Big City, The
Big City, The is a short film from 1950s released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
05:36:40:18 Great shot 1950s St. Louis traffic police car pulls up to curb, number 72 on side of car; police officer in passenger seat looks up; enormous ornate clock on building reads 6:25; police officer drives through empty city street of St. Louis earl morning; old man, shopkeeper, watches car cop car drive by, CU broom swooping trash on sidewalk, CU VS brooms sweeping trash on to the sidewalk; CU bottle of whisky is smashed on the curb.
05:37:42:27 Homeless man with scruffy face looks up and scratches chin; ornate clock on side of building reads 6:40; CU alarm clock reads 6:40; CU different alarm clock on table reads 6:40; CU clock in ornate frame with roman numerals reads 6:40; CU alarm clock reads 6:40; CU disembodied hand reaches for buzzing alarm clock; CU disembodied hand turns on faucets and washes hands with bar of soap in sink; CU disembodied hand turns on hot water handle for shower; CU shower head turns on; CU VS running faucets; disembodied woman s arms washing dishes in sink.
05:38:24:14 Low-angle CU man with shaving cream lather on face shaving; CU running sink faucet, disembodied hand enters frame holding safety razor, rinses razor under water.
05:38:32:21 Man checks meter at the city reservoir and writes on clipboard; CU meter measuring water usage.
05:38:43:21 CU telephone with rotary dial rings; man answers phone; VS inside water reservoir; man turns up water pumps.
05:39:20:00 Great shot from Mississippi River, of an old lighthouse and bridge; old water reservoir and water treatment facility, train pulls up in front of building; VS water treatment plant; great shot of enormous water pumps monitored by workers.
05:40:53:19 CU clock with roman numerals mounted on brick wall reads 8:58.
05:41:00:19 CU water rushing over machine to cool the pieces it is producing; water used to cool steel in steel mill; water used in foundry to cool piece of metal being shaped.
05:41:51:11 Three 1950s cars pull up to crosswalk at stop light; CU traffic light; CU disembodied gloved hand opens traffic signal controller box, hand changes timers in box; CU traffic light changes to green; cars take off; VS CU traffic lights.
05:42:26:02 CU traffic light with turn arrow. High-angle crane shot over intersection with cars making left turns; cross-walk signal changes from Don t Walk to Walk; high-angle shot people crossing intersection.
05:42:37:01 CU Radar Controlled sign above a Speed Limit 30 sign; CU Speed Limit 40 sign; CU traffic signal; CU disembodied hand cleans traffic signal light bulb.
05:42:55:13 CU trucks odometer measuring feet; CU brush attached to truck to painting street lines; man sits on back of truck laying cones. Clock on clock tower reads 8:45.
05:43:32:07 Great high-angle shot of huge jam-packed parking lot.
05:43:35:27 CU antique clock with roman numerals reads 8:55.
05:43:45:23 1950s men and women enter elevator, man manually closes door; CU face bored bald man taking elevator, man looks up; great POV shot from top of elevator traveling up elevator shaft; women exit elevator; man repairing elevator, repairman rides on top of elevator.
05:45:06:12 VS CU disembodied hand throws away trash; disembodied hands sweep trash into dustbin; trash thrown into trash can.
05:45:26:11 VS garbage trucks pulling out of garage; garbage trunks dump trash into incinerator; African-American man checks the furnaces of the municipal incinerator; CU African-American man lifts latch of incinerator furnace, CU burning cans and trash; Black man turns to camera with latch to incinerator open, man is drenched in sweat, wearing round sunglasses.
05:46:45:14 Clock reads 10:24, one meter on both sides of the clock.
05:46:49:11 CU test tube is waved over a Bunsen burner, alarm clock behind and to the right of the burner reads 10:25; mostly women working in laboratory with variety of long glass test tubes, women looking into microscopes.
05:47:05:24 CU document from St. Louis Health Division dated Jan. 1 1956 with stamp S. Typhosa Found.
05:47:09:04 Doctor in lab coat looks at large map of St. Louis mounted on the wall; CU disembodied hand places pin in map in area with various other pins already in the map.
05:47:17:27 Net is thrown on a black dog.
05:05:47:22:18 Disembodied gloved hand carrying container marked Poison , poison is sprayed into a dirty hole; rat falls over dead in a cloud of noxious fumes, the dead rat is shoveled out of frame; tube enters frame and sprays fumes into a gutter.
05:47:36:02 CU disembodied hand lifts up a glass bottle of milk from a delivery holster.
05:47:46:11 CU decal on side of car reads City of St. Louis 703 Health Dept. car drives off down street.
05:48:07:15 CU two babies in hospital cribs, one AfricanAmerican, the other White.
05:48:30:01 CU disembodied doctor s hand, with silver watch around rest, examines with stethoscope newborn baby.
05:48:35:06 VS interracial group of school children about five years old holding hands walking in a circle in the school gymnasium; VS audience of mother s with their young children; group of six cute little children about 4 years old; CU cute little boy wearing sweater and a bow tie sits on the ground trying to tie his show; little boy runs down empty hall; little opens door and peaks into room.
05:49:15:18 VS old women in a sewing circle; little boy peaking around the door runs away; women behind sewing machines.
05:49:47:26 VS community sports: men s softball; mixed doubles tennis; soccer; boxing (African-American teen boxing White teen); women s field hockey.
05:50:04:07 MS cute little boy wearing a bow tie takes big bite of hot dog.
05:50:09:03 VS cricket match; CU little boy wearing bow tie chewing his hot dog.
05:50:20:14 silhouettes of children fishing in a pond sparkling at sunset, man watches over them.
05:50:29:16 Man painting batter s box.
05:50:38:02 Men painting lines on soccer field, man in foreground fixes goal post.
05:51:03:25 Pan over from row of greenhouses to St. Louis highway.
05:51:20:30 Large clock on building reads 6:00; great shot mayor walks through doorway at City Hall toward camera; crane shot mayor leaving City Hall, mayor walks down large staircase.
05:52:27:23 Great shot of large car garage, two long rows of cars all with their hoods up, mechanic works beneath car; various CU of city vehicle decals City of St. Louis Lighting Div. 506 ; City of St. Louis Parking Meter 8 ; City of St. Louis Board of Public Service 69 ; City of St. Louis Board of Children s Guardians 1 ; City of St. Louis Weight & Measures 5 ; Mosquito Control Health Div. 717 ; Dept. of Streets & Sewers 6; night time street sweeper, sweeping under the street lights; CU broom sweeping trash along curbside; great high-angle shot two street sweepers under spotlights.
05:53:33:05 CU disembodied hand playing checkers; MS old policeman resting head on hand thinking.
05:54:16:04 Great shot old bald man wearing bowtie turns head away from camera, camera follows man s gaze to large map of St. Louis; CU disembodied man s hand with doodles on notepad, repeatedly bangs pencil tip against paper.
05:54:33:06 CU emergency call dispatcher quickly patches line and answers phone Fire alarm ; firemen asleep in twin beds, alarm goes off, lights switch on, firemen jump out of bed; CU fireman s feet slide into his boots at the foot of his bed; firemen sliding down fire pole; garage at fire station 6 opens, fire trucks speed out of station; firemen pull up to large fire in city building; CU fireman wearing helmet looks up at fire, water sprays on his face.
05:55:48:27 Camera pans down long row of lights and switches, camera zooms in on the one flashing light; fireman chief wearing helmet grabs radio from car and calls for two ambulances; CU radio with audio track fireman s voice coming through the radio; CU St. Louis city map with numbered lights, numbers 25, 5, 2, and 4 light up; CU emergency call dispatcher speaks into radio second alarm from box 24, 13th 15th and Cass.
05:56:36:01 CU disembodied hand over checkerboard holding two checker pieces; VS ambulances and fire trucks leaving stations, VS St. Louis firemen fighting fire.
05:58:09:01 Great high-angle crane shot tracks police car weave through various St. Louis streets, and pull up in front of city hall; clock on City Hall reads 7:47.| Big City, The | |
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| Produced by | Guggenheim (Charles) & Associates, Inc. |
Production companies | Guggenheim (Charles) & Associates, Inc. |
| Distributed by | Guggenheim (Charles) & Associates, Inc. |
Release date | 1950s |
| Language | English |
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