The City (film)

Sponsored by an association of professional planners, The City premiered at the 1939 World's Fair in New York where its producers hoped to influence public opinion and public policy. The director-cinematographer team of Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke, aided by an Aaron Copland score, presented a montage of scenes depicting various aspects of city life from quaint New England towns to the industrial blight of Pittsburgh to overcrowded, over-commercialized New York streets to idyllic family-friendly planned communities. A mixture of staged and actuality footage illustrated a script by sociologist and literary critic Lewis Mumford from an outline by documentarian Pare Lorentz.

World War II initially stalled acceptance of the film's American dream, but by the late 1940s, veterans eager to take advantage of G.I. home loans helped to fuel its popularity.

The City was added to the National Film Registry in 1998.