Sunrise is often hailed as the greatest silent movie ever made and these newly restored DVD and Blu-ray editions present a great opportunity to find out why. Graeme Hobbs explains how Sunrise achieved its excellence.
One of the great triumphs of Sunrise is that it synthesizes disparate elements into a purely and overwhelmingly cinematic spectacle.
The film, entirely written and conceived in Germany but filmed in America with complete license from the Fox Studios, borrows from a number of sources for its look. In its depiction of people and interiors in the village it resembles the world of Dutch genre-painting with the gossiping women, the table set for a meal and the wife feeding the chickens through a doorway. Any welcoming domesticity created by this though is undercut by the set design borrowed from expressionist theatre. The angular, shadowed rooms with their sloping tables and floorboards in the early scenes show this well.
Expressionist techniques, which Murnau learnt from his years with Max Reinhardt’s theatrical company also extended to the actors with George O’Brien playing the first half of the film with lead weights in his boots to enhance the look of being entirely sunken under the weight of his adulterous and murderous thoughts. When the woman describes the city to the man, the painted cityscapes are reminiscent of those of George Grosz and later when we are transported to the city the sheer spectacle of the monorails, fairground, merry-go-rounds and fireworks resemble the renowned excesses of a UFA production.
A whole bag of cinematic tricks are used as well. Images are overlaid such as when the woman from the city has her arms around the man as he thinks of her, and back projection is used when the newly-reconciled couple are walking among the city traffic surrounded by trees. Add to that some of the ‘unchained camera’ pioneered two years earlier by Karl Freund in The Last Laugh, notably in Sunrise when it follows the man to his marshland tryst and you have a film so entirely comfortable with pushing the boundaries of its cinematic language that it was awarded an Oscar for ‘Unique and Artistic Picture’, the only time such an award has been given.
It might be thought that Sunrise would falter under the weight of so much input, but it doesn’t. All the elements are melded together into a simple tale. It works because Murnau plunges us into the story from the outset and doesn’t let up, carrying us from one scene to another and immersing us thoroughly into each situation, whether this is lust in the marsh, the joy and excitement of the fairgound or the terror of a storm. He takes us from darkest psychological drama to tenderness to slapstick and at every point Sunrise is nothing less than sure about what it’s doing and why it’s doing it. It is a complete marriage of style and substance and it was Murnau’s great skill that he could synthesize all its elements so readily. It is rare to come across a film in which so many elements combine to produce such an indelibly pure cinematic experience.
Its misfortune was that a fortnight after its release, talkies made an entrance with The Jazz Singer. Initial scepticism about the concept soon gave way to enthusiasm and domination of the form. When you see Sunrise, it’s hard not to think that cinema was about to forsake its gains for something as trivial as talking actors.
Full-length audio commentary by cinematographer John Bailey on the Movietone version
Rare outtakes with John Bailey commentary
Murnau’s 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film – Janet Bergstrom’s updated documentary
Original theatrical trailer
20-page booklet with details of the film restorations and comparison of versions.
Film Description
A landmark of silent cinema and one of the finest films of any era. A woman from the city dazzles a married farmer in a small community and plots to rid him of his wife.
Addressing themes of temptation, reconciliation and redemption, it's a tale told with lyrical simplicity and was named by Cahiers du Cinema in 1967 as 'the single greatest masterwork in the history of the cinema'. You can see why. Although it borrows its language from Dutch genre painting, expressionism and theatre among others, it is in the end a purely cinematic spectacle.
One of the great masterpieces of the cinema makes a welcome appearance on DVD. Sunrise was famously acclaimed as “the single greatest masterwork in the history of the ... more >
One of the great masterpieces of the cinema makes a welcome appearance on DVD. Sunrise was famously acclaimed as “the single greatest masterwork in the history of the cinema” Fully restored and digitally remastered, the film looks as fresh as ever, still justifying its multiple Oscars (Janet Gaynor for Best Actress; Charles Rosher and Karl Struss for Best Cinematography). The director, F.W. Murnau, was one of Germany’s finest, responsible for such classics as Nosferatu, Faust and The Last Laugh. Arriving in Hollywood in July 1926, the Fox Film Corporation promised and gave him complete artistic freedom. Fox told Murnau to take his time, spend whatever he had to, and make any film wished to make. The film that resulted was Sunrise, a psychological thriller which begins when the pleasant and peaceful life of a naïve country man (George O’Brien) is turned upside down when he falls for a cold-blooded yet seductive Woman from the City (Margaret Livingston). This is one of the most moving stories every told on screen – a tale of temptation, reconciliation, reconsecration, and redemption, told with a lyrical simplicity that resonates today. < less
