Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) – W. Ruttmann

More interesting as an historic artefact these days than as a fully enjoyable film (methinks), Walter Ruttmann’s hour-long montage of footage recorded in Berlin circa 1927 shows ordinary rather than extraordinary people and locales (no sign of the Brandenburg Gate). Of course, it is impossible not to think of the future that will unfold for these ordinary people, with Hitler’s rise just around the bend, but there is nothing in these scenes that hints at this eventuality. Indeed, the activities of the people of Berlin, shown from 5 AM through until night, could be the activities of people in any big European city (or perhaps even New York City). At times, these activities even seemed like the activities that people do today in any big city (sitting at a café). Ruttmann’s real contribution, aside from inaugurating the city symphony film, was to create a fully dynamic piece through editing and montage (and of course shots of people in action) – for a while, I counted the shot lengths, which ranged from 2 to 10 seconds or so, trying to ascertain whether there was a calculated rhythm being employed. My conclusion was that the shots were probably directly linked to the music (by Edmund Meisel), although otherwise the film is completely silent. As far as content goes, we do see a range of activities and people, rich and poor, happy and sad, mundane and more specialised; some shots are obviously staged for the camera whereas others are not. Ruttmann plays a few tricks on the audience, engages in visual poetry and other artistic cutting, and generally mixes things up to hold the audience’s interest.