Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

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The title says it all: this is a visual symphony in five movements celebrating the Berlin of 1927: the people, the place, the everyday details of life on the streets. Director Walter Ruttman, an experimental filmmaker, approached cinema in similar ways to his Russian contemporary Dziga Vertoz, mixing documentary, abstract, and expressionist modes for a nonnarrative style that captured the life of his countrymen. But where Vertov mixed his observations with examples of the communist dream in action, Ruttman re-creates documentary as, in his own words, "a melody of pictures." Within the loose structure of a day in the life of the city (with a prologue that travels from the country into the city on a barreling train), the film takes us from dawn to dusk, observing the silent city as it awakens with a bustle of activity, then the action builds and calms until the city settles back into sleep. But the city is as much the architecture, the streets, and the machinery of industry as it is people, and Ruttman weaves all these elements together to create a portrait in montage, the poetic document of a great European city captured in action. Held together by rhythm, movement, and theme, Ruttman creates a documentary that is both involving and beautiful to behold. The original score by Timothy Brock is lyrical and dramatically involving, complementing the mood and movement marvelously. Also included is the avant-garde short Opus 1, an abstract study in animated shapes and movement. --Sean Axmaker

Description

At once an invaluable photographic record of life in Weimar Berlin and a timeless demostration of the cinema's ability to enthrall on a purely visceral level, "Berlin, Symphony of a Great City" (1927, 62 min.) offers a kaleidoscopic view of a single day in the life of the bustling metropolis. Also included on this DVD is "Opus 1" (1922, 10 min.), a rare example of the German avant-garde cinema. Director Walther Ruttmann's hand-colored film is an exploration of the geometry of movement.

Customer Reviews:

BERLIN YEARS BEFORE ITS DESTRUCTION.......2007-07-12

I RECOMEND EVERYBODY THIS DVD TOGETHER WITH A CD THAT THE CATALAN MUSICIANS GROUP PEGASUS COMPOSED IN 1986 TO HOMAGE THIS FILM. I SAW THIS FILM IN 1986 AND HAVE'NT SEEN IT AGAIN. NOW I BOUGHT THE FILM AND WILL PLAY IT SYNCHRONIZED WITH PEGASUS THEMES. YOU CAN READ BELOW INFO FROM IT.
Almost sixty years ago, a writer, Carl Mayer, and a moviemaker, Walter Ruttmann, had the happy occurrence to dedicate a filmed portrait of their own town, Berlin. They wanted to exalt it in an "images melody" to pick up all its movements and vital impulse.
That is how Berlin: symphony of a big city, was born, where rhythms and oscillations of the urban activity, get fused into a series of inspired musical/visual movements.
As fearless in concept as bright in resolution, nobody since then has been able to overcome this beautiful avant-garde film, that remains one of the great creative successes of silent movies.
Silent but not deaf. As well as Napoleon, which discovery had dazzled everybody, Metropolis, returned recently to the young audiences, Berlin: symphony of a big city did not stay as a cinematheque's curiosity, but has preserved a forceful modernity.
That is why the Setmana Internacional de Cinema (1986) is proud to present the personal version of Berlin: symphony of a big city that PEGASUS themes with images of Ruttmann, opens not only a dimension that goes over the film and the record, but proves the universality of cinema and music beyond time.

Pegasus "Simfonia d'una gran ciutat" 1986 - Pegasus Records 1990 - PDI (80.2305)

- Obertura (Overture)
- El despertar dels carrers (Awakening of the streets)
- Primer moviment (First movement)
- Rondó de les màquines
- Balada dels obrers (Workers ballade)
- Paranoia
- Joc d'oci (Leisure game)
- Tempo de rock
- Andante per dones i infants (Andante to women and children)
- Sector terciari (Tertiary sector)
- Punt de reunió (Meeting point)
Santi Arisa - Drums and percussions
Rafael Escoté - Bass & sequencing prog.
Josep Mas "Kitflus" - Piano and synths.
Max Sunyer - Guitars
[...]

Innovative Masterpiece.......2007-03-28

Unbelievable as it is: Walter Ruttmann's acclaimed Berlin film is not available on Germany's great video market. So I was very happy to spot it finally in the US. Seeing the artful scenes of bygone Berlin is highly interesting for me, but makes me sad all at once - especially as a native of this city.

Great City, shame about the Symphony.......2007-01-12

Visually, this is a very good product, with excellent b&w film of 1920's Berlin. The musical accompaniment was appropriate, but very faintly recorded and TV volume had to be on full in order to obtain sound at a moderate level.

A Masterpiece.......2005-03-07

Until I saw this movie, I could never imagine a "visual symphony." This film is exactly that. The film brilliantly shows a day in Berlin in 1927 from such overwhelmingly different perspectives that you actually believe that you were there. This silent film -- without any written dialogue -- starts on a train moving quickly into Berlin in the early morning hours. The city is still dark and quiet, with few cats and dogs, and fewer people, about. Then, the city picks up its pace: children go to school; shopkeepers open their shops; factory machines start up. Through lunchtime, through the afternoon: one quick shot after another: newspaper headlines, shop windows, an anarchist on a platform, men and women, old and young. Into the evening -- the city slows down, but the nightlife picks up.

Berlin in 1927 would easily have been ranked one of the top five cities in the world. You get to see it before the Nazi era, and before much of it was destroyed in World War II. You simply cannot take your eyes off this film. The music only enhances the experience -- slow music for lunchtime, exciting music for grinding machines.

And don't miss the extra feature, a short called Opus I. It is essentially abstract shapes moving, pulsing, and disappearing, to music. This short was hand painted, frame by frame. It is very unusual and, like all abstract art, different people will see different things in it.

Do not miss "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City." It has been imitated, but never duplicated.

A special journey back in time!.......2005-02-15

Watching this outstanding film is like travelling back in time to Berlin of 1927, experiencing it as a visitor or as a native Berliner would, with views, insights and glimpses of street scenes, restaurants, shops, trains, stations and many more. In a carefully arranged sequence, the film begins with a train ride into the city as a passenger would see it, then we see empty streets as the city awakens to a new day. Each short scene captures a piece of everyday life in the metropolis; from pidgeons on the street and a meandering cat to a couple of quarrelling men on a busy street. The style of this early documentary often reminded me of some famous Soviet Avant-Garde films such as "The End of St Petersburg" and "Earth" in that the pictures, camera angles and varying speeds of presenting a sequence of images create a drama, a feeling, thereby making this much more than just a collage of city scenes. A perfectly suited orchestral score composed by Timothy Brock completes the experience. Director Walther Ruttmann has truly managed to capture the essence of Berlin in 1927 in this one hour film which is divided into five acts; from early morning in the first, to night life in the fifth act, making you feel as if you really have visited pre-war Berlin for a day. This becomes even more poignant when you consider that the city was largely destroyed by bombs during World War II, and that this marvellous film allows a unique travel experience to a long-lost time and place. Picture quality is excellent as well, and for any lover of history and travel, as well as of film making in general, this DVD is a must.

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