Chicago - City of the Century

Starring:American Experience
Studio: Pbs Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Customer Reviews:

The Documentary Chicagoans Love to Hate.......2006-02-27

This outstanding addition to the PBS American Experience series is based on David Miller's "City of Century," the history of Chicago's meteoric rise from a swamp on the edge of Lake Michigan to America's second largest metropolis at the end of the 19th Century. Between 1833-1899 Chicago stood at the center of, and symbolized America's rise from a rural republic to an industrial giant. The first modern city of the United States and, much as Manchester was to England's Industrial Revolution, the "shock city" of American capitalism.

Chicago-City of the Century presents Chicago's history with all of its glory and its warts (which is why many Chicagoans hate the film). It is about the often overlooked impact of Chicago in the 19th Century and it is not about Chicago in the 20th Century.

I suspect that the book and this documentary may ultimately help launch dozens of histories about Chicago's impact on the wider world during the 19th Century.

Before it was Chi-town.......2005-11-25

The subtitle is "City of the Century" because it stops at 1899, roughly. Thus, the infamy of gangsters and the mayoralty of the Daleys, father and son, are never brought up. At the very last second of the 3rd, really last, DVD they mention the arrival of African Americans. I can't even think of Chicago without blacks. They made the blues and house music. Harold Washington made history. This city still suffers from severe segregation. But I guess all of that arose in the 20th century. This DVD gives scant attention to Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable and every black school in the City emphasizes that he founded Chicago. Actually, Chicago has more Polish people than any city besides Warsaw and yet they scarcely get brought up either. Heavy attention is placed upon the Irish, however.

This documentary focuses heavily upon business leaders. One learns much about famous names like Fields, Pullman, and others. This work seemed to emphasize that class and ethnicity were the big dividers in that era. It seems so different from now when race plays that role, and has done so for decades.

For real, this series could have been held on 2 DVDs, rather than 4. I guess it looks better as 4 in the libraries and dens of those who collect it. The last DVD gives you a great tour of the City now. I think it's actually not related to the first 3 discs. However, it does cover much info that those discs miss. It emphasizes churches and I found that surprising. I love the way the last disc shows that communities are in flux. Something that was majorly Irish in the past can be majorly Mexican-American now; places that once were home to European immigrants are now home for Asian and Latino newcomers.

Don't get me wrong: this was a fantastic work. It's about time that documentarians accept that Chicago is worth serious study just as New York City has been. Still, I don't know if non-Chicagoans would be as interested in this. True, it does show that cities become huge for a reason. Chicago connected the MS River with the Great Lakes which led to the Atlantic Ocean. Then again, Chicago means "Land of the Wild Onion," so Native Illinoisans found it stinky and useless. I guess history is both utilitarian and created by chance.

Average customer rating:

A good but not great survey of 19th century Chicago history
Another documentary you shouldn't miss
Great Doc, But Chicago Is About More than The Labor Movement
Leaves You Hanging
A few technical details

Chicago - City of the Century
Starring: American Experience
Manufacturer: Pbs Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America
New York (8 Episode PBS Boxed Set)
The American President (PBS Box Set)
American Experience: Woodrow Wilson
American Experience: Chicago - City of the Century

ASIN: B00008AOWG
Release Date: 2003-06-03

Description

Chicago: City of the Century tells how in just 60 years Chicago grew from a remote, swampy frontier town into one of the most explosively alive cities in the world. It's the story of the wealthy and the indigent, the heralded and the forgotten, the shop assistants and the millionaire retail barons who together created Chicago. It describes how through innovation, ingenuity, determination and sheer ruthlessness, the captains of industry created empires in a marshy wasteland. And it explores the hardships endured by the millions of working men and women-most of them immigrants from Ireland and Northern Europe-whose labor helped a capitalist class reinvent the way America did business.

Customer Reviews:

A good but not great survey of 19th century Chicago history.......2005-07-18

This is a very good but not ultimately spectacular history of 19th century Chicago history. I think the balance of the history is very solid, probably because it hues fairly close to Donald Miller's exceptional book that served as the basis for the series (Miller himself is one the most prominent commentator). One of the previous reviewers complained of the emphasis on the history of labor problems, almost implying that the series was close to nothing but a history of labor. The complaint is absurd: if anything, the importance of labor issues has been muted in the series. It plays a legitimate and major role in the series, just as it has in the history of Chicago. For the record, for two years, until my company relocated to new digs, I worked two blocks from the spot where Haymarket existed and where the most famous event in American labor took place. Curiously, only a small plaque marks the spot, though there is talk of a memorial.

I was especially happy that Jane Addams got her due. I consider Addams, along with Eleanor Roosevelt, to be one of the two most important women in American history. She virtually created the helping professions in American and in developing Hull House created modern social work. Anyone familiar with her has to admire her idealism, her compassion, her energy, and her effectiveness in bringing concrete help to tens of thousands. The series also spends a great deal of time on the central figures in developing the economic infrastructure of Chicago, in particular folks like Palmer, Swift, Marshall Field, Armour, and Montgomery Ward. All the key 19th century events receive their due, from Haymarket to the Fire to the famous World's Fair in Hyde Park. The section on the fire was especially good, providing an excellent account of how the fire spread because of the winds (for non-Chicagoans, the same kind of wind from the south or southwest that can create a launching pad for homerun hitters at Wrigley Field).

Nonetheless, the series has some major problems. First and foremost are the recreations. Though on the extras disc Donald Miller expresses satisfaction with the recreations, I think they greatly harm the series. I think Ken Burns established the model for the successful historical documentary in his various series, in which he never uses recreations or historically inappropriate photography. But this series often cuts from something that occurred, say, in 1869 to shots of Chicago in 2002. At the very least they should have used contemporary prints or maps or photos or drawings, not modern film. But the recreations were far worse. Whether offering scenes from the 1840s or the men charged as guilty in the Haymarket kangaroo court walking to the gallows, the film was seriously damaged by such ahistoricism. I think Miller's initial worries over recreations were completely justified and realized.

My only other complaint with the series is PBS's usual botching of the DVDs. Quite consistently, PBS puts out the worst DVDs I've ever seen. For instance, it is impossible usually to skip the endless recounting of corporate sponsors at the beginning of each episode. Also, the navigation is often primitive and often works only with hesitation.

I did, however, very much enjoy the extra documentary added to the set that explores the neighborhoods the L (Chicago's elevated train line) goes through. Each workday I get on the Brown line at Southport for my commute into the Loop, though sometimes opting for the Red line at Addison or Belmont. It was fun seeing the various parts of the city serves by each line.

Another documentary you shouldn't miss.......2004-06-28

This is another excellent documentary that I am interested in having all of my friends see. Among the many things you learn is that Chicago helped the city of New York become the economic powerhouse it is by routing all the grain produced in the midwest across the Great Lakes to the Erie Canal to the city of New York.

Great Doc, But Chicago Is About More than The Labor Movement.......2004-04-24

PBS's "Chicago, City of the Century" is most informative in it's first and second discs, as it tracks the growth of the city from trading outpost to major metropolis in just 30-odd years. I'm a Chicago native, have made frequent visits to the Chicago Historical Society, and I was constantly amazed at the sheer volumne of fascniating stories featured in the doc. Most interesting is the rise of the stockyards, how rail made Chicago into the biggest city in what was then still consider the "west", and the growth of labor unrest. Up through the econd disc, the filmmakers weave a story of immigration, innovation, entreprenureal genius and social unrest that explodes at the end of the second disc with the Haymarket Riot. Up until this point, the documentary has been chugging along.

Then, the third disc, which spends it's entire 90 minute length on a period of about 5 years, and deals almose exlusively with labor issues, and sloughs off the great architectual achievements of those final years. The first hour is basically dedicated to the labor reforms going on in the city, the riots, the unrest. While the plutocrat vs. common man theme is compelling, the story of Chicago is indeed greater than that, and that greater story is lost as the filmmakers try to tie every event in Chicago to the labor movement. These leads to an utterly dissapointing final 30 minutes, which mostly deal with the Columbian World's Fair of 1893. Perhaps it's because I watched this documentary after finishing "The Devil in the White City", an authoritative volume on the fair, but the documentary gets much of the fair's history incorrect, especially the history of it's builders. The smaller stories that make the whole enterprise of the fair so fascinating are glazed over to accommadate the agenda of the doc, which is to make it all about labor. For one prime example, the documentary states that architect Louis Sullivan was a prime mover in getting the fair to Chicago. This is simply untrue. Lester Burnham and John Root were. Sullivan hated the fair and it's architecture. He was alone in this assessment. Also, in an attempt to tie the fair into the larger capital/labor theme, the documentary implies that the only people who seemed to want the fair in Chicago were the capitalists. These is absurd, as it was a matter of deep civic pride, from the lowliest stockyard worker to Potter Palmer himself. The civic pride is only given passing mention, as it may have distracted from the other theme of the doc, the dislike of all the various ethnic groups. In praising the fair, they were as one. Finally, the documentary states the Chicago's Mayor, Carter Harrison, was assasinated by a half-mad illiterate. He was wholy mad, and he was not illiterate. History needs to be precise, and this seems like a shameless attempt to add more sensationalism to the story.

All in all, the first two discs are great, but the third suffers. Also, Chicago was vastly important in the 20th Century as well. The DVD package here is also pretty bare, with nothing spectacular to offer besides the doc, a trivia game, and a thinly filled fourth extra disc. By all means rent it, but leave the third disc alone. The documentary has developed an agenda that overwhelmes it's subject-the importance of the great city of Chicago

Leaves You Hanging.......2003-06-11

I bought this DVD hoping it would be to Chicago history what Ric Burn's New York is to New York history. It started out that way but surprisingly and disappointingly ends at the turn of the century.

There is nothing about 20th century Chicago. I was left feeling cheated (not financially but historically). The first three CDs were so good, I eagerly anticipated the fourth and last to pertain to the last 100 years. Instead, the fourth CD was special features. Despite the above, buy the DVD and enjoy the pre-20th century Chicago.

A few technical details.......2003-06-06

The prgram itself is very good, but a few words about the discs. Although PBS has taken great care to make this accessible to all, including audio descriptions for the blind, they made a mistake of not including subtitles. The disc *does* sport closed-captions, but if your DVD player is progressive scan, you may be unable to play these. Switching to interlaced mode might help.

Also, a minor quibble, but the list of chapters on the case does not correspond to what's actually on the discs. If you're looking for a specific scene, you'll have to add one to the chapter number displayed on your player.

Neither of these should stop you from buying this excellent, informative disc.

EDIT: (As for the "leaves you hanging" comment of another reviewer) The video is only supposed to be about Chicago in the 19th century and how it grew so quickly. The author makes this very clear in one of the extras, and it *is* called "City of the Century," not "...Centuries."

But it's a good point and buyers need to know that it's only about the 19th century, although the "Chicago by 'L': Touring the Neighborhoods" extra does bring you into the 20th.

Customer Reviews:

A good but not great survey of 19th century Chicago history.......2005-07-18

Another documentary you shouldn't miss.......2004-06-28

Great Doc, But Chicago Is About More than The Labor Movement.......2004-04-24

Leaves You Hanging.......2003-06-11

I bought this DVD hoping it would be to Chicago history what Ric Burn's New York is to New York history. It started out that way but surprisingly and disappointingly ends at the turn of the century.

A few technical details.......2003-06-06

Neither of these should stop you from buying this excellent, informative disc.

But it's a good point and buyers need to know that it's only about the 19th century, although the "Chicago by 'L': Touring the Neighborhoods" extra does bring you into the 20th.

For this displaced and occasionally homesick Chicagon, it was a great buy.

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