Country: United States
Also known as: Mannahatta (USA -
alternative spelling)
New York the Magnificent (USA -
alternative title)
Runtime: 11 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Harbor | Tugboat |
Bridge | Skyscraper | Ferry | Ocean
Liner | New York Skyline | New York City
Genres: Documentary | Short
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.
Here's the beginning of the city
symphony film, which would include 'Berlin: Symphony of a City' (1927) and 'The
Man with a Movie Camera' (1929). Although 'Manhatta' doesn't contain the rapid
rhythmic montage of some of the later city symphonies, it does have a sort of
slower, poetic rhythm to it. It's discernible from a travelogue in that it has
something to say about its city, other than it's a nice place to visit. The
steady progression of images interloped with poetic intertitles taken from Walt
Whitman produce the rhythm.
From the still photographer Paul
Strand and the painter and still photographer Charles Sheeler, their view of
Manhattan is, of course, modern. The shots are of skyscrapers and the
inter-workings of the city. One is Strand's 1915 still photograph "Wall
Street" come to motion. The composition, camera placement and observation
of light and shadow are striking throughout the short film, and they are
reflective of the work by the filmmakers in other media. Sheeler and Strand had
already transplanted modern, abstract and formal ideas from painting into still
photography and with 'Manhatta' they similarly redirected film.
Trivia
The poet whose works are quoted
during the film is Walt Whitman.
Connections
Featured in The Secret Life of
Sergei Eisenstein (1987)
