Wonderful Berlin in 1927 in color, „Symphony Of A Metropolis“ [A.I. restored & Colorized!]
Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis or Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (German: „Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt“) is a 1927 German film directed by Walter Ruttmann, co-written by Carl Mayer and Karl Freund.
Original German title: „Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt“.
Composer Edmund Meisel wrote a great orchestral score for its original release.
The film consists of five acts, each with a different theme, related to daily life in Berlin almost a century ago. It shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at dawn and ending deep into the night. Actually it took 18 months to shoot all the scenes in this film!
Under many of my films I often get comments that the film only shows the affluent parts of a town. This film shows both the rich, middle class and the poor(er) parts of Berlin!
The original B&W film has been motion-stabilized, slightly speed corrected, restored, enhanced and colorized with modern A.I. software. Because the film was shot at only 20 fps, a 20% reduction in speed would be necessary to show it at 25 fps. In order to keep the music synchronised with the film, but not to slow down the music too much, a speed reduction of 10% was chosen as a compromise. So the film is still 10% too fast and the music played back 10% slower.
Note: Because of the A.I. automatic colorization, some colors may not be true to life.
Source: Public Domain B&W film.
Music: The Olympia Chamber Orchestra, Composed & Directed by Timothy Brock.
Szenen einer verflossenen Zeit, 2 Jahre bevor Babylon in Berlin spielt.
Musikalisch unterlegt mit Paukenschlägen und Fanfaren:
Fanfare for the Common Man (Emerson, Lake & Palmer – könnte hier dann auch passen)
Es ist, wie es ist. Und wie der Wahnsinn des II. Weltkriegs auf Berlin eingewirkt hat, das wird hier fundamental erspürbar.
Welchen Weg hätte Berlin wohl genommen, wenn nicht ausgerechnet ein österreichischer, gescheiterter Kunststudent und Maler Konsequenzen hätte ziehen können.
Vieles ist vorstellbar: Das wohl kaum.