A City speaks

United Kingdom, 1946

Film
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While dealing specifically with Manchester, England, this film is also intended to give a general picture of local government in England. A summary of Manchester’s growth through the centuries is given, stressing the rapid growth during the industrial revolution. Manchester’s past achievements and future plans are shown in some detail. Sequences showing Manchester at play are cut to the music of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”. The concluding sequences show citizens going about their work, while the commentary stresses that the city is its people.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Paul Rotha

production company

Films of Fact

Manchester City Corporation

Duration

01:07:00:00

Production places
United Kingdom
Production dates
1946

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

320387

Language

English

Subject categories

Agriculture, Business, Commerce & Industry → Industries - Great Britain

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Cities and towns - Great Britain

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → City and town life

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Great Britain - Social life and customs

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Manchester (England)

Communications, Infrastructure, & Transport → Cities and towns - Growth

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Great Britain

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Cities and towns - Growth

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → City and town life

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → City planning - Social aspects

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Great Britain - Politics and government

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Great Britain - Social conditions

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Local government - Great Britain

Feature films

Feature films → Feature films - Great Britain

History → Great Britain - History

History → History

Places → Cities and towns - Great Britain

Places → Manchester (England)

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Black and White

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/66147--a-city-speaks/ |title=A City speaks |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=12 September 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}