This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

"Berlin: Symphony of a Great City" is an art film that is pretty dull. However, it certainly does have a lot of historical importance. After all, the film shows a typical day in this city circa 1927--and by the end of WWII, most of it had been destroyed. In other words, it allows the viewer and historians to look back to a city and way of life that are gone.As for the movie, though, I just can't see why it has a current high rating of 7.9. This is very high--especially when it's a film with no real plot and which many viewers will become bored with after a while. After all, it consists of hundreds of clips all strung together to tell a tale of the city during a day--and that is all. It's competently made and of passing interest only.I like art films and documentaries--but this is a case of too much.

This is a very straightforward and pleasant silent picture that delivers exactly what it promises. Namely: footage of Berlin, its residents, and the whole spectrum of city activities during an ordinary day in 1927. If you have any interest in seeing real life in Weimar Germany, this film is an excellent rental. It opens with an Eisensteinian-style montage sequence, as a train approaches the city. Upon its arrival in Berlin's Union Station, the city is remarkably desolate. As the film progresses, the city begins to wake up, and you are shown residents at work (mostly in factories) and leisure. You will see shopkeepers, businessmen, restauranteurs, policemen, soldiers, politicians; children at play and even some vagrants. The acts become gradually more harsh as the film progresses, with mildly unpleasant imagery beginning to creep in (e.g. shots of dogs fighting, footage of beggars, litter, an arrest, etc.), only to gracefully recede as the film reaches its closing. The final act shows Berlin's night life, which is as lavish and swinging as anything in our own "Roaring 20's." This is an impeccable time capsule and it has something to offer both film and history buffs. Berlin was truly a world city at this time, and it was extremely interesting to see everything in the Weimar's Golden period, before Hitler and the destruction that followed. Technically speaking, it is a very well made and restored film; the footage is crisp and the music was never overwhelming. This is a really easy film to appreciate and it is definitely worthwhile, particularly for history buffs. Highly recommended. ---|--- Reviews by Flak Magnet

Berlin, Symphony of a City is a remarkable historical document of the mighty city before its Wagnerian capitulation within less than twenty years of its filming. Along with Paris, Berlin was the epicenter of a Europe emerging from World War 1 into the Roaring Twenties and director Walter Ruttman for the most part captures the energy and pace of the 20th century metropolis.Moving from morning to night Symphony emphasizes the cities industrial muscle but also divides evenly portraits of the have and have nots of Berlin, the grime as well as the glitter. It is a city on the move and move it does from the crowded sidewalks to the congested avenues and its varied populace . It is in the faces of these Berliners that the film holds its greatest fascination for me watching children playing and youth sporting events with the knowledge that most of them will be of draft age for the oncoming conflagration that will reduce this city to rubble.The documentary does have problems with some scenes clearly staged (in one case a suicide filmed in close-up) and a roller coaster scene is overlong but overall when put into historical context this is a valuable visual document of a city that is extinct as Atlantis.

A day in the life of 1920's Berlin, with arty mechanical shots, and a variety of urban experiences united by their time of day. This is painfully dull to watch, and has no continuity in terms of story line or characters. Its nice to have an authentic look at the past, and some of the mechanical shots, the whimsical statue-figure shots, and the evening entertainment shots are interesting, but overall it is a massive chore to sit through. It could be the overbearing score that pounds home the urban theme with a punishing tone that detracts from the film, and a kindler and gentler score could mitigate the films lack of entertainment value. Score or not, the overrating on this site of this film is beyond comprehension. People who claim to like this film deserve to watch Man With A Camera, the Russian version of the same thing, which is equally tedious.