The City




 

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"Have we vision, have we courage? Shall we build, and rebuild, our cities, clean again, close to the earth and open to the sky? ... Order has come. Order and life together. We've got the skill - we've found the way. We built the cities. All that we know about machines and soils and raw materials and human ways of living is waiting. We can reproduce the pattern and better it a thousand times. It's here! The new city. Ready to serve a better age. You and your children, the choice is yours."


In 1935 the Federal Housing Administration produced a newsreel-style series of short subjects on improvements and innovations in housing, architecture, and design. 

The City is a call to rebuild America’s cities in the form of planned communities.   

The City, was directed by Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke.  Henwar Rodakiewicz wrote the script based on an outline by Pare Lorentz, with commentary by Lewis Mumford. Narrator: Morris Carnovsky. Photography: Ralph Steiner, Willard Van Dyke, Jules V.D. Bucher, Edward Anhalt, Roger Barlow and Rudolph Bretz. Editor: Theodore Lawrence. The musical score was composed by Aaron Copland.
 

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