A Bronx Morning

1931 Documentary 11 minutes Directed by Jay Leyda

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About A Bronx Morning

An elevated train comes into the Bronx. Jay Leyda then cuts among streets, shop windows, awnings, and people on the sidewalk. There is no story and no spoken line. The short is silent.

Cast & crew

More about A Bronx Morning

Leyda made the 11-minute film in 1931. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2004. A Commons file is titled Jay Leyda - A Bronx Morning (1931).

Themes

  • Arrival by elevated train
  • Shop windows and sidewalks
  • Bronx
  • elevated train
  • shops
  • Jay Leyda
  • montage

Making

Leyda shot the borough himself and cut the reels as a montage, without a narrator.

Look

Leyda’s camera rides the elevated train and then stays at street level on windows and awnings.

Preservation

The film survives and was named to the National Film Registry in 2004.

Notes

  • The opening is the view from the elevated tracks.
  • Shops and sidewalks fill the rest. No one is identified.
  • Leyda lived from 1910 to 1988.
  • The Registry year is 2004.

Awards

  • National Film Registry (2004)

Scenes

  • The train enters the borough.
  • Awnings, windows, and people on the street replace one another.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (Jay Leyda - A Bronx Morning (1931).webm)