An architect and "avant-garde" painter who was involved as cinematographer in Fritz Lang's 1927 masterpiece "Metropolis", and as creator of the opening sequence of Leni Riefenstahl's controversial classic "Triumph of the Will", Ruttman made this famous "urban symphony" under the influence of the naturalistic approach of the Kammerspiel, although not completely free from the Expressionistic formulas. Ruttman starts with abstract forms that give way to his fascination with speed and train lines, but upon arriving in Berlin, he uses the landscape of the city to create a "melody of images" of people, objects, animals and daily routine.
Review of Berlin Symphony
