London Symphony Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

London Symphony Blu-ray Movie Review

Haydn Seek?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 18, 2019

With the prevalence of our seemingly unavoidable interconnectedness these days courtesy of technological advancements (?) like the world wide web, it’s probably getting harder and harder to realize how epochal it was in the early days of cinema when audiences in one location where able to see films or shorts about other, often relatively far off, locations. There was in fact a whole movement (no pun intended, considering that music is part of what will be discussed in this review) of silent films called “city symphonies” which arose in the 1920s, of which Berlin: Symphony of a Great City is one of the better remembered. Flicker Alley advertises London Symphony as an “update” on this idea, and they specifically mention the 90th anniversary of the 1927 Walter Ruttmann opus celebrating Germany’s largest city as offering a connection to this particular outing.

London Symphony is presented in four “movements”, with the timeline moving from morning to evening. Various elements of urban life are looked at, including construction, different modes of worship, some of the wildlife in various parks, and an allusion to the energetic theatrical activity on the West End. Director and editor Alex Barrett offers a nonstop parade of interesting imagery, often framed in almost Impressionistic ways. One slight drawback that some viewers may find with the presentation, though, is that (perhaps understandably) there are no identifiers of what’s being shown, until a long listing at the end which itself requires sorting through each and every image to figure out what label belongs to which image.

London Symphony Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

London Symphony is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Flicker Alley with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. This is part of Flicker Alley's "MOD" line of BD-Rs, for those who are concerned about such things. The imagery throughout this transfer is rather striking, offering (with one kind of head scratching exception) an array of beautiful black and white shots, many of which have little to no movement in them. Many of these shots are midrange to wide shots, and so fine detail can be minimal at times, but when there are close-ups, as in some brief looks at wildlife, fine detail is quite commendable. I'm not quite sure why Barrett chose to suddenly inject some red into the proceedings when the theater district section occurs, but there are some very brief "semi-colored" moments (see screenshot 6).

London Symphony Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

London Symphony features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track that nicely conveys the orchestral music of James McWilliam, working in a largely "accessible" tonal arena that doesn't push too many stylistic envelopes. Fidelity is fine, offering excellent support for both louder tutti passages and some of the appealing solos for individual instruments. There is no narration or talking in the main feature.

London Symphony Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• London Medley (1080p; 10:24) is a kind of charming travelogue from 1933, produced by Fox Movietone's Magic Carpet Films, replete with narration.


• Hungerford: Symphony of a London Bridge (1080p; 3:07) is described as a "precursor" to London Symphony.


• Interview with Filmmaker Alex Barrett (1080p; 33:11)

London Symphony Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My late British born father was orphaned at an early age, and one of the wonders of that interconnectedness I mentioned above is that the internet has allowed me to be able to recently connect with several members of his (and, of course, my) family, and so I have all sorts of new reasons to visit London, which has long been one of my favorite cities, even before I knew I had a ton of family there. This is a kind of odd piece that will probably be most enjoyed by those who have already either visited or lived in London. I enjoyed seeing several sites I've personally spent time in or around, and I found the score accompanying the documentary to be very enjoyable. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.