Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

This classic German documentary is a valentine to the "new" Berlin of the late 1920s, enjoying a renaissance after the dregs of the Depression. Director Walter Ruttman's five-reel symphony begins at dawn and ends at midnight, showing Berliners at hard work by day and enjoying the city's boisterous nightlife. Essentially a feature-length montage—one shot of pedestrians is followed by a brief clip of a cow herd—the film was heavily influenced by the earlier works of Russian filmmaker Dziga Vertov.