There are two versions of this film. The first dates from 1934 and lasts 15′. The second is from 1948 and lasts 13′. It’s a reduced version with a reworked commentary and different music. “The metro was born in 1900 with the Universal Exhibition, thus realising a long-developed idea whose first serious study dates back to 1871……In 1900, the network was 13 km long, increasing to 32 km in 1905 and reaching 186 km in 1948, carrying 4.5 million passengers a day. Before the First World War, a return ticket cost 4 sous. Thanks to the train, the working population of Paris enjoyed a better family life. The construction sites above ground marked the continuity of work to extend the network. Paris’s underground is the symbol of its intense activity. Under the Opéra, 3 lines overlapped, and under the Place de la République, 5 lines intersected. To cross the Seine, the engineers found two solutions: the easiest, with 4 viaducts; the most difficult, with 4 underground passages built using compressed air to avoid flooding… The staff enjoy a privileged moral position, reinforced by the beneficial action of highly developed social works…” (Extracts from the commentary).
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