ABSTRACT
Apart from a few short references by Dutch film historians in the 1980s, De Stad die Nooit Rust by Friedrich von Maydell and Andor von Barsy has been an overlooked film. The film is almost an hour long, and it was made by the German Von Maydell and the Hungarian Von Barsy for the Rotterdam-based production company Transfilma. Von Maydell had established Transfilma in 1927 and Von Barsy was the company's cameraman. In The City that Never Rests, the modern and industrial big-city imagery typical for city symphonies is strongly connected to the predominant role the port plays in the film. In line with a Futurist and Constructivist fascination with the dynamics of machinery and fast-paced city life, The City that Never Rests celebrates the functional architecture of the harbor, underlining Rotterdam's industrial modernity and metropolitan character as a global port city.
