Other noted examples of the genre include Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand's Manhatta (1921), Alberto Cavalcanti's Rien que les heures (1926), Andre Sauvage's Etudes sur Paris (1928), Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Adalberto Kemeny's São Paulo, Sinfonia da Metrópole (1929)[2] and Alexandr Hackenschmied's Bezúčelná procházka (1930).
These films were conceived of in the mid to late 1920s among the "artistic" writers and filmmakers as an avant-garde, "new style" of film-making that evolved from a script-free open narrative form, seeking to present a less cluttered view of the world, free from a clear story or rigid structure.
Critics, however, have suggested that either Ruttmann avoided a strong position, or that he pursued his aesthetic interests to the extent that they diminished the potential for political content.
At times, a sort of non-narrative commentary can be implied, as in edits that juxtapose workers entering a factory with cattle being beaten and driven into a corral.
Railroad crossing gates are lowered, and a train travels down the tracks and proceeds into the city, ending at the Anhalter Bahnhof with a graphic of the "Berlin" sign approaching.
At first, only objects are seen, such as a bit of paper blowing through an empty street, but soon a few people arise, then more are about, and the activity builds to crowds of workers going to work, pedestrians, busy streetcars, trains etc.
The second act shows more of the general life of the city, beginning with the opening of gates, shutters, windows, doors, people busy cleaning, fruit carts, children going to school.
Keys on keyboards spiral around one another, and a montage of a spinning hypnotist's wheel, monkeys biting one another, telephone operators, machinery, and dogs fighting is mixed into the general busy work of the office, building quickly to a crescendo... phone receivers hang up.
There are many crowds, a father and bride arriving at a wedding, some flirtation between people on the street, a coffin on a hearse seen through the windows of a streetcar, a diplomat arrives at a ministry, the Reich President is saluted by police, a conservative students' organization is marching with banners, an angry protester lectures a crowd, there are a few glimpses of racial minorities, many workers, and much chaotic activity.
Some poignant transitions intercut a wealthy diner with a lion feeding on meat from a bone, and hungry street kids embracing their mother clothed in rags sitting out on the steps.
Finally, a demanding diner in a café taps his spoon on a sugar bowl, and it awakens the city again, as the animals rise, then factory machinery starts up, and workers return to work.
[7] The Berlin-based electronic duo Tronthaim have performed their new audio dubbing to the film at numerous European cultural festivals, including "Notti d’Estate" in Florence and at the "Salon du livre" in Paris.
[8] The film was re-scored by DJ Spooky at The Tate Modern in 2006 as one of the first performances of the museum to focus on live, large scale experimental cinema using the Turbine Hall.