This is an impeccable time capsule and it has something to offer both film and history buffs. Watched by ethan. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City 1927. The film is an example of the 'city symphony' film genre. Sign In. 1928. Ruttman toured us in the Berlin's awakening, mid-day rest, busy afternoon life, and evening leisure. Karl Freund Screenplay. FAQ In fact, as time goes by, it picks up even greater importance because of the historical value that it holds. 1927; youtube; with morgan; with drew; the basement; ethan liked these reviews. Note: This is the hundred-and-forty-third in a series of historical/critical essays examining the best in film from each year. Reimar Kuntze Cinematographer. Have you seen this film? Berlin, symphony of a great city ; Largo from Three cinematographic scenes from the Last laugh. I have lived in Berlin for almost my entire life, which made me especially curious about this film that runs slightly over an hour. This is a world in between the two Great Wars. Sure, everyone points that out, but as someone who really loves Berlin, I would never minimize or take for granted in any way the importance of that. This film should thoroughly refute all serious possibilities of time travel as the . David Weik's rating of the film Berlin: Symphony of a Great City David Weik The critic at the time was that it is just a random bunch of little video snippets strung … It's great to see living lives in this time era. Like many a pioneer, Grierson believed that an actuality had to have a socio-political purpose and he felt that this was blunted by Ruttmann's emphasis on the activities of Berlin's citizens rather than their attitudes. Particular unaffected projection sentiments no my. Watched Sep 17, 2019. gI gI’s review published on Letterboxd: at 6min29 plastic bag in the wind (just saying) Block or Report. more interesting as history than film-making, but it has its moments, A Priceless Time Capsule of Germany's Weimar Period. | Director: Walter Ruttmann. It is very early in the morning, about 5:00 AM, and the great city is mostly quiet. Robert Baberske Cinematographer. By filming in three cities and not naming any of them, Vertov had a wider focus: His film was about The City, and The Cinema, and The Man With a Movie Camera. Trailer. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City / Die Sinfonie der Großstadt; Berlin: Symphony of a Great City / Die Sinfonie der Großstadt. Films of James Broughton: Mother's Day 0h 22m. But what else could you expect from such a puerile profiteer and morally reprehensible failed human? Watch for FREE. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City. It's certainly nice to see people from back then and how they just live and interact with each other, but honestly without my knowledge that this is Berlin, I probably would not even have thought of that. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Berlin, Symphony of a Great City (DVD, 2017) at the best online prices at eBay! Voted for by 1 critic. A train speeds through the country on its way to Berlin, then gradually slows down as it pulls into the station. This is Walter Ruttmann's classic 1927 film, Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (also called Symphony of a Great City). Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2012. Ticket holders could be admitted to the same performance on 12 November 2019 (Tue) 7:30pm with the original ticket from 11 November 2019 (Mon) 7:30pm. Much early 20th-century fascination with large machinery, lots of shots alluding to "man as cog in the machine" Leninism, etc etc etc. Do these people really look that much different from those we see on our streets every day? Block or Report. Bauer Media Group consists of: Bauer Consumer Media Ltd, Company number: 01176085, Bauer Radio Ltd, Company Number: 1394141, Registered Office: Media House, Peterborough Business Park, Lynch Wood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA H Bauer Publishing,Company Number: LP003328, Registered Office: Academic House, 24-28 Oval Road, London, NW1 7DT. This one is from almost 90 years ago, so it includes recordings exclusively from before the 2 wars. Cast & Credits. This symphony was a celebration of modernity and mechanisation and Ruttmann was keener to showcase the city in its diverse entirety than its individual citizens (whom he called his `living material'). 1927. Berlin, Die Sinfonie Der Grosstadt Produced in Germany by Fox-Europa Directed by Walter Ruttmann Scenario by Karl Freund and Walter Ruttmann Special musical score composed by Edmund Meisel. You can take a screenshot every second and all of them would be great. It is very early in the morning, about 5:00 AM, and the great city is mostly quiet. The things. . Although he acknowledged its technical virtuosity, John Grierson (who is widely credited as `the father of the documentary') criticised Walter Ruttmann's landmark film for its formalism and beauty. Play. Director Walter Ruttman's five-reel symphony begins at dawn and ends at midnight, showing Berliners at hard work by day and enjoying the city… It opens with an Eisensteinian-style montage sequence, as a train approaches the city. Highly recommended. There is no review for this diary entry. Prime Directive of any such notion has always been to go back and nip Adolf in the bud. Watch for FREE. Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis or Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (German: Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt) is a 1927 German silent film directed by Walter Ruttmann, co-written by Carl Mayer and Karl Freund.Composer Edmund Meisel was commissioned to write an orchestral score for its original release.. All of the acts is the theme of the train and streetcar. Place: Berlin. Join here. Add a review? Related Films. Director. 5.0 out of 5 starsfascinating, haunting and very well done. Roman’s review published on Letterboxd: What a city is. There is no review for this diary entry. Everything fits together to make the idea work wonderfully well. It also exerted a huge influence on Dziga-Vertov’s Man with the Movie Camera. We enter by train. VAT no 918 5617 01, H Bauer Publishing are authorised and regulated for credit broking by the FCA (Ref No. After all, the film shows a typical day in this city circa 1927--and by the end of WWII, most of it had been destroyed. Namely: footage of Berlin, its residents, and the whole spectrum of city activities during an ordinary day in 1927. Damian's rating of the film Berlin: Symphony of a Great City Damian A perfect symbiosis between sound and image, this fascinating portrait of a city and its' people during a day in the late 1920s provides the viewer with many worth-remembering impressions. Keywords: Documentary. Play. Awards The editing is decent but not all that remarkable and 60 minutes may be a bit too long, but Ruttmann did a pretty solid job bringing Berlin … Contrary to what some others have observed, I don't find this experimental film tedious at all. Documentary, Silent. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City. But (much like Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera) I found it dull to watch today. Walter Ruttmann did not make a documentary about Berlin, although 75 after date it certainly can be considered a document about a Berlin that is no more, he composed a film that tries to catch the essence of the atmosphere of a big city. Paul Von Hindenburg Himself. Saw how marianne graceful dissuade new outlived prospect followed. Marshall Cogan Purchase Fund. . Metropolis (Lang, 1927) It's artistic like showing the machinery at work. Rotten Tomatoes™ 86% 82%. A day-to-night portrait of the city that deploys kinetic editing and a graphic mode of cinematography to capture the dynamism of the modern urban environment, the film set a lasting precedent for the representation of city life in cinema. However, it certainly does have a lot of historical importance. Can you watch Berlin: Symphony of a Great City with a streaming service? It's all about the idea of a great city moving forward up-tempo but still having quite common problems of Germany's twenties poverty and exacerbation, nevertheless Berlin being one of the most fashionable cities of Europe of that particular time. It could be the overbearing score that pounds home the urban theme with a punishing tone that detracts from the film, and a kindler and gentler score could mitigate the films lack of entertainment value. Not the first city symphony, but arguably the best known, Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) enjoys the talents of some of the greatest names in German silent cinema. It makes me wonder what we're all potentially capable of. Essentially, I am watching films from the beginning of cinematic history that interest me and/or hold some critical or cultural impact. Back in the 1930s filmmaker John Grierson apparently wrote that this film `created nothing,' and that it violated the first principles of documentary by showing us nothing of importance but beautiful images. There aren't really any famous places or so to see or anything you could recognize if you know Berlin. It's about a full day and night among the dwellers and the objects of a city: the moving trains, the people shuffling by about their various concerns, and the people at jobs and things like a factory at work and phones being answered used for editing fodder. Rent/Buy. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City 1927 ★★★½ . 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." Ruttman's film is a spellbinding tour-de-force in photography, managing to dazzle the viewer with each shot. This documentary has much to answer for, since it started a trend for city-based films: in its case, being a non-narrative look at the thriving German metropolis (though there were a number made in that vein), the original impact has essentially faded with imitation – and its place in the cinematic pantheon overtaken by such classic dramas of 'ordinary people' as F.W. Watch. 505.1987. People who claim to like this film deserve to watch Man With A Camera, the Russian version of the same thing, which is equally tedious. Manhatta (1921) is usually recognized as the first city symphony or proto-city symphony, but the term itself comes from the genre’s paragon, Berlin: Symphony of the Metropolis (also translated as Symphony of a Great City, 1927), directed by Walther Ruttmann. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (23-Sep-1927) Original Title: Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt. Sep 04, 2020. To keep The Machine running. Resume. But it's not the movie's main account. Berlin: A Symphony of a Big City, Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis Release Date. 05 Apr, 2020 timrim’s review published on Letterboxd: "Observation of life in 1920s Berlin", that's how I think of this film. But it's not the movie's main account. Tags / a berlin berlin: cinema city der die diesinfoniedergroßstadt dokumentarfilm film great großstadt kino movie of ruttmann sinfonie symphony walterruttmann. Murnau's SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS (1927) and King Vidor's THE CROWD (1928). This fascinating classic never loses its ability to capture the attention and stimulate the imagination of its viewers. Our first experience in Berlin, Symphony of a City of a re-calibration these spatio-temporal co-ordinates to the tempi of flux in their urban manifestation, unsurprisingly, comes through the opening sequence of a train arriving into Anhalter Bahnhof. 62. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City. In quick succession, Ruttmann’s montage builds and sustains a tempo in keeping with the speed of the train. This is a really easy film to appreciate and it is definitely worthwhile, particularly for history buffs. ---|--- Reviews by Flak Magnet. People vs Paul Crump 1h 0m. Ruttmann focuses mainly on the city's industrial elements rather than its people, emphasizing technical progress and economic might over personal storytelling. User Ratings Every single frame is a painting. Yet this turned out to be a dismayingly optimistic prospectus, as the vitality of the Weimar era was soon dissipated and Berlin proved not to be an amorphous metropolis but a city riven by countless prejudices. At once an invaluable photographic record of life in Weimer Berlin and a timeless demonstration of the cinema's ability to enthrall on a purely visceral level, Berlin, Symphony of a Great City (Berlin, die Symphonie der Grosstadt) offers a kaleidoscopic view of a single day in the life of a bustling metropolis. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) City symphonies aspire to a higher artistic status than the travelogue. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City - The performance on 11 Nov (Mon) has been cancelled. Karl Freund Producer. I see buildings that are long gone. 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. One can understand why it might have been interesting to view back in its day. It's miraculous! Feb 14, 2020. Symphony of a Great City (Poster for the film Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt [Berlin: Symphony for a Great City], directed by Walter Ruttman). Certainly, it is priceless as documentation of the fabled Weimar era of this great city — a city that barely existed at all a couple of decades later. Walter Ruttmann’s “Berlin: Symphony of a Great City” is an important piece of non-narrative experimental cinema. It is an extraordinarily beautiful film, and its distance from us in time and in experience only emphasises that beauty. Cast. The film is a good example of the art style Neue Sachlichkeit (functionalism): it is a cross-section of Berlin's life in which every element is equally important, shown without comment and in its totality it is the expression of the joy of Berlin's life. It's amazing to see the places especially since most of them were destroyed in WWII. It's not always montage, as some might believe from its recommendations (i.e. I'd also definitely recommend watching Ruttmann's 'Lichtspiel Opus I ', an avant-garde animated movie created in 1921. Record Series. Add a review? There had been "city documentaries" earlier, showing a day in the life of a metropolis; one of the most famous was "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City" (1927). Plot Synopsis: "At once an invaluable photographic record of life in Weimer Berlin and a timeless demonstration of the cinema's ability to enthrall on a purely visceral level, Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Berlin, die Symphonie der Grosstadt) offers a kaleidoscopic view of a single day in the life of a bustling metropolis. Watched May 06, 2020. A day in the life of 1920's Berlin, Walter Ruttmann's images on screen is structured in a way showing us the great city. However, critics like Siegfried Kracauer accused Ruttmann of dehumanising those captured by his camera and censured his juxtaposition of shots of people eating with those of ravenous lions and those in phoneboxes with chattering monkeys. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt) Quotes. Priceless footage of the German capital shortly before the Nazi takeover. There are no approved quotes yet for this movie. . It became the blue print for documentary filmmaking technique, which Dziga Vertov would later use in his city symphony, “Man With a Movie Camera”. A watchable time capsule on a city on the verge of the abyss. A day in the life of the German capital that opens with sun rising and the citizens going about their business and concludes with a panoply of nocturnal activity and a spectacular firework display. Delbaran … 845898). 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. A train speeds through the country on its way to Berlin, then gradually slows down as it pulls into the station. Never seen that advanced cameraman till Citizen Kane. It portrays the life of a city, mainly through visual impressions in a semi- documentary style, without the narrative content of more mainstream films, though the sequencing of events can imply a kind of loose theme or impression of the city's daily life. Berlin: Symphony of a City (Berlin: die Sinfonie der Großstadt) (1927, Germany, 50 mins, B&W, silent). Subscribe. The technique is creative and resourceful, the photography is beautiful, and the images are memorable. And I look at the faces of these people and I always wonder what happened to them. It is not a film about the life of Berliners, it is Berlin seen as a living mechanism. Walther Ruttmann Karl Freund Walther Ruttmann (1927) Filmmaker Walther Ruttmann captures the sights and people of the German capital. Not recommended. It acts like a time machine, showing you how life was 100 years ago, with a focus on the people and their daily routine. The almost constantly static camera captures both the poverty and the affluence. External Reviews The frame when a train moves right into you and then suddenly turns away is quite impressive. Wonderful to see Berlin pre World War II. The 1920's (horses and cars!) 5.0 out of 5 starsfascinating, haunting and very well done. Related. This Is A Gee-Willikeers, Got A Camera For My Birthday And Ran All Over Town Shooting Art Deco El Garbago Thinking Im Fritz Lang..! One of the best 'slice of life' documentaries that doesn't age but keeps getting better and better. Read More. All registered in England and Wales. This is a silent era documentary showing a day in the life of Berlin starting from the morning to the late night. Master editing though it was in 1927. We compare Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video to show you the best place to stream Berlin: Symphony of a Great City. Many times the most exciting trip is right around the corner; you don't need to go to some distant place as this Herr Graf often does ( of course common people can't afford it anyway ) or travel to exotic countries to discover and enjoy new landscapes and the different customs and accents of their people. "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City" is an art film that is pretty dull. It's a working city. Lithograph. Share this page. They use camera tricks and edits to emphasise the shapes of city buildings and roads, or the movement of crowds and trains, balancing abstraction with actuality filmmaking. Trains, trams, horses, bustling crowds, spinning wheels and fairground rides, boat races, horse races, dog races, dancing and pounding machines, always we see the dynamism of a city in motion. What it takes for a city to operate. It's a Germany which still functions with its old wealth and new technology. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City / Melody of the World - 2-DVD Set ( Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt / Melodie der Welt ) ( Berlin: A Symphony of a Big City / World Melody ): Walter Ruttmann, Ivan Koval-Samborsky, Ren馥 Stobrawa, Grace Chiang, O. Idris, Heinrich Mutzenbecher, Walter Ruttmann: Amazon.com.au: Movies & TV Shows Germany, 1927. Seattle International Film Festival, David Jeffers for SIFFblog.com, Not as politically motivated as the Soviet documentaries, but an interesting document, Imaginative Homage To The German Capital City And Its Inhabitants. Classic and splendid film that is still fascinating to watch. Find out where to watch it online and stream Berlin: Symphony of a Great City with a free trial today. It's amazing to contemplate how soon this complex, sophisticated society would be consumed in the most primitive debauchery. Block this member This member is blocked; Report this review; gI liked this review. BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY (Walther Ruttmann, 1927) ***. You will see shopkeepers, businessmen, restauranteurs, policemen, soldiers, politicians; children at play and even some vagrants. During BERLIN, Mr. R. (not to be confused with that other mousy Walt starting to make waves in America, who actually patterned his facial hair after The Fuhrer) merely rips off what Russians have already brought to the Big Screen. See who voted for Berlin Symphony of a City Berlin: Symphony of a Great City rushes us into the heart of Germany's capital on a train, its rhythmic editing suggesting not only the speed of the locomotive, but the fast-paced heartbeat of the city itself. An amazing work of the 'slice of life' films of the 20s, really the main and most admirable example along with Dziga vertov's Man With the Movie Camera, to this day, the film remains an effective portrayal of the great city that Berlin was even back when the film was made. Sign In. The final act shows Berlin's night life, which is as lavish and swinging as anything in our own "Roaring 20's." Its nice to have an authentic look at the past, and some of the mechanical shots, the whimsical statue-figure shots, and the evening entertainment shots are interesting, but overall it is a massive chore to sit through. | I find it fascinating just to see what the people, clothing, uniforms, vehicles, streets, parks, restaurants, shops, theaters, nightclubs, and factories looked like in that distant time and place. A day in the life of 1920's Berlin, with arty mechanical shots, and a variety of urban experiences united by their time of day. This isn’t a film about humans per se, not even denizens of Berlin. 1927 Synopsis. It's still rather nice to see a film that documents a bygone era, even when the technical qualities of the film heavily distort the reality it tries to capture. By filming in three cities and not naming any of them, Vertov had a wider focus: His film was about The City, and The Cinema, and The Man With a … Synopsis. Berlin, Die Sinfonie Der Grosstadt. Walther Ruttman's Berlin: Symphony of a Great City is a fantastic work of art that paints a slice of daily life in the city of Berlin during the Weimar Republic in Germany. Walter Ruttmann’s classic portrait of 1920s Berlin can be enjoyed equally as reportage, social analysis or visual poem. of a Great City’ (dir. Its avant-garde director Walter Ruttmann , known for his experimentation with animation and abstraction, screenwriter Carl Mayer and cinematographer Karl Freund all share credits for the screenplay. This is painfully dull to watch, and has no continuity in terms of story line or characters. Overview; Credits; Film Details; Cast & Crew. It shows people and places in their day to day existence. 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. | 60min. . Berlin Symphony of a Great City. Benita Massignani’s review published on Letterboxd: "Gaan we da helemaal uit kijken" - snelle beeldcultuur van mijn klasgenoten. Music was very good, making the silent pace well. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City 1927. There’s an element of scripted reality to a couple of moments involving people captured reading on the Underground or relaxing in a park. Between the violence of movement and ennui of stasis , a masterpiece unfolds. The end result – bafflingly split into five unnamed acts, thus boasting no specific characteristic to differentiate them! Program Notes: How can we watch a film like Berlin Symphony of a Great City? This is Walter Ruttmann's classic 1927 film, Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (also called Symphony of a Great City). Metacritic Reviews. Walter Ruttmann, 1927 1h 2m. Yet, Ruttmann always prioritised the film's aesthetics and vouched that it was more about the kinetic interplay of surfaces, shapes and rhythms than politics. Its atmosphere was created by excellent cameraman work. This is also why this documentary does not have half the charm I wished it would have. Walter Ruttmann’s Berlin: Sypmphony of a Great City is a terrific piece of eye candy and a fascinating documentary window into Weimar-era Berlin. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City 1927 ★★★½ . Create . Overview; Credits; Film Details; Cast & Crew. However, Grierson seems to have misunderstood the underlying message of this hugely influential avant-garde impression of everyday Berlin, as Ruttmann always protested that he was less intent on highlighting the differences between the classes at work, rest and play than in extolling what united them and how the city's prosperity was dependent upon this continued collaboration. BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY (1927) — Walter Ruttmann. Directed by. Neon flowers blossoming on the gates of the future. REVIEWS. 1927 Synopsis. His vision is closer to Atget, with multiple references to him too. Make social videos in an instant: use custom templates to tell the right story for your business. The devices. It's like Koyaanisqatsi of 20s! Berlin Symphony of a Great City –QX. Movie & TV guides. Berlin, die Sinfonie der Großstadt & Melodie der Welt / Berlin, Symphony of a Great City & Melody of the World (DVD) Be the first to review this product £25.99 Walther Ruttman’s impressionistic vision of Berlin stands as one of the great “city symphonies” of the silent era. 41 x 27 1/4" (104 x 69 cm). Buy. [Timothy Brock; David Beck, (Cellist); Olympia Chamber Orchestra.] Jackson is using Letterboxd to share film reviews and lists with friends. 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. | This classic German documentary is a valentine to the "new" Berlin of the late 1920s, enjoying a renaissance after the dregs of the Depression. Submit your review for this film: Do you know something we don't? . Looking at it more than 70 years after its creation, however, its documentary value seems evident to me, at least. Berlin: Symphony of a City (Berlin: die Sinfonie der Großstadt) (1927, Germany, 50 mins, B&W, silent). The people. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City 1927. `Berlin, Symphony of a Great City' is a film I've watched over and over with fascination. Ruttman offers a necessary counterpoint to Vertov, where instead of the city becoming dissolved in the kino-eye, Ruttman offers a more kaleidoscopic view of the city, instead of city as a tool of ideological expression (which, too is unprecedented by all means). It's miraculous! more. A documentary of the great city of Berlin, post the Great War but pre the coming to power of the Nazis. Upon its arrival in Berlin's Union Station, the city is remarkably desolate. Walther Ruttman's Berlin: Symphony of a Great City is a fantastic work of art that paints a slice of daily life in the city of Berlin during the Weimar Republic in Germany. Awesome! Since it is more than eighty years old, one possibility is to view it as an historical document and to look to it for insights into Weimar Berlin in the late 1920s. The Greatest Films of All Time 2012. Awesome! shots of dogs fighting, footage of beggars, litter, an arrest, etc. Unfortunately, I did not really make a connection with Ruttmann's work here. At the time of its release in 1927, Berlin: Symphony of a Great City was in essence an advert and pictorial pat on the back for one of Western Civilisation’s most accomplished metropolises, a city that was a living testament to High Romantic architecture and utopian city planning. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City. Berlin: Symphony Of A Great City a.k.a. Berlin was truly a world city at this time, and it was extremely interesting to see everything in the Weimar's Golden period, before Hitler and the destruction that followed. Read the Empire Movie review of Berlin: Symphony Of A Great City . Reviews: Berlin, Symphony of a Great City. Walter Ruttmann's documentary love letter to the German capital, shows the city from the morning proletariat on their way to work, to the decadent bourgeois night of Wiemar Republic, 1920's high living opulence. "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City" is an art film that is pretty dull. I think it's true that it is not so much about the people of Berlin, although we see many of them, but the city itself as a huge living, breathing organism. "Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt" or "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City" is not only evidence of the fact that "Großstadt" was once written with 2 s, but it is also a black-and-white silent film documentary about Germany's capital. Koyannasquati), as the director Walter Ruttmann is making documentary as much as city-scape. Soon the new day is well underway. At once an invaluable photographic record of life in Weimer Berlin and a timeless demonstration of cinema's ability to enthrall, Berlin, Symphony of a Great City offers a kaleidoscopic view of a single day in a bustling 1920s metropolis. The economic crash has yet to happen. Scanned from 16mm elements and featuring a score by composer Timothy Brock as performed by the Olympia Chamber Orchestra. Also Known As. Films of James Broughton: Scattered Remains 0h 12m. ), only to gracefully recede as the film reaches its closing. Walter Ruttmann. Walter Ruttmann) 1927, de Deutsche Vereins‐Film. Start Shopping. Writers: Karl Freund; Carl Mayer; Walter Ruttmann. Rating: 5/5 Review: Like nowhere else, we’re able to pinpoint the transition from German Expressionism to the era of New Objectivity. Berlin: Symphony of a City (Berlin: die Sinfonie der Großstadt) (1927, Germany, 50 mins, B&W, silent). Rent. It's a great time capsule and a terrific movie by itself. Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2012. These might once have been laughed off as clumsily comic attempts at associational montage, but, as Ruttmann went on to become a prominent Nazi propagandist, their significance takes on a chilling new meaning. 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