Leo Hurwitz

A magnificent city symphony, regarding the activity in and around New York City’s waterfront.

This copy comes from the website of the George Eastman House and has a watermark. They describe it thusly:

Quote:
A voyage of discovery among familiar things: the images and sounds of New York Harbor. This film-poem explores the edge of the shoreline, where man and nature persistently confront one another. In the words of critic, Faubion Bowers, “It is the most haunting film I have ever seen. The film’s poetry is utterly visual – such wonder at the ordinary, such mastery of the natural.” The film was made by Leo Hurwitz and still photographer, Charles Pratt.Read More »

This is a rather remarkable documentary made by left-wing filmmaker Leo Hurwitz and his wife, Peggy Lawson. This copy was made available on the Eastman Museum website.

Here’s how Hurwitz’s official website describes the film:
The result of a commission from Film Polski, the Polish Film Production Agency, to make a film on the concentration camps, The Museum and the Fury was made with access to the Film Polski archive, out of which Hurwitz integrated wartime footage with images of the reconstruction of Poland and various works of art.Read More »

Synopsis:
“Strange Victory” is about racial bias in post World War II America. Folowing “Native Land” in Leo Hurwitz’ filmography, it uses some of the same techniques: dramatized scenes interspersed with scenes of compilation news reel footage, and scenes of evocative imagery. An epilogue about the civil rights movement, added in 1964 makes the arc of the film more complete.Read More »

The late filmmaker Leo Hurwitz created this documentary tribute to his deceased wife Peggy Lawson by mixing both actual footage of historical events, clips from his own films, and personal remembrances of her life. Lawson was a partner in Hurwitz’s cinematic endeavors and shared his commitment to political and social change. Hurwitz brings up images from the Great Depression, from the persecution of union organizers and laborers in the 1930s, through his blacklisting in the ’50s, and the demonstrations against the Vietnam War in the following decade. These years of turbulence are contrasted with scenes from nature, images of Lawson, and attempts to convey what she meant to him. These two aspects — private and public — are woven together to form the main theme of this very personal documentary, winner of an International Film Critics prize. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie GuideRead More »

Quote:
Paul Robeson narrates a mix of dramatizations and archival footage about the bill of rights being under attack during the 1930s by union busting corporations, their spies and contractors. In dramatizations, we see a Michigan farmer beaten for speaking up at a meeting, a union man murdered in an apartment in Cleveland, two sharecroppers near Fort Smith Arkansas shot by men deputized by the local sheriff, a spy stealing the names of union members, and a dead Chicago union man eulogized. In archival footage we witness police and goons beating lawfully assembled union organizers, and we see men at work and union families at play. The narration celebrates patriotism and democracy.Read More »