Chicago – A Metropolitan in the Making

1931

Overview

Heinrich Hauser, born 1901 in Prussia, filmed Chicago long before Hollywood discovered the authentic showplace. He went there at the height of the Great Depression, in 1931. It was only him and his camera. He manages without stars. He is not interested in the world of make-believe: no impressionist images, no experimental city poem, no travelogue or image film, no posed footage, certainly not one of the usual culture fi lms. The city was all that counted: the Naked City and the people living here. Hauser was obliged to Neue Sachlichkeit: New Objectivity – and to his aspirations and ambition as an artist.