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Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

Original title: Berlin - Die Sinfonie der Großstadt
  • 1927
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 5m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
4.6K
YOUR RATING
Edmund Meisel and Walter Ruttmann in Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
Documentary

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

  • Director
    • Walter Ruttmann
  • Writers
    • Carl Mayer
    • Walter Ruttmann
    • Karl Freund
  • Star
    • Paul von Hindenburg
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.6/10
    4.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Walter Ruttmann
    • Writers
      • Carl Mayer
      • Walter Ruttmann
      • Karl Freund
    • Star
      • Paul von Hindenburg
    • 29User reviews
    • 24Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination

    Photos24

    Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
    Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
    Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
    Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
    Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
    Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
    Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
    Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
    Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
    Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
    Vladimir Stenberg and Georgii Stenberg in Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
    Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Paul von Hindenburg
    • Self
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Walter Ruttmann
    • Writers
      • Carl Mayer
      • Walter Ruttmann
      • Karl Freund
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The shooting was done over 18 months though the resulting feature gives the impression of just one day in the city.
    • Connections
      Featured in Lulu in Berlin (1984)

    User reviews29

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Neon flowers blossoming on the gates of the future
    Place: Berlin. Span: one day in the life of the city circa 1927 captured by the camera. We enter by train.

    One way to watch this, the most obvious I guess, is as a historic document, a snapshot of life as it was once. The old world just barely impregnated with faint traces of an archaic modernity; street cars, neon signs, busy streets, things we have now but were then just beginning to greet people. So with this mindset, as a museum piece that depicts an old version of our world.

    This is fine, but I urge you to engage it differently if you can.

    What if instead of merely observing exhibits from behind a glass panel, we get out from the museum into actual life? Instead of settling in for this as a historic - meaning dead, embalmed, academic - glimpse, we invigorate it with life that we know, with sunlight, texture, sound, breath that was then as real as it is now? How would it be in absolute stillness to feel present in the middle of a modern life?

    This is how the film was intended after all, it's plainly revealed this way. Not a fossil for generations of curious tourists from the future, but a celebration of life 'now', modern, busy life out the window.

    So no longer an old world that faintly reminds us of our own, but a new world, exciting, alluring, mysterious, alive with myriad possibilities. New things everywhere, novel pathways to travel, environments to experience. What I mean is, try to see the city as though you just got off the train and were visiting for the first time. It ends with the camera spinning around a flashing neon sign cut to match with fireworks erupting in the night sky.

    I urge you to inhabit this, settle for nothing less. Let its neon flowers blossom in you.
    helpful•5
    1
    • chaos-rampant
    • Oct 4, 2011

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • May 13, 1928 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • Germany
    • Language
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis
    • Filming locations
      • Hotel Excelsior, Kruezberg, Berlin, Germany(destroyed by Allied bombing April 1945)
    • Production companies
      • Les Productions Fox Europa
      • Deutsche Vereins-Film
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 5 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Silent
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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