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The City

  • 1939
  • 43m
IMDb RATING
5.9/10
357
YOUR RATING
The City (1939)
DocumentaryShort

A prescient documentary about city planning, which presents idyllic suburbs and nuclear families as a solution to the chaos, poverty and social decay of industrialized inner cities.A prescient documentary about city planning, which presents idyllic suburbs and nuclear families as a solution to the chaos, poverty and social decay of industrialized inner cities.A prescient documentary about city planning, which presents idyllic suburbs and nuclear families as a solution to the chaos, poverty and social decay of industrialized inner cities.

  • Directors
    • Ralph Steiner
    • Willard Van Dyke
  • Writers
    • Pare Lorentz
    • Henwar Rodakiewicz
    • Lewis Mumford
  • Star
    • Morris Carnovsky
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    5.9/10
    357
    YOUR RATING
    • Directors
      • Ralph Steiner
      • Willard Van Dyke
    • Writers
      • Pare Lorentz
      • Henwar Rodakiewicz
      • Lewis Mumford
    • Star
      • Morris Carnovsky
    • 8User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win

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    Top cast

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    Morris Carnovsky
    Morris Carnovsky
    • Narrator
    • (voice)
    • Directors
      • Ralph Steiner
      • Willard Van Dyke
    • Writers
      • Pare Lorentz
      • Henwar Rodakiewicz
      • Lewis Mumford
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      This film was made to be shown at the 1939 New York World's Fair. It was screened at the Little Theatre in the Science and Education Building.
    • Connections
      Edited into This Is Tomorrow (1943)

    User reviews8

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Landmark Documentary
    Curious to find THE CITY evoking such antagonism eighty years after it's production.

    After half a Century I had another look at it and was impressed to see the effect it had had on subsequent work including my own. The elements are impressive - the Copland score which I immediately remembered, Morris (THIEVES HIGHWAY, VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE) Carnovsky's reading of Lewis Mumford's commentary and Theodore Lawrence's editing which is a link between the Soviet montage work and Hollywood. The film was cannibalised into a Passing Parade and the Warner HUMORESQUE.

    The message about substandard housing ("places where a man sent up for crime can have a better place than we can get for our children") still resonates though their solution sits uneasily with our knowledge of over population and urban planning now but it set up a dialogue with fiction films like SUNRISE, STREET OF WOMEN or LA TERRE QUI MEURT. It's not too far away from the ideal industrial community shown in MAJOR BARBARA.

    This one stood out when I started watching non theatrical movies and I still enjoy watching it.
    helpful•0
    0
    • Mozjoukine
    • Jul 10, 2020

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • May 26, 1939 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Filming locations
      • New Jersey, USA
    • Production companies
      • American Documentary Films Inc.
      • American Institute of Planners
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      43 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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