Chicago: First Impressions of a Great American City

A BBC documentary by Denis Mitchell offering an impressionistic portrait of Chicago, filmed circa 1960. Structured as a “city symphony” with recorded speech, it presents street-level observation and voices from the city. Assisted by Studs Terkel, the film became locally controversial: though originally intended for Chicago’s WBKB (Channel 7), its first Chicago-area broadcast was delayed until 1966, when it aired on WFLD.

Production Companies

BBC