Sunrise. A Song of Two Humans (1927)

[Moorman]

This is my first F.W. Murnau film.  I had great expectations and the film didn't let me down.  It stars Janet Gaynor ( The wife), George O'Brien ( The Man), Bodil Rosing ( The Maid) and Margaret Livingston ( The Woman from the City).  Very simple but engaging plot.  The man owns a farm where he resides with his wife, child and his maid.  A woman from the city sees him and his wife one day and decides to flirt with him.  He takes the bait and starts seeing the woman.  He falls for her and she wants him to leave his wife.  The plot then takes a ugly turn.  ( not gonna spoil it).

Its a beautiful film made even better by the moral situations presented therein.  The acting by Gaynor in particular is first rate.  The cinematography and music score are fantastic.  Cinematography is by Charles Rosher and Karl Struss). Struss also did Limelight for Chaplin which was another fantastic work of art.  Hugo Riesenfeld and Erno Rapee scored the film.  Another stand out is the sets.  Murnau forced Fox to spend big money on the sets and it paid off.  I THOUGHT for a minute that the film was in San Francisco.  Thats how great a job they did with this.

The film holds up and meets its reputation as one of the greatest films ever made.  I rate it a perfect 10 out of 10...

 

 

 

 

 

[Sgt_Markoff]

Well stated. I saw it for the first time, at a theater in Manhattan during a 'silents' festival, and was thrilled. Funny, I never realized Janet Gaynor starred in this flick. Strikes me now she has been in some pretty dang huge movies.

[Moorman]

45 minutes ago, Sgt_Markoff said:

Well stated. I saw it for the first time, at a theater in Manhattan during a 'silents' festival, and was thrilled. Funny, I never realized Janet Gaynor starred in this flick. Strikes me now she has been in some pretty dang huge movies.

She has a few films that I wanna see now after watching her in this performance. I will post reviews when I screen them.