''Manhatta'' (1921) is a short

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by painter

Charles Sheeler Charles Sheeler (July 16, 1883 – May 7, 1965) was an American artist known for his Precisionism, Precisionist paintings, commercial photographer, commercial photography, and the 1921 avant-garde film, ''Manhatta'', which he made in collaboratio ...

and photographer

Paul Strand Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. ...

Production background

''Manhatta'' documents the early 20th-century look of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. With the city as subject, the film consists of 65 shots sequenced in a loose non-narrative structure, beginning with the Staten Island ferry approaching Manhattan and concludes with a sunset view from a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

. Often considered by some to be the first American

avant-garde film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, ...

, its primary objective is to explore the relationship between photography and film. Camera movement is kept to a minimum, as is incidental motion within each shot. Each frame provides a view of the city that has been carefully arranged into abstract compositions. ''Manhatta'' was a collaboration between painter/photographer Charles Sheeler and photographer Paul Strand. The film features

intertitle In films and videos, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (hence, ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred ...

s that include excerpts from the writings of

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

Preservation status

In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Restoration proved difficult, as the negative was lost, and only a single, heavily damaged 35mm print remained in existence. It was restored for the DVD set '' Unseen Cinema'' in October 2005. The film was completely restored in January 2009 by archivist Bruce Posner, in collaboration with film restoration company

Lowry Digital Lowry Digital is a digital film restoration company based in Burbank, California. John D. Lowry (2 June 1932 – 21 January 2012) was a Canadian film restoration expert and innovator who founded Lowry Digital Images in 1988. Company History ...

. Posner spent close to four years returning the film to its original glory. The Museum of Modern Art and Anthology Film Archives also commissioned a new score from New York composer Donald Sosin.

References

External links

* *
''Unseen Cinema'' website
*''Manhatta'' essay by Daniel Eagan in "America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry", Bloomsbury Academic, 2010. , pages 76–77

{{Authority control 1922 films 1922 documentary films 1922 short films 1920s American films 1920s rediscovered films American black-and-white films American documentary films American silent short films Articles containing video clips Black-and-white documentary films Documentary films about New York City Films set in Manhattan Rediscovered American films Surviving American silent films United States National Film Registry films

Production background

Preservation status

See also

References

External links