In my review of "Berlin-Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt" (1927, Walter Ruttmann) I made a distinction between films in which a big city plays the lead character (as in "Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt") and films in which the big city is important but nevertheless not more than a supporting actor (as in for example "The naked city" (1948, Jules Dassin)).
"Menschen am Sonntag" is somewhere in between. As in "Die Sinfonie der Grosstad" the city of Berlin has the leading role. As in "The naked city" there is a plot involving human beings living in the city that is portrayed.
The story is about two girls and two boys spending their free sunday together with a lot of flirtations. The story is not very spectacular and that is exactly the intention. The purpose of the story is after all to show us the city of Berlin. The closing line of the film is: "Four million people are waiting for the next Sunday". In other words we have chosen one story, but there are many more stories in Berlin every day. It is remarkable how this closing line resembles the closing line of "The naked city": "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.".
Although the story in "Menschen am Sonntag is very common, its impact on the film should not be underestimated. Just because of this everyday life story the film has aged very well. It could have happened today in the slightly different form of four young people meeting each other at a pop festival in stead of at the Nikolassee.
At the time of "Menschen am Sonntag" Berlin was in a sort of transition between the roaring twenties and the Nazi dictatorship. Indicative of the latter is that the directors and writers of this film would all continue their career in the United States.
"Menschen am Sonntag" is somewhere in between. As in "Die Sinfonie der Grosstad" the city of Berlin has the leading role. As in "The naked city" there is a plot involving human beings living in the city that is portrayed.
The story is about two girls and two boys spending their free sunday together with a lot of flirtations. The story is not very spectacular and that is exactly the intention. The purpose of the story is after all to show us the city of Berlin. The closing line of the film is: "Four million people are waiting for the next Sunday". In other words we have chosen one story, but there are many more stories in Berlin every day. It is remarkable how this closing line resembles the closing line of "The naked city": "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.".
Although the story in "Menschen am Sonntag is very common, its impact on the film should not be underestimated. Just because of this everyday life story the film has aged very well. It could have happened today in the slightly different form of four young people meeting each other at a pop festival in stead of at the Nikolassee.
At the time of "Menschen am Sonntag" Berlin was in a sort of transition between the roaring twenties and the Nazi dictatorship. Indicative of the latter is that the directors and writers of this film would all continue their career in the United States.