The City

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.