Melody of the World

Melody of the World is a 1929 German film directed by Walter Ruttmann. It is also known as World Melody. The film is structured like a symphony and consists of documentary footage from all over the world, contrasted and juxtaposed to show a number of human activities as they take form in different cultures. There are also staged scenes with actors. The film was produced by Tonbild-Syndikat AG as an assignment from Hapag. It has an original score by Wolfgang Zeller. It was advertised as Germany's first feature-length sound film. Cast Ivan Koval-Samborskij as sailor Renée Stobrawa as sailor's wife Grace Chiang as Japanese woman O. Idris as Malayan temple dancer Wilhelm Cuno as general director of Hapag Release The world premiere took place on 27 July 1929 at the Deutsches Kammermusikfest in Baden-Baden. The film was released in regular German cinemas on 10 May 1930, distributed by Deutsches Lichtspiel-Syndikat AG.