Melody of Berlin

It was a two-fer this week!

Melody of the World (1929): This is an assembled film of images from around the world, in black and white with sound! The music is well set to the images, and the images themselves are paired up to show off how similar some human (and animal) activities are. Although some of the moment were, I thought, a stretch, for example elephants picking things up and people picking up a canoe. This is more likely an example of convergent evolution than common ancestor (although there's probably some of that too). I was also reminded of the Qatsi trilogy in the blending of themes and images, and I should get around to watching that again sometime. Still, well done.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927): Another film by Walter Ruttmann (as the above one was), and again we have the mixture of images (although this is a silent film with later composed score) giving us the impression of music as the images play off either other. There's a nice flow and beat as we start with the waking of the city, following people through the day, and then the night life. It's nicely done, and I kind of wish there was natural sound in it, but we have the above film for that.

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