Customer Reviews

NEW YORK: First City of the World

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I bought this DVD based only on reviews to view at a New York City party. It fit the bill exactly. The video is about an hour long and briefly highlights all of the major sites in New York City. The DVD does a good job of incorporating the history of the city along with the sights. I did not realize that so many of the institutions in the city were financed by millionaires (Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, etc) during New York's Golden Age. Two (to me) odd little quirks that should not diminish the viewing, but....The opening musical number is from "An American in Paris" (could not find ONE New York City song???) and the World Trade Centers are still part of the DVD.

Take a stroll in New York and you will dream of it forever and ever. That's what this video is all about, to make you dream of the city, its streets, its museums, its parks, its buildings, old and new, and of course its people in their daily being and existence. Cafés, restaurants, stores, theaters, and all kinds of activities including many museums of course. It insists on diversity and the cultivated and even required differences between and among the people. Ethnic differences with the Chinese of Chinatown, or the Jews and the Blacks, the Irish and the Italians, and so many other Russians or French people. You will not be surprised that the Grenouille is French since all Frenchies are also a froggies jumping and hopping in some pond. The most surprising though is that all the skyscrapers are there standing tall and high, including the ghosts of the Twin Towers. It is impressive to see this skyline dominated by these two massive towers standing out against the smaller buildings more or less gathering around them. That sure is also amazing when we remember what happened to them and how empty the sky looks today without these two giant colossuses watching ,over the herd of all the multifarious New Yorkers. Take a dip in Central park dreaming of Hair, dry up in Washington Square fantasizing about Fritz the Cat, and then just take a plane and go visit Broadway hoping to meet King Kong or to spend a night at the museum.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines