''The City'' is a pioneering short

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

from 1939 that contrasts the problems of the contemporary urban environment with the superior social and physical conditions that can be provided in a planned community. It was directed and photographed by

Ralph Steiner Ralph Steiner (February 8, 1899 – July 13, 1986) was an American photographer, pioneer documentarian and a key figure among avant-garde filmmakers in the 1930s. Photographer Born in Cleveland, Steiner studied chemistry at Dartmouth, but in ...

and

Willard Van Dyke Willard Van Dyke (December 5, 1906 – January 23, 1986) was an American filmmaker, photographer, arts administrator, teacher, and former director of the film department at the Museum of Modern Art.http://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives/6278/rel ...

based on a treatment by

Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a w ...

, which was in turn based on an outline by Pare Lorentz.

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

wrote the musical score, and

Morris Carnovsky Morris Carnovsky (September 5, 1897 – September 1, 1992) was an American stage and film actor. He was one of the founders of the Group Theatre (1931-1940) in New York City and had a thriving acting career both on Broadway and in films un ...

provided the narration.

Summary

The film follows a historical sequence and uses the following locations: #In the Beginning – New England (a rural 18th-century community) #The Industrial city (Pittsburgh) #The Metropolis – Men into Steel (Manhattan) #The Highway – The Endless City (Sunday traffic congestion in New York and New Jersey) #The Green City (Greenbelt, Maryland, and Radburn, New Jersey)

Greenbelt, Maryland Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,921. Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental and controversial New D ...

, had been constructed a few years earlier as a New Deal project. Length: 43 minutes and 43 seconds

Production

The film was the idea of

Catherine Bauer Catherine Krouse Bauer Wurster (May 11, 1905 – November 21, 1964) was an American public housing advocate and educator of city planners and urban planners. A leading member of the "housers," a group of planners who advocated affordable housi ...

, an urban planner and public housing advocate. It was produced for the American Institute of Planners (predecessor of the APA) to be shown at the 1939 New York World's Fair as part of the "City of Tomorrow" exhibit. Bauer's original idea was to commission a full-scale mini-neighborhood on a site to showcase innovative housing design and community planning. This was to be done in conjunction with MoMA. When the plan was dropped for lack of time and resources, Bauer came up with the idea of the film. Robert Kohn agreed and commissioned it. At the end of 1937, Henwar Rodakiewicz moved to New York to assist Steiner in the production, including participating in writing and editing.

Soundtrack

The score, for narrator and orchestra, was written by

and conducted by

Max Goberman Max Goberman (8 February 191131 December 1962) was an American conductor. He conducted ballets, Broadway musicals (including the original productions of Leonard Bernstein's '' On the Town'' and ''West Side Story''), and the classical repertoire. ...

. The narrator was the New York stage and Hollywood film actor

. Writing in the '' New York Times '' in 2000,

Anthony Tommasini Anthony Carl Tommasini (born April 14, 1948) is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Described as "a discerning critic, whose taste, knowledge and judgment have made him a must-read", Tommasini was the chief ...

described the score as "by turns beguiling and trenchant." In ''The Los Angeles Times'',

Mark Swed Mark Swed (born ) is an American music critic who specializes in classical music. Since 1996 he has been the chief classical music critic of the ''Los Angeles Times'' where his writings have made him a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Pri ...

has called ''The Citys score "an astonishing missing link not only in the genesis of Copland’s Americana style but in American music and cinema." The complete musical score, without narration, was recorded by the PostClassical Ensemble and was issued on CD in 2022.Horowitz, Joseph. Notes to ''Two Classic Political Film Scores'', Naxos CD 8.574350 (2022)
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Legacy

The film was well received when shown at the fair. One study of the fair summarized the film's reception: In 1998, ''The City'' was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The planned community envisioned in the film— with its attention to scale and shared green space—is sometimes confused by later viewers as representative of suburban development, which was not envisioned when the film was made.

References

External links

*''The City'' essay by Kyle Westphal on the National Film Registry web site

*''The City'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 288-29

* *''The City'' in the

Prelinger Archives The Prelinger Archives is a collection of films relating to U.S. cultural history, the evolution of the American landscape, everyday life, and social history. It was in New York City from 1982 to 2002 and is now in San Francisco. History The ...