The City (I) (1939) User Reviews

Poison Pen Letter to Real Cities

[kurtinsunnyside · 5/10 · 13 February 2009]

With its Aaaron Copland Score and Walker Evans-like imagery, this New-Deal Koyaanisqatsi lavishes praise on the American towns of yore, decries the squalor and congestion that automation and industrialization have brought, and (quite unlike Koyaanisqatsi) hails the possibilities of a future in which Americans thrive in 'green cities' of tomorrow. The film is a creation of people who clearly dislike actual cities, and their naive solution is a world of cloverleaf highway interchanges and suburban sprawl masquerading as 'open space'. The miseries of Pittsburgh (smog, rickety row houses, endless webs of Dictaphones and adding machines) are contrasted with the joys of Greenbelt, Maryland (cue flutes and footage of adorable children at play). It never occurs to the film makers that in place of highways, perhaps more trains would help to relieve congestion and clear-up the air. Race, of course, is not dealt with in this narrative, but it is implicit - Black Americans were increasingly migrating from the rural South to cities across the nation, thanks in part to New Deal policies that accelerated their displacement off agricultural land. The fantasy 'green cities' envisioned in the film are pretty clearly for whites only. In sum, a lovely film for its cinematography and musical score, but a sinister film for its rigid anti-urban ideology and its naive denial of America's long heritage of over-development of available land.

Good City/Bad City

[Spuzzlightyear · 7/10 · 21 November 2005]

In this appeal to razing down neighborhood slums, the plea to build new cities, and get rid of the ghettos is emphasized. Strikingly visual for such a messaged film, the narration is pretty sparse, sticking with visuals of the city ala Baraka and Koyaanisquatsi. What I like about this film is again the visuals, treating petty items such as road signs into work of art, and it's salute to the car is very masterful as well. What I didn't like, I didn't really think the narration needed to be there, I would be perfectly happy with just the visuals alone, rather then the somewhat stilted narrative. Still, I think this is a recommended film. Turn down the volume during the narration, and then turn it back up again when the (excellent) music starts up again.

Country Boy, City Boy

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 27 April 2016]

Visionary documentary that contrasts the conditions of life in small towns and in the industrialized cities, starting with a brief portrait of pre-industrial United States, then moving into the modern chaotic, industrial and commercial city to reflect on the effects of this environment on family life and the raising of children, and finally proposing a return to a simpler life, in an idyllic "new city" in Maryland, constructed as a New Deal project, to promote proper upbringing of children, as well as a stable family life.

I'm not sure if this film is "visionary" as the description suggests. It's very interesting in the contrasts that it makes, but visionary? The real value of this film is the time capsule it has. This is 1939, America is just about to go to war (again), and here is how the country lives. This really has a strong value for seeing how the world was at this time, and how everything was looking up... we were coming out of the depression!

two thumbs in your eye

[fliphop · 10 October 1999]

this film starts out showing an idyllic old style town, complete with 'town meetings' where everyone gets a chance to speak their mind, kids play in the yards, theres a blacksmith helping out a neighbor, blah blah blah. then it shows the horrible city where everything is dirty and the air and water are poison. this goes on for a bit. shows some very cool shots of an industrial town which being from a rural state i've never seen. anyways all this bombast ends up focusing on something called 'the new city' which is sort of a cross between a suburb and im not sure what. the modern highway is presented as the ultimate solution to the overcrowded industrial city. people go to these 'new cities' where the 'play is not so much different from the work' and people supposedly dont mind going to work. washing machines would free women from boring chores and they could sit around gossiping with their pals. you could walk to work (but i thought everyone would drive on the motor parkway?). nearby farms would supply all produce so it would be fresh. i have no idea what these guys were smoking. this movie proves that you dont have to be on LSD (not invented till the 40s) to be trippin'.

Help me!!

[pageiv · 1/10 · 8 May 2002]

Saw this in a poli sci class, the instructer warned us it was going to be an assult on the senses. I'm still having nightmares because of the music. Nothing but kids riding bikes for five mins. Then ten mins. of cars stopped in traffic, wait some action starts as people scarf down hotdogs. What would aliens think if they saw this??

Classic Thirties Documentary

[ebbets-field · 10/10 · 3 January 2001]

A classic piece of Depression-era advocacy for a better life through garden city planning. Much of the theory behind it is anti-urban and sentimental, but it's a wonderful period piece nonetheless. Some of the era's major talents were involved in this short. Ironically the most interesting and impressive footage shows the tough gritty urban life that these idealists wanted to do away with (probably shot in Pittsburgh.)

The City

[EdgarST · 8/10 · 23 October 2014]

Before Godfrey Reggio's "Koyaanisqatsi", there was "The City", and before Philip Glass composed his famous chant and music for Reggio's film, Aaron Copland wrote his seminal score for this medium-length documentary, which allegedly had an influence in Hollywood scoring. Although I could not help associating both films in my mind, as I watched "The City", of course there are differences. While Reggio concentrated on making an audiovisual statement of "life out of balance" in the United States, the makers of "The City" proposed a "solution" (according to the American Institute of Planners, I believe) to life in general, and to family in specific, with commentaries that were sparse, but emphatic in their "didactic" tone. One of the main problems of this work is that there is no hint of the multiracial conformation of the United States: as it is, it should be called "The Caucasian City". On the other hand it is too simplistic in its analysis of the distortion of life, the deterioration of quality of life in the city. It seems it just "happens", with no reflection on the social and economic reasons, with no consideration of many men's greed, if they did not want to openly talk about politics, power struggle, unfair distribution of natural wealth and hoarders. It proposes a way out of unbalanced life, but it takes more than what the filmmakers say, to achieve such state of "bliss" (a little boring to my taste, I must say, but quite comfortable). As for Reggio compared to Copland, both their works had an impact, but in different stages of the evolution of modern music, and contemporary film scoring. All this said, I feel "The City" is an outstanding audiovisual work, as attractive and important as, say, any of Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda films. There is propaganda in "The City" too, but that does not make it less effective. It shows a way of thinking, at least of a fraction of the United States society, and it comes as no surprise that things have gotten worse since 1939. This does not make it less beautiful: images (specially the urban shots, the views of the shacks, the great buildings, the "symphony" of fumes) are remarkable. If it is just for that, watch "The City".

Landmark Documentary

[Mozjoukine · 10 July 2020]

Curious to find THE CITY evoking such antagonism eighty years after it's production.

After half a Century I had another look at it and was impressed to see the effect it had had on subsequent work including my own. The elements are impressive - the Copland score which I immediately remembered, Morris (THIEVES HIGHWAY, VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE) Carnovsky's reading of Lewis Mumford's commentary and Theodore Lawrence's editing which is a link between the Soviet montage work and Hollywood. The film was cannibalised into a Passing Parade and the Warner HUMORESQUE.

The message about substandard housing ("places where a man sent up for crime can have a better place than we can get for our children") still resonates though their solution sits uneasily with our knowledge of over population and urban planning now but it set up a dialogue with fiction films like SUNRISE, STREET OF WOMEN or LA TERRE QUI MEURT. It's not too far away from the ideal industrial community shown in MAJOR BARBARA.

This one stood out when I started watching non theatrical movies and I still enjoy watching it.