The City, a 1939 film that depicts Greenbelt as an ideal place to live, will be shown at the Old Greenbelt Theatre at 1 p.m. on Sunday, August 5. After the screening, at 2 p.m., the Greenbelt Museum will offer a free walking tour of the areas shown in the film. The tour will leave from Roosevelt Center.
The City is a 32-minute black-and-white film that was produced for the 1939 World’s Fair. It features the first-ever film score by Aaron Copland, who went on to compose ballets such as Billy the Kid and Appalachian Spring, among other famous works.
The film focuses on five different aspects of urbanization over our nation’s history: a rural 18th century New England town, the industrialization of Pittsburgh, New York’s booming metropolis, congested highways and the new planned “Green” city, filmed in Greenbelt, as well as Radburn, N.J. Greenbelt’s portion is at the end of the film and offers an idealized image of what urban life could look like going forward. Filmed in August 1938, not long after Greenbelt’s construction as a New Deal town, it highlights the city’s walking paths, green spaces and community life.
Read more of this story in the July 26 News Review.