Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
Directed By: F.W. Murnau
Starring: Janet Gaynor, George O'Brien
Length: 95 Minutes
Genre: Romance / Drama
Based On: Die Reise nach Tilsit, A short story by Hermann Sundermann.
1927-1928 Best Cinematography
1927-1928 Best Actress (Janet Gaynor - awarded for body of work, not just this movie)
1927-1928 Most Unique and Artistic Production (only year awarded)
1929 Kinema Junpo Award (Japan) for Best Foreign Language Film
#63 AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions
Murnau was hired by Fox to bring his German Expressionism to the US. He was given the ability to make whatever film he wanted, and he chose to make a film version of a german short story.
The tale is pretty simple. A man (George O'Brien) is having an affair on his wife (Janet Gaynor). He goes so far as to plan to kill her, but when he gets her to go on a boat with him, he can't go through with it. His wife flees at first, scared of what he almost did, but eventually forgives him.
They then spend the night in the city, enjoying everything it has to offer. They head home at the end of the night, but get caught in a storm. The boat sinks, and his wife is lost. The village organizes a search and eventually find her when the sun starts to rise.
The acting in the movie was pretty good, and Murnau did a wonderful job. Murnau was the master of telling a story with limited title cards, and Sunrise was no exception. There were very long sequences where there were no title cards.
He continued his brand of German Expressionism in this movie, and that was to make things big. The scenes in the city, most notably the fair, were particalurly very Murnau-like. He also experimented with special effects. There is a scene where they are embracing in a resturant, and the background becomes very dream-like, and then fades back to the resturnat surroundings.
He used the same technique earlier in the movie when the couple was walking acrossed the street. The cars and city around them faded to a field and then back to the city. While they were crossing the street, you could see cars passing by in front of the couple. Of course, they looked like flat cardboard cutouts passing in front of the couple, but it was still something new.
Overall, this film felt like it was state-of-the-art, and a bit experimental. Unfortunately, the movie was not a financial success, and Fox started to limit what Murnau could do. He would make 2 more movied for Fox (Four Devils (1928), which is lost, and City Girl (1930)). Murnau quit Fox after the filming of City Girl, and went on to film a movie with Robert Flahery (Nanook of the North) in Tahiti called Tabu.
Entertainment Rating: 8/10
Historical Rating: 9/10