BERLIN, 1929

Apropos of the last few days of Von Sternberg-Dietrich musings, above I've posted a very nice 'tour' of Berlin in 1929. Some of the footage appears to be from Billy Wilder/Fred Zinnemann/Edgar G. Ulmer collaboration 'People On Sunday' and other stuff must just be random...stuff. Though I'm always curious, with these urban raw footage reels, as to exactly why these things were being shot--camera buffs with their own equipment weren't really a going thing yet. The other thing I'm always struck by is how dead everyone we're watching are. Is. Was. Everyone but a six/seven year old boy who appears for a brief moment. He would have been born around 1923 which means that he may well be alive at ninety-five years of age...or perhaps he perished during the second world war, fighting  for the side that was responsible for the destruction of most of the beautiful city you see in this footage.

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