Cologne (1939) User Reviews

The Upper Midwest

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 27 April 2016]

Structures, people and events are documented in Cologne, Minnesota, in 1939.

Alright, so I have never been to Cologne, so far as I can recall. And I was not alive in 1939. Not even close. But I have spent my life in Wisconsin, which is close, and my grandparents were farmers in a rural area. Much of what I see here reminds me very much of them and their property. And I suspect this is true all across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and probably further.

Another reviewer commented that it is strange to rate a film that was never intended to be screened for criticism. That is an interesting point and a true one. But just the same, there is a level of skill here, and this is an important cultural document. Whether that was the intent or not, it deserves the positive acclaim.

Simple, Pleasant Americana, Made With Some Skill

[Snow Leopard · 22 August 2005]

For an amateur movie from the 1930s, this is made with some real skill, and aside from a few tip-offs such as some unpolished inter-titles, it might easily have been made by more experienced film-makers. The content itself is the kind of simple but pleasant Americana that is easy to watch as long as it does not go on too long, and at less than 15 minutes, it's able to hold your attention all the way through.

Created by a doctor and his wife who spent a couple of years in the town of Cologne, Minnesota, it gives an honest yet caring perspective on the type of farming community that must have been (and probably still is) very common in their part of the country. Much of it shows the kinds of scenes you would expect, showing activity at farms, the local feed mill, the blacksmith shop, and the like. It's not without a little humor, as in the brief comment about and shot of the town's significance as a railway stop.

It's edited together quite smoothly, and features a good assortment of camera angles. Although the diary narrative device was already an old one at the time, it is pretty well suited to the material. It's easy to watch, and it's somewhat more interesting than you would expect such a movie to be.

Portrait of a town(sfolk)

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 12 March 2016]

"Cologne" is a 14-minute black-and-white documentary from 1939, the first year of World War II. But in the United States, especially in the little town of Cologne, all is still fine. Silent films from 1939 are fairly uncommon, this was also already way into the sound era. So it should not come as a surprise that the Dowidats never made another film before or after this little documentary. The people are kinda fun to watch and it is all very harmonic in here. But it is really only interesting and relevant to people who have a connection with the place. Everybody else can skip it. I am pretty certain that this documentary would be entirely unknown by today if it hadn't been included in the National Film Registry back in 2001. Cologne here is not the big city in Germany, but in Minnesota, a state that has many immigrants with German background, which is also mentioned in the film. All in all, a forgettable watch. Not a failure, but I still don't recommend it. Looks definitely a lot older than 1939.

The American small town as it really is?

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 6 January 2018]

On the disc Treasures from American Film Archives, you will find Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther (1939) which gets my nomination for Best Amateur Movie Ever Made.

Ray Dowidat, the town doctor, made this thoughtful, highly crafted, little documentary about a small town in Minnesota.

It's a silent, very cleverly sub-titled, warts-and-all account in which the beguilingly bucolic atmosphere of Cologne is gradually but inevitably stripped away so that the viewer recoils in horror as the affectionate opening scenes give way to the quirky, the ironic, the dark, and finally the non-visualized "bitterness".

When all is sad and done, this American small town is no Andy Hardy stopover at all!

Strong Cologne

[cutterccbaxter · 20 January 2020]

I'm watching the DVD collection of 50 preserved films from American Film Archives. When I saw the title of this particular film I thought it might be some type of travelogue shot by Americans in Germany. As a Minnesotan, I was pleasantly surprised to see the film was set in the small town of Cologne, Minnesota in 1939. This amateur documentary was actually made by a doctor and his wife. It is cleverly done given the limitations of having no audio (as the Germans would say, MOS - Mit Out Sound). Despite what another IMDB reviewer of this film mistakenly claims, amateur movie makers in that time period would find the technical difficulties of shooting a film with audio rather daunting. Anyways, I thought the film had a creeping subtlety to it that rewarded the viewer by the time it concluded. When the movie began it seemed like it might be a pleasant Norman Rockwell type portrait of a farming community in the upper midwest, but it becomes more and more nuanced in it's revelation that the town is both fueled by a German and Dutch work ethic, as well as an apparently healthy (or un-healthy) consumption of beer.

Nice Look Back at a Small Town

[Michael_Elliott · 9 January 2012]

Cologne (1939)

*** (out of 4)

This amateur film from Cologne, Minnesota features the Guettler family and you have to think that they never imagined that people would be viewing this film decades after it was recorded but the film was selected to the National Film Registry in 2001. The film starts off with a woman writing into a diary, which we get to read via title cards. From here we see dates as well as what the woman did that day or just things she saw. From this point the entire film is basically just footage shot around the city and it includes farm machines, local restaurants, a parade and a social gathering with some turtle soup. We're told in one of the early entries that this town has 350 people and it's this that really makes this film stand out. There's certainly nothing ground-breaking here but I think the film serves a great purpose of showing what a small American town used to be like. I must admit that I was caught up in the poetry beauty of the film and especially the shots high above the city showing what few homes and buildings there were. Another major plus was getting to see various farm equipment and what exactly they were using all these years ago. I doubt many mainstream people will find this entertaining but it's certainly a good reminder of what small towns used to look like.

Pretty much impossible to rate but an invaluable record of a bygone time and place.

[planktonrules · 17 July 2011]

I am sure the film makers who made this had no idea it would ever be reviewed. After all, it was put together by a couple amateurs--a doctor and his wife--from footage they made while serving in this tiny Minnesota farming community. It is the essence of what you might consider ephemeral--and yet it was somehow discovered and included in a four-DVD set entitled "Treasures from American Film Archives". As such, the film is a nice portrait of a bygone era in a part of the country pretty much ignored otherwise. As a result, it's a great historical portrait. So, despite some cheap home-made intertitle cards and some VERY abrupt edits, it is an invaluable record--something that anthropologists and historians drool over while watching. Sure, the average viewer would probably be a bit bored by all this, but considering the film's original aim, this isn't a bit problem. Worth seeing but not a film for the average viewer.