Unseen cinema. 5, Picturing a metropolis. Twenty-four dollar island

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PICTURING A METROPOLIS is part of the film retrospective UNSEEN CINEMA that explores long-forgotten American experimental cinema. You understand that I am speaking of a film in which New York is th...

PICTURING A METROPOLIS is part of the film retrospective UNSEEN CINEMA that explores long-forgotten American experimental cinema. You understand that I am speaking of a film in which New York is the central character, not a picture in which individuals are portrayed, which would make New York merely the background for a story. I am talking about the picture in which New York is the story. -ROBERT FLAHERTY 1927At once raw and eloquent, Twenty-Four Dollar Island appears unfinished, and it may well have been. Very little is known except that parts of it were eventually used as a backdrop for a New York stage show. We also know that Rebecca Strand, wife of photographer Paul Strand, mentions seeing the film in August 1925 in an air-conditioned movie theater. The film as presented here sources from two different copies, one more complete version held at EYE Film Institute Netherlands and the other from Gosfilmofond of Russia showing that the film circulated widely as late as 1929. What we see is an artist's infatuated with the Manhattan skyline shot with telephotos lenses. Views made from the same camera positions are organized into visual clusters, and closer inspection reveals an attempt by Flaherty to explore the space from slightly different angles. There is also a sense of an internal dialogue with Sheeler and Stand's Manhatta. -BRUCE POSNER Between Robert J. Flaherty's major feature-length films, "Nanook of the North" (1922), "Moana" (1926), "Man of Aran "(1934), and "Louisiana Story" (1948), he made several smaller ones outside the epic man-against-nature format. More than 50 years after his death, Flaherty's name still stands out among the most celebrated in motion picture history. -CECILE STARR Alternate title: "A Camera Impression of New York". 35mm 1.33:1 black and white silent with music 18fps 12:54 minutes. New music by Donald Sosin.

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