Impressions of the Old Marseille Harbor
About Impressions of the Old Marseille Harbor
László Moholy-Nagy's silent documentary shows ships, cargo, and workers at the Vieux Port in Marseille, a part of the city he said was little known because of its poverty and its streets. He called it semi-social reportage. The German title is Impressionen vom alten Marseiller Hafen. The Pont transbordeur, the transporter bridge of 1905, is in the film. He called the bridge a wonder of technical precision and beauty.
Cast & crew
More about Impressions of the Old Marseille Harbor
He had 300 meters of film and chose the old port instead of trying to cover the whole city. Wikidata times it at 11 minutes. It premiered on 4 March 1932 in Berlin. A Commons file is labeled 1929. The north tower of the bridge was damaged in the Battle of Marseille in August 1944. The bridge was blown up on 1 September 1945.
Themes
Look
The camera stays on the old harbor and the transporter bridge rather than touring the city.
Preservation
A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Man Ray, Herbert Bayer, Florence Henri, Germaine Krull, and Marcel Bovis also photographed the bridge.
- A Moholy-Nagy photograph of it is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- The film is one of his first.
Scenes
- The transporter bridge crosses the frame above the cargo and the workers.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Impressionen vom alten Marseiller Hafen)