Nothing But Time (1926)

The life of a great city (Paris) from dawn until dusk, including the beautiful and the ragged, the rich and the poor, with little or no comment (intertitles) from the director, Cavalcanti (whose first film this was).

Director:

Alberto Cavalcanti

Stars:

Blanche Bernis, Nina Chousvalowa, Philippe Hériat

Cast

Credited cast:
Blanche Bernis
Nina Chousvalowa
Philippe Hériat
Clifford McLaglen

Storyline

A city: we know it's Paris by its monuments, but it could be anywhere; the lives of the poor are the same. We see a streetwalker, a woman who sells newspapers, a sailor, a landlady, an old woman, a shop keeper, and another man. The camera shows us derelicts and the unemployed. As the clock moves, people arrive for work, shops and restaurants open, butchers carry animal carcasses. After work, it's time for pleasure and relaxation, but after midnight, danger waits. So does possibility.

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Plot Keywords:

clock | time | avant garde | experimental film | symphonic film | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: The Golden Age of World Cinema (2011)

User Reviews

Strange, poetic and beautiful

At times rather slow and yet all the time it gives you details of a time forgotten and lost, when there were no washing machines, no computers, television, the streets were quieter, and life was a little bit slower... My goodness have we lost a lot. The copy I saw had no music whatever, and I'm not sure if that was intentional. But it was lovely, as if it were made to be sent into outer space for people of another world to see what life is like on Earth. Maybe it was meant for us modern day people, for whom life has become like meat on a hotplate, so we can see what life was like in a time when, even if it was still difficult (for when is life ever easy?), it wasn't so destructive to our inner lives. As you can't seem to be able to get a copy of this anywhere, I'd try scouring libraries for it.

Details

Country:

France

Language:

None

Release Date:

1926 (France)

Also Known As:

Nothing But the Hours

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1