Very interesting! Would have loved to have been there! | Legendary Sin Cities

Sin across the World | Legendary Sin Cities - Paris, Berlin & Shanghai

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	• Legendary Sin Cities - Paris, Berlin & Shanghai Shanachie, 2006 average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Legendary sin cities

This is an interesting documentary about three cities, Berlin, Paris, and Shanghai in the 1920's and early 1930's. The film shows and tells the viewer of the glamour and deprivation that was rampant during this period.

Very interesting! Would have loved to have been there!

Great DVD if you want to understand life in Paris and Berlin with the sexual mores between the world wars. Just returned from France, they have a three story sex museum that also covers this subject. The one DVD on Shanghai is a bit week, however I was amazed at what was happening in Paris and Berlin during the 1920's.

Sin across the World

A two-DVD set for those interested in at least one form of entertainment flourishing in Berlin, Paris and Shanghai between the two world wars. Apparently sin and debauchery really knew few borders during that time. Much of the contents is illustrated commentary and I, for one, would have wished for more illustration and less commentary, e.g., more of entertainers like Josephine Baker in the Paris portion and of Claire Waldoff and Marlene Dietrich in the Berlin portion. Just about totally absent were routines by the Berlin cabaret comedians but perhaps they weren't considered sufficiently sinful and maybe there isn't much film footage about them.

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5 Stars

I simply love "Legendary Sin Cities. Overviews of Paris, Berlin & Shanghai particularily in the 20s and early 30's (except for Shanghai which goes into the late 30's). Commentators are experts in some aspect of each city of the era. Most of the commentators have authored a book or two on their respective city/subjects. I recommend buying the books for additional more in depth material. I found reading about Shanghai particularily interesting and now have @ least read 5 books about Shanghai in the 20's & 30's which has added to my Chinese studies (classic literature and non-fiction histories, etc.). I only wishes there were a Part 2 to this CD which could surely be expanded as there is no end to the additional interesting material in each culture/city.
Obviously these sin cities (open cities) only existed due to influx of money, which oddly really didn't filter down to the poor and desperate. So these cities, while drawing outsiders, abounded in criminality @ every level and ignored for the most part the poor and desperate. Have things changed that much?
I highly recommend this video.

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Tries too hard to emphasize the "creativity" of Paris and Berlin

The creators of this documentary about Shanghai, Berlin and Paris in the 1920s did an excellent job, using period footage (and some 1930s footage as well, if you know what you're looking for) to portray the decadence and depravity which took hold there. While only lightly touching on the human cost of prostitution, alcoholism and drug use (and even then primarily in the Shanghai episode) it emphasized the "creativity" known to be generated there... as if no great art was done outside these three cities or in the decades following. Also, outside "costs" were not addressed. The program discusses how the Nazis (they practically used the word "hicks") swept away the liberal life of Berlin, when I would make the argument that it was the very existence of Berlin's decadence which caused a backlash, one the fascists were able to ride into power. In Paris the decadence led to a lack of moral fiber when invaded by Germany. Overall, a good (and graphic) depiction of decadence but take the PC excuses with a grain of salt.

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Unique documentary series of 3 programs produced by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) that separately profile the spontaneous growth, flowering and decay of Paris, Berlin and Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s, 3 cities that pushed the limits of tolerance and freedom during the period between the world wars and defined the social, political and sexual culture of the 20th Century. Contains nudity.

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