Establishing shots, street scenes of daily life in Warsaw

Identifier
irn1003520
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2003.214
  • RG-60.4000
Dates
1 Jan 1936 - 31 Dec 1937, 1 Jan 1948 - 31 Dec 1948
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Silent
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Julien Hequembourg Bryan (1899-1974) was an American documentarian and filmmaker. Bryan traveled widely taking 35mm film that he sold to motion picture companies. In the 1930s, he conducted extensive lecture tours, during which he showed film footage he shot in the former USSR. Between 1935 and 1938, he captured unique records of ordinary people and life in Nazi Germany and in Poland, including Jewish areas of Warsaw and Krakow and anti-Jewish signs in Germany. His footage appeared in March of Time theatrical newsreels. His photographs appeared in Life Magazine. He was in Warsaw in September 1939 when Germany invaded and remained throughout the German siege of the city, photographing and filming what would become America's first cinematic glimpse of the start of WWII. He recorded this experience in both the book Siege (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1940) and the short film Siege (RKO Radio Pictures, 1940) nominated for an Academy Award in 1940. In 1946, Bryan photographed the efforts of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency in postwar Europe.

Scope and Content

VS, Warsaw street scenes. A group of young school boys walk in an orderly fashion through the city streets, they are with a male chaperone, all are wearing the same cap. MS in a large park of women, there are several women gathered in a central location in the park, all have babies in baby carriages. 01:11:57 The nanny/mommy scene in the park with VS, CUs on babies, toddlers, prams, etc. END of Reel 1 - writing on film leader indicates Reel 2 begins. 01:12:21 Scenes of city life, we are now on the outskirts of Warsaw - the trolley pulls up to the station, the sign on the front of the trolley reads "Destination: Dworska". INT shots from inside the trolley car, several passengers are busy reading, riding, a few look at the camera. VS from inside the trolley car panning the street scene outside. Two Polish soldiers walking along, one is carrying a bunch of high black boots over his shoulder. Kiosk and vegetable stand on the street in Warsaw-three women are shopping at the stand. 01:13:05 A funeral procession through the streets of Warsaw. VS of a building under construction seen first in LS, and then in CU the men working there. A foreman barks orders to the workers, he is in a uniform and wears a cap. Several establishing shots of streets, etc, mostly new buildings, signs for construction and construction companies are visible, all the buildings are modern, cement block highrises. From Julien Bryan's film "Poland the Country and the People" released in 1948, shot 1936-1937.

Note(s)

  • The original film reel was also labeled "JB Pol Neg A 7771 Pol A33B Orig Neg R1 and R2". Detailed preservation notes from the film lab are available in Film and Video department files. Additional photographs are available in the USHMM Photo Archives.

Subjects

Places

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.