Movie Review – Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1926) –  F.W. Murnau’s silent film classic follows a husband and wife from the country whose marriage is under attack from a sophisticate woman from the city.  She tries to get the husband to kill to clear the field for herself.

Modern film goers, especially those raised on uptempo action films, often find silent movies hard to grasp.  The tempo of the movie making is decidedly slower,  Without dialogue, the storytelling is done entirely with action, gesture and facial expression.  Given the director’s dislike of dialogue cards virtually nothing is laid out for the viewer.  Silent films require a little more effort from the viewer.

Murnau has plenty to offer in return for the effort hear.  As always he brings a stunning and complex visual sense to the movie.  The tale here is of country purity versus the evils of the big city.  Janet Gaynor as “The Wife”  (the characters are designated by simple descriptive names “The Wife”, “The Man”, “The Woman From the City”) has her long blond hair done up in braids and wears modest clothing that covers her from neck to ankles while Margaret Livingston (“The Woman From The City”) has a bob haircut and her dress is barely past her knees!  The former is a young woman of simple virtue  amusements while the latter is a wild, cigarette smoking hedonist with an overt sexuality.  The morality is predictable and typical of the age.  Gaynor brings a winsome innocence to her role while George O’Brien is the lumbering provincial who is a bit swept away by all the wonder of both the city and woman trying to lure him away.

It’s the visuals that are the real compelling part of the movie.  Murnau brings  a taste of German Expressionist movies to the picture but balances it nicely with a light comic touch as well.  If you any ideas that the movies of the silent era were simple things with limited artistic and technological qualities, Murnau will surprise you here.  Obviously there are no fancy CGI effects or advanced hi-tech editing techniques.  It’s interesting to remember that most of the montage shots and layered effects were actually done “inside” the camera with multiple exposures.  “Sunrise” would win the only Oscar ever given for “Unique and Artistic Production” (Gaynor would also win for Leading Actress” for this and two other films.  At the time the award was for the totality of the year’s work by an actor rather than a single film.  The rule would be changed just a couple years later.  Gaynor would also be the youngest winner of the award until the mid 1970s.

Some interesting trivia about the movie – Murnau stood 6’11”.  In his short career, he died at age 42, Murnau only made 21 films. Only 12 of them still survive, including “Nosferatu” which was nearly destroyed when he lost the legal battle over the main character with the estate of Bram Stoker.  This was the first movie to use Fox’s sound on film technique known as “Movietone”, making one of the first movies with its own dedicated soundtrack.  Unfortunately, it came out in the months just after “The Jazz Singer” and audiences now demanded the ability to hear the actors speak. In its time the movie was considered a bit of a failure, only later to be judged a masterpiece. “Sunrise” is not entirely without spoken dialogue.  There are some spoken words in the sound effects when O’Brien and Gaynor are kissing in the middle of the street while in the city.  As much as the movie looks like it was shot on location, the entire film was done on the studio lot and sound stages.

Set aside any preconceptions you may have about silent films and allow the story to be told the way it  was told in 1927.  You’ll be rewarded for the effort.

Rating – **** Recommended