The City Symphony Phenomenon

The 1920s and 1930s saw the rise of the *city symphony* , an experimental film form that presented the city as protagonist instead of mere decor. Combining experimental, documentary, and narrative practices, these films were marked by a high level of abstraction reminiscent of high-modernist experiments in painting and photography. Moreover, interwar city symphonies presented a highly fragmented, oftentimes kaleidoscopic sense of modern life, and they organized their urban-industrial images through rhythmic and associative montage that evoke musical structures. In this comprehensive volume, contributors consider the full 70 film corpus, from *Manhatta* and *Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt* to lesser-known cinematic explorations.