''Rhapsody in Two Languages'' is a Canadian short documentary film, directed by Gordon Sparling and released in 1934."Rhapsody in Two Languages"
'' Canadian Film Encyclopedia''. The most famous film in the Canadian Cameo Series of short documentaries, the film is a portrait of life in the bilingual and bicultural city of Montreal during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

era.Blaine Allan
"Rhapsody in Two Languages and One Depression"
''

Journal of Canadian Studies The ''Journal of Canadian Studies'' () is a bilingual peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the Canadian studies, interdisciplinary study of Canada. It is published three times a year by the University of Toronto Press. Abstracting and inde ...

'', Vol. 27 Iss. 4 (Winter 1992-93). pp. 153-168. Considered a

city symphony A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

film, it is set predominantly to a musical score by composer Howard Fogg, although it features small snippets of narration by Corey Thomson.

Content and main themes

Following the introduction to the film, the opening sequence of milk receival parallels the ending as it brings viewers through a full day in Montreal. The film starts off showing a typical morning routine of waking up, getting dressed, and preparing breakfast. Following this, a montage depicts the rush of commuting to work. This portion is accompanied with scenes that describe the motivations of going to work and explores the context of such motivation in terms of working amongst others. This leads into the climax of the piece where the daily components of the stock market and work day are shown. As the piece moves on from the climax, the scene changes to focus on the constant moving of people into and out of the city. Then finally to end the piece, the night of Montreal comes to life as people are shown enjoying drinks, dance, and music.

Historical context

The film premiered on April 21, 1934, at the Palace Theatre in Montreal. Contrary to the period that the piece is set in, never once in the storyline is there an indication of the negative impacts of the

. This is due to the intended purpose of a lighthearted and enjoyable watching experience for the '' Canadian Cameo Series''. However, the film does in some ways indirectly show a sense of urgency for the situation. For instance, the dilemma of an increasing population size in the context of an era of financial instability.

Reception

The film was received positively in Canada, indicating a representative portrayal. The film was selected for inclusion in

Canada On Screen Canada On Screen was a special screening series of culturally and artistically significant films from the history of cinema of Canada, which took place in 2017 as part of Canada 150. Curated and presented by the Toronto International Film Festival ...

, the Toronto International Film Festival's special retrospective program on the history of Canadian cinema which was staged in 2017 as part of Canada 150. Interestingly, the intended audience of ''Rhapsody in Two Languages'' was middle-class Canadians and foreigners. This is supported by the fact that there is a lack of French dubbing of the films in the series even though French-Canadians are included as characters. When French versions were made, they were not made with the intention of better representation, but rather for the purposes of commercial success. At the time, this poor French representation was accepted because of the general Canadian attitude towards them.

References

External links

* , posted by

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

* 1934 films 1934 documentary films Quebec films Canadian short documentary films Canadian black-and-white films 1930s Canadian films Films shot in Quebec Films set in Quebec English-language Canadian films {{1930s-Canada-film-stub