ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the film City of Contrasts directed by Irving Browning. The film appears to have been released in two versions—a silent version, and a sound version featuring a score, non-synchronous sound effects, and some acerbic narration by Kelvin Keech—and the disparities between the two make for very different viewing experiences. As its title suggests, the film is principally interested in capturing New York City as the vast site of powerful and compelling contrasts such as night vs. day, rich vs. poor, downtown vs. uptown, high vs. low, Occident vs. Orient, and so on. Without the narration, Browning's bravura camerawork and his eye for visual is more clearly evident, and at times Browning's film even calls to mind Jean Vigo's A propos de Nice, most notably during a scene that documents the carnivalesque surrealism of Coney Island.
