Berlin, Symphony of a Great City

5.8K ratings
Price: $21.50
Available: Usually ships in 5-7 business days
Format:  DVD-R
item number:  6EC64
Made-on-Demand
Also released as:

DVD-R Details

  • Video: Black & White
  • Encoding: Region 0 (Worldwide)
  • Released: March 14, 2017
  • Originally Released: 1927
  • Label: Flicker Alley

Performers, Cast and Crew:

Directed by
Story by
Produced by

Entertainment Reviews:

Fresh86%

TOMATOMETER
Total Count: 7

Upright82%

AUDIENCE SCORE
User Ratings: 1,100
Rating: B -- Outdated but still fine as an historical curio. Full Review
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Aug 1, 2009
Rating: 3.5/4 -- This is pure cinema, a work of visual rapture that often feels like stepping into a time machine, inviting us into a world long since past. Full Review
From the Front Row
Jun 3, 2019
More of a montage of images than an actual movie, this is a deeply fascinating documentary. Full Review
Film4
May 24, 2003
It remains a unique and sometimes inspired exercise in style for its own sake. Full Review
Chicago Reader
Jan 1, 2000
A textbook classic to which the years have not been kind. Full Review
Time Out
Oct 24, 2007

Description by OLDIES.com:

At once an invaluable photographic record of life in Weimer Berlin and a timeless demonstration of the cinemas ability to enthrall on a purely visceral level, Berlin, Symphony of a Great City offers a kaleidoscopic view of a single day in the life of a bustling metropolis. Carl Mayer, influenced by the naturalistic Kammerspiel movement, envisioned a melody of pictures sprung from daily reality instead of the stylized artificiality of the studio-bound expressionist film. Following Mayer's rough outline, photographer Karl Freund deployed a team of cameramen to explore the avenues, alleyways and factories of Berlin and secure hidden-camera glimpses of the people and machinery that provide the city with its constant motion. The many hours of footage were then edited into a series of five acts, like movements of a symphony, by Walther Ruttmann as a continuation of his experiments with abstract motion. Berlin defined the formula of the city symphony film and according to John Grierson - the filmmaker/critic who coined the term documentary - no film has been more influential, more imitated.

Also included is Opus I. A rare example of the German avant-garde cinema known as Absoluter Film, Walther Ruttmann's hand-colored Opus I is an exploration of the geometry of movement within the frame and the sensory effect these abstract shapes evoke as they swell, streak and swim across the screen.

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This product is made-on-demand by the manufacturer using DVD-R recordable media. Almost all DVD players can play DVD-Rs (except for some older models made before 2000) - please consult your owner's manual for formats compatible with your player. These DVD-Rs may not play on all computers or DVD player/recorders. To address this, the manufacturer recommends viewing this product on a DVD player that does not have recording capability.
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Product Info

  • Sales Rank: 41,100
  • UPC: 889290092014
  • Shipping Weight: 0.25/lbs (approx)
  • International Shipping: 1 item

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