Manhatta
About Manhatta
Sixty-five shots follow a day in Manhattan, from a Staten Island ferry through the harbor, the Brooklyn Bridge, Wall Street, a cemetery, skyscrapers, a crane, an ironworker, rail yards, and an ocean liner. Intertitles quote Walt Whitman and do not name him. The last image is a sunset from a high building.
Cast & crew
More about Manhatta
Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand made the short themselves and photographed it. The camera barely moves, and most shots have little action inside the frame. It was released in 1921. This record's year is 1922. A full copy runs about 10 minutes 38 seconds. IMDb lists 11 minutes.
Themes
Look
Sheeler and Strand framed each of the 65 shots like a still, from the Staten Island ferry to a sunset off a skyscraper.
Preservation
The Library of Congress selected it for the National Film Registry in 1995. Digital copies circulate.
Notes
- The Library of Congress placed it on the National Film Registry in 1995.
- Whitman is not named on the titles. Later credits assign the lines to him.
- The structure is a day, from the ferry's approach to sunset, not a story.
- Sheeler was a painter as well as a photographer. Strand was a photographer.
Scenes
- The ferry docks and the crowd comes off.
- An ironworker stands on a beam above the street.
Influenced by
- Walt Whitman
Also available
- Internet Archive (Manhatta_1921)
- Wikimedia Commons (Manhatta 1921.ogv)
Quotes
City of the world - for all races are here, City of tall facades of marble and iron, Proud and passionate city.