Tall: The American Skyscraper and Louis Sullivan

Louis Sullivan was an architect from Chicago who achieved peak prominence as a designer of early skyscrapers during the end of the 19th century. In the 1880s, with the development of the mass production of steel, it became possible to construct buildings on steel frames. Previously, the height of buildings was limited by the load-bearing capacities of the outer walls of buildings. With the mass production of steel, steel frames for buildings could be erected and buildings could be constructed by hanging them from steel frames, thereby eliminating the need for thick load-bearing outer walls. This new construction technique allowed the construction of very tall buildings and Louis Sullivan was concerned with how to express this "newness" in design, capturing "good ol' American know-how" in the design of these new buildings.[6][7][8]

In an 1896 essay, Sullivan revealed his fundamental law of design: "form ever follows function".[6] For him, this law implied that the design of skyscrapers must express their tallness: "It must be in every inch a proud and soaring thing".[6] The Wainwright Building in downtown St. Louis, Missouri and the Guaranty Building in Buffalo, New York are the most famous examples of his design from this perspective.[6] However, the Panic of 1893 brought the construction of skyscrapers to a near stop and Sullivan met with financial ruin. He continued to design some small buildings, especially banks but he died nearly penniless in 1924. Tall: The American Skyscraper and Louis Sullivan attempts to tell some of this story.[6][8][9]

The opening scene of the film begins with a horse standing on empty street near a warehouse.[7] This was just after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 that burned down much of Chicago. The horse standing alone represents the transition from the pre-modern era to the modern era and its skyscrapers. Kirchheimer attempts to capture this transition through a montage of images and music.[7] Kirchheimer also attempts to express the idea of form following function by how he uses the camera with archival photos. For example, the first panning up shot in the film is used on the Woolworth Tower, which suddenly draws the viewer into the unprecedented immensity of these never before seen tall buildings.[7] For other archival photos, Kirchheimer uses camera movement and an evocative soundtrack to enhance the narrative.[7][8]

The latter scenes of the documentary turn to Sullivan's decline, focusing more on him than his architecture.[7]

Following its DVD released, documentary did not receive many reviews and those it did receive were mixed. Michael Mooradian Lupro, writing for Film & History thought the film was well done when it focused on architecture, but when it turned to Sullivan as a person towards the end of the film Lupro wrote: "The cinematic techniques that were so successful in rendering the architecture are less effective when the subject shifts to people."[7] In the Chicago Reader, Fred Camper wrote: "The images here of standing and vanished buildings and the many wise quotes from Sullivan are valuable, but the music is intrusive, the narration bland, and the attempts to meld live-action footage and stills awkward."[9] Kent Williams, concluded the Kirchheimer largely failed to tell Sullivan's story in the film and wrote: "But the artistic touches, of which there are many, start to seem self-indulgent after a while."[6] After its theatrical release, more than a decade later, the film received positive reviews, earning a score of 86 on review aggregator Metacritic.[10]

• The Cinema Guild