Charles Sheeler & Paul Strand – Manhatta (1921)
Quote:
Morning reveals New York harbor, the wharves, the Brooklyn Bridge. A ferry boat docks, disgorging its huddled mass. People move briskly along Wall St. or stroll more languorously through a cemetery. Ranks of skyscrapers extrude columns of smoke and steam. In plain view. Or framed, as through a balustrade. A crane promotes the city’s upward progress, as an ironworker balances on a high beam. A locomotive in a railway yard prepares to depart, while an arriving ocean liner jostles with attentive tugboats. Fading sunlight is reflected in the waters of the harbor… The imagery is interspersed with quotations from Walt Whitman, who is left unnamed.
Quote:
I visual ode to the city that never sleeps. In Manhatta, the vertical landscapes framed by the countless buildings, the machinery and the electrical wires create a poetic and thoughtful look at one of the biggest creations of mankind. The industrialisation is captured by the way the people look lost in this world of concrete and metal they have created themselves. Humans and machines are tightly intertwined, but the immensity of the city swallows its habitants, devouring every touch of individuality. The emphasis on the textures of water, steam, rust and dirt reminds us of the humanity peaking through this sea of modernity. This “city film” is a visual poem dedicated to the colossal and mesmerizing New York, while commenting on the questionnable impact modernity has had on humanity.
Manhatta (1921, Charles Sheeler & Paul Strand) [576p].mkv
General
Container: Matroska
Runtime: 10 min 46 s
Size: 207 MiB
Video
Codec: x264
Resolution: 752x576
Aspect ratio: 4:3
Frame rate: 16.000 fps
Bit rate: 2 681 kb/s
BPP: 0.387
Audio
Language(s):None
Subtitles:None
Another film selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress of the United States.
It is considered by the MoMa to be the first American avant-garde film.
Thank you so much for another gem!