movement’: The ‘City Symphony’ of the 1920s and 1930s

‘A Hymn to Movement’: The ‘City Symphony’ of the 1920s and 1930s Laura Marcus The ‘city symphonies’ of my title refer primarily to a cluster of films made in the United States and Europe in the 1920s and the 1930s. The best known, and most frequently imitated, is Walter Ruttmann’s Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1926). Other ‘city symphonies’ of this period include Alberto Cavalcanti’s Rien que les heures (1926), Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Joris Ivens’ Regen [Rain] (1929) and Jean Vigo’s A Propos de Nice (1930). The earliest of the city symphonies was Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand’s Manhatta (1921). Manhatta appears to have had a significant influence on the European city symphonies and city films of the later 1920s, and also on less well known American avant-garde films, including Jay Leyda’s A Bronx Morning and Herman Weinberg’s City Symphony and Autumn Fire. City and cinema have been inextricably linked from the very first films onwards. The avant-garde city films of the 1920s show the influence of early urban panoramic films and city actualities. They are part of the complex history whereby film-makers in the 1920s sought to renew the medium – and to turn away from commercial and narrative cinema – by returning http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Modernist Cultures Edinburgh University Press

‘A Hymn to Movement’: The ‘City Symphony’ of the 1920s and 1930s

Marcus, Laura
Modernist Cultures , Volume 5 (1): 30 – May 1, 2010
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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© Edinburgh University Press 2010
Subject
Articles; Film, Media and Cultural Studies
ISSN
2041-1022
eISSN
1753-8629
DOI
10.3366/mod.2010.0004
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Laura Marcus The ‘city symphonies’ of my title refer primarily to a cluster of films made in the United States and Europe in the 1920s and the 1930s. The best known, and most frequently imitated, is Walter Ruttmann’s Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1926). Other ‘city symphonies’ of this period include Alberto Cavalcanti’s Rien que les heures (1926), Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Joris Ivens’ Regen [Rain] (1929) and Jean Vigo’s A Propos de Nice (1930). The earliest of the city symphonies was Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand’s Manhatta (1921). Manhatta appears to have had a significant influence on the European city symphonies and city films of the later 1920s, and also on less well known American avant-garde films, including Jay Leyda’s A Bronx Morning and Herman Weinberg’s City Symphony and Autumn Fire. City and cinema have been inextricably linked from the very first films onwards. The avant-garde city films of the 1920s show the influence of early urban panoramic films and city actualities. They are part of the complex history whereby film-makers in the 1920s sought to renew the medium – and to turn away from commercial and narrative cinema – by returning

Journal

Modernist Cultures – Edinburgh University Press

Published: May 1, 2010

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