The City

Description: An indictment of unplanned city growth and uncontrolled expansion of industry, this is one of America’s best documentary films, famous for its “eating sequence”. The film has three distinct sections: first, the early pastoral life of the American colonies; the chaotic and industrialised metropolis, the sprawling contrasting city, the dirt, poverty, ill health and despair of the victims of the industrial city’s haphazard growth; the necessity for planned city growth. Based on Lewis Mumford’s book, “The Culture of Cities”, this film owes much of its punch to the editing of well-chosen details, excellently photographed, enabling the film to argue visually.