THE CITY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 170, 25 September 1942, Page 17

THE CITY

(Civic Films-Documentary) Most of the virtues as well as most of the faults of the documentary film are well illustrated in this interesting 30-minute production, made withthe aid of the Carnegie Corporation. It was photographed and directed by Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke, the original outline being by Pare Lorentz, with a commentary written by Lewis Mumford. The design is to show how modern cities (American particularly, but the criticism could be applied fairly generally) have grown more and more complex and less fit for full and satisfactory living and the development of human relationships. By contrast with the overcrowding, dirt, and disorder, of a metropolis, where slums cluster round factories, are shown the cleanliness, sunshine and spaciousness of a smaller, wellplanned community, where the factory is in right relation to the home. On the credit side of the film there are the sharp contrasts, the dramatic simplifications, and the emotional stimuli of words and music, cleverly co-ordinated with visual images, which are generally accepted as being necessary to effective screen propaganda. On the debit side there are the over- simplifications, the repetitions, the noisiness, and sometimes the childishness of almost any film that deliberately sets itself out to proclaim a@ message. At the same time, it will ‘be largely a matter of personal opinion, or even of intellectual bias, where the line between debits and credits will be mesg copy of "The oF was sent by the Corporation New York to the New Gealand Council for Educational Reseatch, on the understanding that it would be made available free of charge to interested organisations throughout New Zealand. Anyone wishing to borrow the film should write to the Director, New Zealand Council for Educational Research, Southern Cross Brandon .Street, Wellington,