Sunrise Reviews

An extraordinary film, unmissable

A winner at the first academy awards, 'Sunrise' still stands as one of cinema's greatest achievements. The tale of a farmer(George O'Brien) who is seduced by a visiting city woman(Margaret Livingston) and encouraged by her to murder his wife(Janet Gaynor).

Director FW Murnau tells this essentially simple tale with an incredible visual flair. It's hard to convey fully the wondrous imagery on show here. Murnau utilises every stylistic trick available to him but never overlooks the importance of the human drama.

The film effortlessly switches from the pre-murder tension to a beguiling sense of wonder as the couple rediscover their love for each other. The performances are first rate, with Janet Gaynor on spellbinding form. A masterpiece.

Sunrise bonus

I have just received and watched the second disc in this set. For the silent film buff and Murnau fan it's extremely interesting given that it includes a documentary and still frame reconstruction of his lost film, 'The Four Devils' as well as the out takes from 'Sunrise' referred to in the commentary on the main disc. There is also the facility to download and print the screenplays of both films. I found all this useful for my own researches but for most viewers it is probably not essential for their enjoyment of the film; the commentary mentioned above gives all the necessary information to contextualise the movie.

Murnau at his best

Far better than Murnau’s overrated Nosferatu. A silent about a country fella who plans to kill his wife and escape to the city with a holidaying floosy; he bottles it mid-murder and whilst apologising to his wife realises that he truly loves her. Next moment, they find themselves in the city (variously portrayed as nightmarish and dangerous, intoxicating and fantastic) and rediscover the magic that is missing from their marriage in a series of mini-adventures. This is one of the most watchable silents I’ve seen, even though it has hardly any captions. The central performances are capitivating – the lead is a dispicable ogre, but you’re compelled to watch him redeem himself. There’s always something going on, the humour is great – dreamlike logic mixed with slapstick - and it’s beautifully shot with lots of experiments with superimposition, melting title cards etc. The hilarious scene with the drunken pig was probably cruelty to animals, but like a second-hand fur coat, it's probably ‘okay’ seventy-five years on when the pig would be well dead anyway. The true proof of Murnau’s skill is the way the film seamlessly flows between genres – the opening segment of the dying marriage and murderous plot belie in tone and subject matter what is to be the main concern of the film: the couple’s screwball adventures in the city. The best films should be either a dream or a nightmare. Like a real dream, Murnau’s classic drifts illogically, unquestionably from one to the other.

One of the very best

Sight and Sound - in its ten yearly poll, ranked this film as the greatest ever made on more than one occasion - and with good reason.

Quite simply one of the most stunning visual masterpieces ever committed to celluloid. This, Murnau's first picture in Hollywood demonstrates his flair for unusual and provoking camera movement and angles, yet the myriad of moments of technical proficiency never clouds the films simple engaging, romantic tale.

All set within 24 hrs - a classy expressionist, love-story version of 24.

[Highly rated reviewer]

A story of two humans

This simple story is one of the most influential films of the silent era. William Fox brought Murnau to Hollywood on the basis of having seen his film 'The Last Laugh', gave him a large budget and let him get on with it. The main innovation comes from the camerawork, the lighting and the sets which still amaze the discriminating viewer today. Murnau also reduced to a minimum the number of titles so the storyline proceeds mainly with pictures and some sound effects (the talkies were just around the corner). The acting of O'Brien and Gaynor grows in stature as the film progresses towards a moving finale. Watched without prejudice this early film is most affecting, if unsophisticated in approach. It's universal story of the sweetness and bitterness of human life is one of the cinematic wonders from the history of the Hollywood movie.

A true great of Cinema

I first saw 'Sunrise' about 30 years ago at the old Arts Lab Cinema in Birmingham. I already had a liking for 'silent' films by then, but had mostly seen comedies of the Keaton/Chaplin ilk.

Nothing could prepare me for the visual splendour of this film on the big screen! I have seen nothing like it before or since!

So, I had been waiting for years for a dvd version of this, & bought it immediately.

I have to say its a bit of a disappointment; the film's still great, but the dvd has lost some of that sparkle. Yes, if you're not used to 'silent' films looking good, then, on the whole, this looks good - just not in the same league as it looked 30 years ago! So much for restorations from best available film elements - if that's so, what did I see before? (To be fair, I think it was an amber print, but there you go - not all things digital are better than film was!).

You still owe it to yourself to see it though..........

Impressive

An example which proves that the silent era wasn't just a rehearsal for modern cinema. The director of Nosferatu made this film in Hollywood using special effects that just blew me away. You'd never know it was 80 years old.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Classsic Melodrama

A melodrama in which a simple country husband, seduced by 'a woman of the city', with her silk stockings and lipstick, sees the error of his ways and rediscovers his simple country wife, there is a great deal to enjoy here.

Janet Gaynor is every bit as lovely as my grand-parents told me she was, even in a dreadful Grandma Moses wig, and the story is told in an Expressionistic manner with stylised sets, wipes, dissolves, unusual montage sequences and many other devices, including full use of tracking. An interesting feature is the small number of captions used, although this does lead to some rather over-protracted sequences. The scenes showing the bustle of pedestrians and cars in the city are impressive, as are the city interiors, all light, spacious art deco designs. The DVD comes with a choice of the original Movietone score and music by the Olympia Chamber Orchestra, and I wish that I'd had time to listen to the commentary - I'll leave that to a later viewing.

I found it more of historical interest than engrossing in its own right, but I can see that masterpiece is not too strong a term to describe it.

Technically brilliant melodrama

Not much to add to some of the other reviews; 'Sunrise' is technically brilliant and innovative for its time (Murnau was the German genius director hired by William Fox after the success of The Last Laugh) but now seems very slow and, as is often the way now with silent films, melodramatic in the extreme. Still memorable though. The DVD comes with a commentary from a cinematographer (which I didn't listen to, although having read the reviews now I wish I had) and an alternative score - I compared one or two scenes with the original music and have to agree with one of the other reviewers that the original sounded much better.

Engrossing!!!

This film feels very strange from the vantage point of 2004, but once you get used to its style, it turns out to be one of the most engrossing films ever.

Visually stunning at times, it slowly moves the viewer with it's emotional power. Great stuff, it probably is the masterpiece that many claim it to be.