Berlin: Sinfonie der Großstadt (4 Stars)

A film like this is difficult to rate. Normally I rate films by comparing them with other films in the same genre, but in this case I have nothing to compare it with.

The film was made in 1927 and shows a day in the life of Berlin, the capital of Germany. After arriving in Berlin by train it begins with the working class going to the factories, then continues with the middle class going to their offices. We see the contrast between rich and poor, although the director Walther Ruttmann concentrates on the rich. He wants to show affluence and the hope of a bright new future. He tries to dazzle the viewers with images of new inventions like printing presses, telephones and typewriters. We also see sports and the arts in the city. There's even gratuitous nudity when we see a chorus girl getting changed to go on stage.

I wasn't blind to Mr. Ruttmann's subtle stab at religion. Only one church is shown in the city, and we only see one person entering it, an old woman. There's no place for the church in New Berlin, is there?

Even though the American release of this film, "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City", calls it a documentary, I won't give it a documentary tag. The suicide scene was obviously staged. I don't say this as a criticism, I'm just saying that the film doesn't give a purely factual picture of Berlin.

As someone who knows Berlin I would have welcomed a commentary track in which someone tells us where the places are that are being shown. I recognised only a few places. The Kurfürstendamm was the only street I recognised by sight, and in a few other scenes there were street signs that helped me. Maybe a historian could provide a commentary for the next DVD release.