Berlin, Symphony of a Great City

Berlin, Symphony of a Great City
by Walter Ruttmann

Berlin, Symphony of a Great City
Our Price: $29.98
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.95 (click here)
Category: VHS Video
See more movie releases


(Click here)
Buy this VHS video movie at online store in your country
Canada

VHS Tape Cover Information

Actor: Paul von Hindenburg
Director: Walter Ruttmann
Cinematographer: Karl Freund
Writer: Karl Freund
Cinematographer: L?szl? Sch?ffer
Cinematographer: Reimar Kuntze
Cinematographer: Robert Baberske
Editor: Walter Ruttmann
Writer: Walter Ruttmann
Writer: Carl Mayer
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, NTSC
Running Time: 65 minutes
Release Date: 1998-11-11
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Kino Video
Studio: Kino Video

VHS Movie Reviews of Berlin, Symphony of a Great City

Movie Review: A day in the life of a great city
Summary: 4 Stars

An experimental film in its day, and still today, BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY is presented as one day in the life of the city--Berlin, in 1929. In fact, the footage was taken over a longer period of time, and evidence of every season of the year is seen in the film's "movements." Less interested in story-telling than in matching shapes and shades to create a unified portrait of the city, Walter Ruttman assembles his images according to the rhythms of the day, beginning with a train arrival in Berlin, following with dawn and the start of the work day, the midday break, afternoon work, after-work recreation, and nightlife. The film is characterized by occasional social comment and ironic juxtapositions, some of which are all the more poignant to modern viewers, who know what Berlin would become in the years that followed. Absorbing viewing--a frozen moment in time, and a portrait of a relatively calm Germany in the lull between two catastrophic storms.

Summary of Berlin, Symphony of a Great City

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

Art House & International VHS Video

VHS Video Movies
Movies most talked about in Essential Documentary Film and Direct Cinema
Berkeley in the Sixties ImageBerkeley in the Sixties
First Run Features; Release date: 1999-11-16; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $29.95
Dark Days (Homelessness Documentary) ImageDark Days (Homelessness Documentary)
Palm Pictures & Wide Angel Pictures; Release date: 2001-09-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $14.98
Brother's Keeper ImageBrother's Keeper
Fox Lorber; Release date: 1997-11-11; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.33
Price in other shops: $19.98
Bob Dylan - Don't Look Back ImageBob Dylan - Don't Look Back
Docurama; Release date: 2000-01-04; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.64
Price in other shops: $19.95
The War Room (EP Version) ImageThe War Room (EP Version)
Vidmark / Trimark; Release date: 1995-10-31; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops: $9.99
Berlin, Symphony of a Great City ImageBerlin, Symphony of a Great City
Kino Video; Release date: 1998-11-11; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.98
Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie ImageHotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie
MGM (Video & DVD); Release date: 2000-07-05; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $34.99
Price in other shops: $49.99
Man With the Movie Camera ImageMan With the Movie Camera
Release date: 2002-02-26; DVD
Best price: $14.45
Price in other shops: $24.99
The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl ImageThe Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl
Release date: 2003-09-02; DVD
Best price: $19.32
Price in other shops: $29.95
The Olympiad ImageThe Olympiad
DVD
Similar VHS Movies
Nosferatu (The Ultimate Two-Disc Edition) ImageNosferatu (The Ultimate Two-Disc Edition)
Release date: 2007-11-20; DVD
Best price: $17.48
Price in other shops: $29.95
The Threepenny Opera - Criterion Collection ImageThe Threepenny Opera - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2007-09-18; DVD
Best price: $27.22
Price in other shops: $39.95
OLYMPIA -The LENI RIEFENSTAHL Archival Collection ImageOLYMPIA -The LENI RIEFENSTAHL Archival Collection
PATHFINDER HOME ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2006-06-27; DVD
Best price: $17.42
Price in other shops: $29.98
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Restored Authorized Edition) ImageThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Restored Authorized Edition)
Release date: 2002-09-24; DVD
Best price: $11.19
Price in other shops: $19.95
Metropolis (Restored Authorized Edition) ImageMetropolis (Restored Authorized Edition)
Release date: 2003-02-18; DVD
Best price: $19.79
Price in other shops: $29.95
Kino-Eye/ Three Songs Of Lenin ImageKino-Eye/ Three Songs Of Lenin
Release date: 2000-04-25; DVD
Best price: $17.17
Price in other shops: $24.99
Triumph of the Will ImageTriumph of the Will
Ryko Distribution; Release date: 2006-03-28; DVD
Best price: $18.94
Price in other shops: $34.95
Battleship Potemkin (The Ultimate Edition) (2pc) (Full B&W) ImageBattleship Potemkin (The Ultimate Edition) (2pc) (Full B&W)
Release date: 2007-10-23; DVD
Best price: $19.27
Price in other shops: $29.95
Avant Garde - Experimental Cinema of the 1920s & 1930s ImageAvant Garde - Experimental Cinema of the 1920s & 1930s
Release date: 2005-08-02; DVD
Best price: $17.89
Price in other shops: $29.95
Man With the Movie Camera ImageMan With the Movie Camera
Release date: 2002-02-26; DVD
Best price: $14.45
Price in other shops: $24.99
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners