National Film Registry
Official Selection
Welcome to Fandor. Watch thousands of award-winning films online.
×
Manhatta1921
Sorry. This film is not currently available.
Photographic artists Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler are the cinematographers of this visualization of Walt Whitman's poetry about New York City. Like many of the avant-garde works of the time, the film prefers to look at cities as abstractions of line, form and movement. A vignette of the Staten Island ferry docking in Manhattan looks like a whale that swallowed and disgorged a million undifferentiated Jonahs. Abandoning human intercourse for the interaction of machine with machine, Strand and Sheeler show the mammoth ocean liner RMS Aquitania being pushed to dock by a line of tugboats. Rejecting the boosterism that often accompanies progress, the film score is industrial, mournful and urban, with a slightly jazzy sound to evoke the city that is its subject. Clearly an influence on Robert Flaherty’s THE TWENTY-FOUR DOLLAR ISLAND, made in 1927, this is essential viewing for those interested in the avant-garde movement of the 1920s. - Marilyn Ferdinand
Poster & Images
Member Reviews (5)
top reviewer
I've always loved Paul Strand's photographs, and this short film is also wonderful. I've just watched it a few times in a row and I notice different things every time.
A solid reminder that nothing of worth has been produced from this over-rated city in decades.
Beautiful.
Interesting city symphony. Makes sense that it was directed by two photographers.
that was cool. it wasn't that good. it was nice seeing new york.