A decidedly minor if historically important documentary, Melodie der Welt takes the form of a cruise around the world. The camera documents the lives of people in different cultures, ordered not by geography but by activity. We see children from all around the world, people making food all around the world, different military and religious ceremonies, and so on. This allows for some juxtaposition of how things are different (and how they are the same) but doesn't result in much more revelation than a discovery channel documentary on a similar subject. It is a sincere if uninteresting attempt to show us how all the world is one, even if we differ in our particulars.
The cinematography and editing are adequate throughout, but thoroughly unremarkable. The pacing is static, and the film doesn't usefully build to any specific conclusion or event. What is its early use of sync sound, supposedly the first in a German production. Easily 95% of the film is silent with a musical score, however the few moments where sync sound is employed – two men talking about directions, a sailor playing a concertina, the sound of a fog horn – have a strange tension. You can tell that the film regards these moments as miraculous, and expects the audience to do the same. To some extent this attitude works, although it probably became dated mere months after this films initial theatrical release.
One expects a little more from Ruttmann, who also directed the far more famous (and far more interesting) Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt (1927). I've heard it proposed that the sound equipment tied him down here, but considering how little of the film utilizes sync audio, that hardly seems likely. Still, the humanist objective of the film is noble, especially on the eve of the Nazi's political takeover. A few years later, a work like simple work like Melodie would be unimaginable.
Recommended for those interested in early attitudes about sound, Ruttmann enthusiasts and hardcore silent documentary fans. Otherwise it will probably be of minimal interest.
Viewed at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, 01/16/2011
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