Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Twenty-Four-Dollar Island (1927)

Robert Flaherty directed this short film examination of the character of New York City. Of the film he said, “You understand that I am speaking of a film in which New York is the central character, not a picture in which individuals are portrayed, which would make New York merely the background of a story. I am talking about the picture in which New York is the story.”

We can assume that Flaherty was inspired by a viewing of Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler’s Manhatta (1921), as Flaherty’s choice of shots and subject matter seem to be closely following the inspiration of the earlier film.

Views of waterfront construction are combined with shots of boats and ships moving about in their daily industry. Views of bridges link the waterfront to the island’s internal construction activity. Workers toil amid shots of moving cranes and other heavy machinery. The cumulative effect represents the city’s ant-like scurry of daily activity. The results of this activity are represented in static shots of monolithic skyscrapers amid others of ships sweeping past a skyline of stone and cement.

High views of the city show us many buildings with steam venting from their rooftops and a shroudlike haze over the city so dense that in some shots nothing may be seen beyond 25-30 city blocks.

Almost shocking within the sequence of views of buildings and ships and construction is a shot of leaf-bare trees waiving in the breeze seen against a background of tall buildings, the first natural element among all the man-made monuments to man’s industry presented in the film.

Each shot in the film bears close examination on multiple viewings of the contemporary architectural documentation within the film for the modern historical and sociological value to be harvested today.

What is the cumulative effect of the film? It will mean different things to individual observers. Some will see the film as a condemnation of the unnatural and cold constructs of man. More will perhaps see it as a celebration of the incredible achievements of man. It is a New York City that, for modern audiences, exists no more yet somehow remains with us today amid the glass and steel monoliths.

— Carl Bennett