Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt (1927)

Director:

Walter Ruttmann

Writers:

Karl Freund (screenplay)
Carl Mayer (idea)
(more)

Release Date:

13 May 1928 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

This movie shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night.

Plot Keywords:

Train | Avant Garde | Night Life | Building | Pre War

Cast

Paul von Hindenburg

...

Himself (uncredited)

Directed by
Walter Ruttmann		(as Walther Ruttmann)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Karl Freund		screenplay
Carl Mayer		idea
Walter Ruttmann		screenplay

Original Music by
Edmund Meisel		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Robert Baberske
Reimar Kuntze
László Schäffer		(as Laszlo Schäffer)
Karl Freund		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Walter Ruttmann		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Erich Kettelhut		(uncredited)

Production Companies

• Deutsche Vereins-Film
• Les Productions Fox Europa

Distributors

• Fox Film Corporation (1928) (USA) (theatrical)
• Divisa Home Video (2002-????) (Spain) (DVD)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Edition Filmmuseum (2008) (worldwide) (DVD)
• Kino Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Movies Unlimited (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Berlin: A Symphony of a Big City (International: English title) (informal literal title)
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (USA)
Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (USA)
A Sinfonia de Uma Capital (Portugal) (informal title) [pt]
Berlín, sinfonía de una ciudad (Spain) [es]
Berliini - Suurkaupungin sinfonia (Finland) (TV title) [fi]
Berlim - Sinfonia da Metrópole (Brazil) [pt]
Berlin - symfonia wielkiego miasta (Poland) [pl]
Berlin, symphonie d'une grande ville (France) [fr]
Berlino - sinfonia di una grande città (Italy) [it]
Verolinon i i symfonia mias megaloupoleos (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

65 min | Finland:79 min

Country:

Germany

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Deutsche Vereins-Film

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hungerford: Symphony of a London Bridge (2009)

Incredible historical document of a lost city.

Berlin, Symphony of a City is a remarkable historical document of the mighty city before its Wagnerian capitulation within less than twenty years of its filming. Along with Paris, Berlin was the epicenter of a Europe emerging from World War 1 into the Roaring Twenties and director Walter Ruttman for the most part captures the energy and pace of the 20th century metropolis.

Moving from morning to night Symphony emphasizes the cities industrial muscle but also divides evenly portraits of the have and have nots of Berlin, the grime as well as the glitter. It is a city on the move and move it does from the crowded sidewalks to the congested avenues and its varied populace . It is in the faces of these Berliners that the film holds its greatest fascination for me watching children playing and youth sporting events with the knowledge that most of them will be of draft age for the oncoming conflagration that will reduce this city to rubble.

The documentary does have problems with some scenes clearly staged (in one case a suicide filmed in close-up) and a roller coaster scene is overlong but overall when put into historical context this is a valuable visual document of a city that is extinct as Atlantis.